A friend of mine bought some herbal tablets to improve her memory. Daft as it seems, she keeps forgetting to take them.

It makes you think though. I mean how many of us (of a certain age) have run up the stairs to fetch something and promptly forgotten what it was we went up for?

My forgetful friend Alice had been watching a film about a woman with Alzheimer’s. In the opening sequence the woman puts a frying pan into the fridge. Alice said she had been doing that sort of thing for years, so did that mean that she was ill too, or on the verge of becoming so?

She says she can’t remember the names of places but can tell you in great detail about the situation and the characters associated with those places. Her memory it seems is selective about what information it chooses to retain. Alice said: “I know perfectly well that the frying pan doesn’t live in the fridge – at least not in my house – but somewhere in this multi-tasking brain of mine something misfires. Let’s face it, there are a lot more interesting things to think about than tidying up the kitchen.�

That’s all well and good but how often have we forgotten someone’s name just as we’re about to introduce them to friends? Mouth drops, eyes widen in great expectation, then wider still in terror…

I cast my mind back (so my memory must be ok then!) to a few months ago. I bumped into a man in our local swimming baths. I knew he was familiar to me but just couldn’t put a name to the face belonging to the body encased in tight yellow bathing trunks.

I mentally galloped through the alphabet trying desperately to conjure up a name as he waited politely, shivering by his changing cubicle, so that I could introduce him to Alice. He looked expectantly from me to Alice. Alice nudged me and looked expectantly from me to him. We three stood there, dripping, feeling very silly. I blurted out…“I’m really sorry, I don’t recognise you without clothes.� Big hole, open up please!

I’ve also gone to put bread in the washing machine instead of the freezer (occasionally), forgotten where I’ve parked the car (often) and have called my daughter Sooty, which is the name of one of my dogs, more times than I care to remember.

So should I be worried too? No, not just yet. There are some very good websites on the subject, including www.AlzInfo.org which has reassured Alice and me that although memory loss is a bit of a concern, it’s also a normal consequence of getting older and it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to develop anything more serious.

Ps: The man in the swimming trunks? I’m still none the wiser.

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