What was the Title of this again?
There are a couple of things I notice about ageing.
One of course is the physical side of things. The old chassis is distinctly rusty, there is a certain amount of piston slap and the springs have all but worn out. I leak oil occasionally which can be embarrassing and my exhaust is distinctly noisy.
My sight is weird. Some days everything is fuzzy and others it’s fine. One day it was mid morning before I realised I had not put my glasses on. Just now I made tea and the work surfaces were crystal clear as was the view down the garden. Now I have difficulty reading the screen in front of me.
The other thing of course is my memory.
The auld head is playing fierce tricks on me these days. I like to keep my mind sharp and can solve problems with ease. I can fix things around the house and am great with improvising tools or whatever. But the memory lets me down on a regular basis.
I keep forgetting things. Probably the most common is where I put my pipe or lighter. I have a habit of absent-mindedly putting them down and then forgetting where I put them. My record [according to my mobile phone] is 1.5 kilometres in one day just walking around the house mostly looking for things. And they turn up in the strangest of places.
I am supposed to pick the Grandkids up from school tomorrow. There is a high chance I’d forget so I have to set reminders. My phone is chock full of reminders which keep pinging at me as I keep forgetting to delete them. Actually, writing about reminders reminds me I never took all my morning’s tablets. I’ve just taken them before I forget again.
I have always been very bad with names. I can remember numbers and can rattle off bank account numbers, old telephone numbers and various codes, but for some strange reason names go in one ear and out the other. Introduce me to someone and I’ll have forgotten their name in seconds. I am even beginning to forget the names of people I have known for ages. I have a huge problem with Neighbour’s name. I can greet his wife or his son but I can never remember his name and have to try to recall it using a tortuous process [ex-son-in-law’s brother’s shortened name gives me the clue I’m looking for].
Poor Penny is a sad victim of my memory. She asks to go out and in several times a day so it’s no wonder I get a little confused as to whether she’s in or out. The problem is that frequently I’ll put her out at night and forget to bring her in again. She’s too polite to bark and just gently taps on the glass door with her paw, but if I’m sitting in with Herself and the radio or television are on I just don’t hear her. The other night I left her out in the rain for about half an hour before remembering her. Poor dog. Luckily she never holds these lapses against me.
I decided the best idea would be to put a kitchen timer thing beside the back door so when I put her out I can set it for five or ten minutes [depending on the weather].
I think that’s a brilliant idea.
Now if only I can remember where I pt the kitchen timer……….
Same memory issue here Grandad. When we first moved here after retirement, I had to carry a small notebook around to keep track of who I met and what house they were in. It is frustrating as hell.
One thing I read (and it rang true) about remembering people’s names, was that when you’re introduced to somebody you concentrate on your own name, making sure they pronounce it correctly.
E.g. “John this is Frank, Frank this is John” I hear “……..Frank……Frank………”, think “Oh good, they got my name right” and spend the next hour waiting for somebody to address this unidentified person by name so I can know who he is. 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTeYD3Za_2Q
It’s raining. Your wife is banging at the front door and your dog is barking at the back door. Which door do you go to first?
The back door as the dog will be happy to see you and shut up when it gets in.
Ha, ha!
An old woman in the North used to use processes of association to try to remember things. She tied my surname Poulton to poultry and the next time she recalled it called me Mr Fowler!