h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This thread was inspired (as many are) by a discussion in the pub. We were talking about our earliest memories and I happened to mention mine, which is being in a pushchair covered by a plastic hood (it was raining at the time) being pushed through the village where I grew up. A couple of the people there were surprised I had a memory of such an early time.

This got us talking and now I'm not sure whether it is a true memory, or a false picture my mind has created. Let me explain, the thing I remember most about this memory is the feeling of being tucked up and safe from the rain while watching the world go by me. Is it possible my mind has generated a picture to associate with this feeling or could it be a real memory?

The earliest memory after that (that I'm absolutely sure is a real memory) is being shouted at by a teacher in nursery school, which put me in line with the other peoples earliest memories.

So what I'm asking is, is it possible my mind has created an image to go with a feeling, or does anyone else have very early recollections of their childhood?

I can definitely remember things from when I was two years old - such as when my brother was born. Such events I can put dates to, and remember too clearly to be false. However, I can remember feelings from before that. Whether these are real or not I simply don't know.

I have memories from past lives so anythings possible. Earliest this time round is being woken up by my dog,i was 3 when he died.The mind is something that cant be understood..some peoples more than others.

Nightmares must have been one the most traumatic events as a young child, and I can still vaguely remember some of them. I remember a nightmare with a song "where's your mamma gone". The dream was about being lost and seperated from my mum. I think this song was out in about 1972. I would've been two.

I remember being picked up by a kind man at a wedding who I took to be Eamon Andrews. I've always considered this to be one of my first non-dream memories. To my big surprise, a couple of years ago, I was going through the old family photos and found a photograph of the man holding me at the wedding. What an amazing coincedence.

My first memory of school was using one of the prams as a racing car and crashing it in the playground. For this I received a slap wrist.

You may be able to jog your memory by getting a book of the Guiness hit singles and scanning through the number 1 songs from the past. Amazing how many you can remember.

Interestingly, remembering some old songs can stir some very powerful happy memories, and you can almost feel like you step back to that moment. I was very happy as a child. I'm a happy adult, but I don't think I'd ever be able to recreate the intensity and purity of my childhood happiness. Must be something to do with innocence I guess.

I have many memories which took place in and around a house which we moved out of when I was three years old, including such instances as being in my pram, the first time I saw snow, falling down the stairs, the shop where my uncle worked, and hearing Walter Gabriel on The Archers

I don't doubt for a moment that any of these are real.

Hearing the Archers an early memory?

Scarred for life or what?

My earliest 'full' memories also go back to school days. Remember kicking up a mighty stink because I didn't want to go to school on the second day - well I'd already been once and didn't particularly like it. I also remember the embarrassment of being found to have no plasticene at desk inspection - having eaten it bit by bit over the previous week.

Also have a vague earlier memory of a green-tiled wall but not much else. This apparently stems from being taken into the Casualty Department to have my stomach pumped after helping myself to some of the nice 'sweeties' from my Grandfather's dispensing cupboard in his consulting room. The days before child-proof bottles!

Yeah, Stark. Some who know me well may say that it explains a lot

Two and a half years old is when we tend to start collecting permanent memories - how does that fit wuth people's timescales?

However, we tend to remember something 'new' or 'different' rather than something familiar - for instance, I can remember very clearly going to my grandmother's 'strange' new house the day she movd in, but have no memory at all of the house she was in the day befoe.

With the memory at the start of this thread, therefore, I wonder if the rain is the key? At Two and a half, you probably idn't use the pram much anymore, or perhaps it had been summer, and there was little use for it, but one day you had to be taken somewhere, and it was raining, and the pram was the easiest way to transport you; no big deal for the adults, but if you hadn't been tucked up like that for months, it would feel like an entirely new experience at that age...See?

Having said all that, the BBC are doing programmes with Robert winston, following thedevelopment of children. In the last set f programmes they were 2-3, and one of the subjects was memories. They *proved* that adults can remember things from their first 12 months - For instance, theygot hold of a pair of baby shoes that a man had not seen since his first birthday, but them on a tray with a load of other baby shoes, and he was able to pick out the right ones. But they also faked photographs of the then-children (going for a trip in a hot air ballon at a show) and nearly half the adults felt they remembered the incident - basically through suggestion...weird...

I don't remember feelings from early childhood, but I can remember some events.

I can remember visiting my great-grandmother just before she died, probably not long before I was five. It was a long trip up to Sunderland and very cold walking along the beach.

I definitely remember an event from my first day at school, a couple of weeks after my fourth birthday. The kid next to me soiled himself.

Before that I can remember falling out of our car while it was going around a corner and I can remember which corner too.

But my earliest recollection would be my dad taking down the wall between our living and dining rooms. I'm pretty sure I was around two at the time.

But I can't remember much else from before I was five.

One of my earliest memories is being late for my brother's christening, I would have been two and a half. I have lots of other vague but early memories but don't have a specific event in time to refer them to. They may be earlier but am not sure.

I definitely remember my mum getting all of her hair cut off, but she can't remember exactly when that was other than I was 'about 2'.

Most of my very early memories are triggered by smells but as they are more to do with feelings and emotions I can't fix them in time.

Creosote, wd40, very faint marijuana, an old type of hand cream - all take me back to feeling happy and safe. Nivea never fails to conjure up happy childhood holidays

*sigh*

*dissolves into nostalgia puddle*