Why did I rememebr that...

Have you ever wondered why it is that we remember some things and not other?  I don’t mean events that impact on our lives like  the death of a loved one or something amazing. I mean the ordinary everyday things that we remember for no apparent reason

My earliest one comes from when I was about two or three. My sister and I are sitting on the floor; legs spayed pushing a large red wooden truck backwards and forwards to each other. Now the interesting thing, well I think it is interesting, is that apart from that snippet of memory there was no other sign of that red truck. 

Then there is the memory of walking to the Saturday movies with my big sister. And for some silly reason I distinctly remember saying to her ‘let’s pretend we are sisters’ how silly was that.

I remember very clearly giving a ‘morning talk’ about a library book about cats and their behaviours’ I came across the very same book on a visit to the children’s library when my kids were small.

I loved books, still do.

As a very small child I would climb up onto my grandfather’s knee and demand of him ‘read to me’ it didn’t matter what it was, I just liked to be read to. And I still love to listen to a story.  I was never fond of the books about the little girl who lived in a French orphanage with a nun called Miss Lavelle, or something like that, but I did love the ones about a large marmalade cat called Orlando. 

And I didn’t much like little Noddy, I did like Little Black Sambo and the tigers that raced around and around the tree until they turned into butter. Not very PC these days. 

My all-time favourite story was The Elephants Child, , read by Miss Lawson, headmistress of the primary school. Oddly enough when I bought the an audio of the Just So Stories, that story is quite a bit different to the one I remember.

The Elephants child lived on the banks of the great green greasy Limpopo river all set about with fever trees. That bit is the same, but where was the part about the Elephant’s Child being spanked by his uncles and aunts and cousins until he was very warm. And he used his new trunk to return the favour. I wonder if Miss Lawson used a bit of artistic licence in her recitation.