How forgetful was I when it was the two of us? Not as forgetful as I am now, that's for sure. What is most annoying is I forget important and not so important things as well as the trivia that passes for news.
This morning, one of my Today Programmes's bêtes noires, Evan Davis, said something that wasn't worth mentioning by mentioning it. I had forgotten all about it until I glanced at The Guardian online at lunch time, forgot about it again, and now I am commuting homeward (isn't the iPad mini a wonderful device?) I have this totally unimportant fact thrust in my face with every Evening Standard. "What was it?", I hear you cry.
Sorry? What was what? Oh yes. What I had been forgetting. Apparently the meeja has its collective knickers in a twist over an extremely unimportant bit of trivia that has had Twitter (and the meeja especially loves Twitter) in meltdown.
If you haven't guessed yet, the non story is a man has not shaved away the growth of hair from his face. For those of you that are still in the dark, Jeremy Paxman has a beard. Good grief. How I wish now I could have totally forgotten this.
I needed several reminders to be able to even consider this to be the inspiration for today's motivational epistle. Had I not had them, you would have been spared this drivel. But fear not, there’s more to come.
Oh yes, dear reader, you are ahead of me already! Tim does not go on about rubbish like this for no reason. There are many things that get forgotten in the passage of time each and every day of our lvies. I had put my shirts in to wash last night. Did I turn on the washing machine?
No!
Good thing too, though, since I was running out of clean socks, which I will need for tomorrow, so I put them in on the quick Economy Wash cycle along with assorted small garments. When that was done I was able to put them in the tumble dryer and wash my shirts on the full cycle. I only feel thrifty if I think nobody will see my worn/soiled garments!
So when I get home, in about 10 or 15 minutes from now, I will need to remember to take the stuff out of the dryer, fold it up, put it away and (this is the clever multi-tasking bit) remember to put the shirts in the tumble dryer! Who's a clever boy to remember this now when it's not necessary? Will I recall all this when I get home? I bet you can't wait to find out. I know I can't.
Now, what was I saying? Oh, yes. Forgetfulness. I’m sure I have said elsewhere that Laing said “If it isn’t on the shopping list, it doesn’t get bought.” I used to remind him of things that needed buying. Sometimes we would text or e-mail each other to make sure everything we wanted was on the list before he went shopping. Well, I only have me to rely on, and I try to make make sure I carry my iPhone around with me at all times, even in the house, so if I think of something that needs to be bought it goes straight on the shopping list. Isn’t the iPhone a wonderful invention?
By the way, I did empty the tumble dryer. I folded everything up. Put it all away. The shirts are now drying. As soon as the drying is finished I need to remember to hang them up. Now that means I have to take coat hangers downstairs ... Oh my good Lord! So much to remember!
Anyway, the point of this meandering is to tell you that not only on Sunday, when I went to lunch with two of Laing’s former colleagues, but also on Monday when I went to work, I left the bedroom window wide open both days and didn’t close it until this morning, and I closed it long before I was leaving home.
I count myself lucky nothing untoward happened. The DVD and CD collection is so esoteric (including some Ligeti, but a hell of a lot of Britten and Stravinsky), that nobody could nick it and flog it easily. My weird taste does have some advantages. But no obvious single valuable has disappeared.
Thanks for looking after me Laing and making sure Goddess took extra precautions for me. I bet she used to be a stewardess. You always were a good one for getting the lassies to look after us. I smiled at the lads and nothing was ever too much trouble. We made a good team, you and I. At least I remember that! What a team we were!
The drying has stopped. I took the coat hangers downstairs. I took the shirts out and hung them up. I brought them upstairs. See, I am not totally incapable.
Now where did I put my reading glasses?
Laing, where are my ******* reading glasses?
