10 February - Memory & Rings

I have found, perhaps, an advantageous aspect of losing one’s memory. Last week I got a voicemail from the Swarovski shop telling me I could pick up an item I had left for repair. First of all I thought they had the wrong person and then I had a faint memory of having indeed left something for repair, but try as I may, I couldn’t remember what it is I took there. I certainly have no idea as to where I may have put the receipt. Ok, let’s switch to the present tense as it’s easier. When I go and pick up the assistant asks what is it. Naturally. She’s taken aback, when I say no, and can you not find it via the my name, after all you called me. She answers we have trays with earrings, necklaces, rings etc so it takes time to look through all. I say uh ho, no, don’t know, sorry you have to look through it all. But I add that I probably brought it here 6 months ago. As if that helps. She looks at me like I’m crazy, like we’d never take this long to return an item, madam, but she’s a good sales assistant and I’m the client and she has to indulge me.

When she eventually emerges from the store room, I’m delighted to be reunited with this lovely ring I took in because it had lost a stone and that wasn’t on! Swarovski stuff is not that cheaply made. Or, I should imagine, back in the days before marketing and re-launch. Now I doubt it’s made in Austria… I had totally forgotten this ring probably because it was not chosen by me in the first place, but was a hand me down from my sister.

My memory however worked well on the dates. The chit says I brought it in on 18 May last year. Fancy that, 8 months to the day almost. I was out by 2 months only. So not all the synapses are that disintegrated. It’s nice to have the surprise, it's like it's a new ring, what a joy. Wonder if I’ll forget people and then be happy to meet them for the first time again instead of being bored by the same same conversatons we have. Next time however, I shall demand a substitute item from the shop, like the insurance people do when they give you courtesy cars when yours is at the menders.
It would be interesting to make some study too about memory loss as I could be compared with some friends who’ve done drugs constantly over the years and drunk absolute caseloads of wine more than me. Containers full in fact. Wonder if their brain is failing them as much as mine is me.