Not so long ago I was walking down the Rue Vaugirard in Paris, on my way from the Convention metro station to my daughter Julia's flat when, not for the first time, my eye was caught by the notice outside the butcher's. It was the French equivalent of "Butchers of repute since 1967". My first reaction was one of laughter: "'since 1967' - is that supposed to be a long period of time?" Yet when I was growing up in the '50s and '60s, even the Second World War seemed part of ancient history! At one extreme, five minutes' detention at my prep school stretched into eternity; at the other, it now seems that no sooner have I got up in the morning than it's time to go to bed! Something has quite clearly happened to the whole concept of time in my lifetime. Ask Bernard Madoff.
And what exactly is the connection between our assessment of time and memory? How is it that I can’t even remember how I began this sentence but have memories, albeit fleeting ones, of a blue cupboard in the house where I was born but left at an early age? This is a complicated subject and one which would repay serious study. Evidently, there is memory and memory.
Greetings again Barnaby
ReplyDeleteI agree with your tempus fugit post. Strange though how blogging itself is so new yet one can feel as though it has been around forever. The concept had not even been invented in 1967 so by comparison the date on which the French butcher's business was established is almost lost in ancient history.