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

In the 1961 British comedy 'Raising the Wind', Sid James' Songwriting Academy gives this formula for writing a hit "Remember, it's verse, chorus, verse, chorus, clever bit, verse, chorus, chorus. But never two clever bits, or it don't work." I beg to differ mate - 'I'm Not In Love' by 10cc has two clever bits in it, and (IMHO) it's one of the finest pop songs ever recorded. More because of the production than the writing, admittedly, but it does possess 2 (count 'em) clever bits. The first one is the whispered "Be quiet, big boys don't cry", and the second one is "Ooh, you'll wait a long time for me". Now, for me, this song is one of those JFK moments - you know exactly where you were and what you were doing when something happened. The first time I heard 'I'm Not In Love' was on the jukebox as I was walking into the back bar of The White Hart in Romford High Street, just after the single had come out. A bunch of us had already seen 10cc at the Reading Festival, been wowed by the band, bought the LP 'Sheet Music', and loved it. I heard this weird song playing, and then caught "Be quiet, big boys don't cry", and I really didn't know what to make of it. Then one of my friends told me that this was 10cc, but I didn't believe him at first cos this was so different to anything on 'Sheet Music', or any of their other singles. And looking back, most of my JFK moments have been music related - I recall the exact moments when I heard that Elvis had died, that John Lennon had been shot, that Freddy Mercury had died, that Viv Stanshall had passed on.

I remember the day Kennedy died. We were living in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I was walking back from school with my sister - we thought there was going to be a hurricane, it was so windy. Arriving home, everyone watching tv and crying.

Getting used to the idea that John Lennon had been killed - took me two years before I allowed myself to cry.

These moments are like photographs. Why are other moments of our lives so easily forgotten?

Ever read "The Art of Memory" by Francis Yates? - an interesting book, that one. Of course I can't remember what happened to my copy

No, I'm not familiar with that one, but I'll look out for it. I don't know why certain moments are inprinted on one's mind more than others. My memory can be a very slippery character - I remember things from over 40 years ago, but sometimes I can't recall what I had for breakfast, and I only ever have two different things

There's a phrase in the UK - "You've got a face as long as a wet weekend in Accrington". Accrington is a town in Lancashire which isn't known for its vibrant social scene and nightlife, and it rains there a lot because its near to the west coast of England, so a wet weekend there would seem to drag on forever. The phrase itself means to have a *really* long (sad) face. The thing is, I lived there for a year, and although it must have rained a lot, all I remember is walking up on the moor on pleasant, sunny days. My memory seems to have blocked out or just forgotten all the boring stuff, and it's the nice things I remember. I must add though, that during the long hot summer if 1976, when the rest of the country was basking in 80 and 90 degree temperatures, and when the rest of the country was suffering one of the worst droughts for years, two friends and I went to The Lake District for a fortnight and it rained just about every day! That can be a bit of a drag when you're camping. So I guess the memory does remember some of the unpleasant stuff!

The book is really one of the 'craziest' books I ever read
It's fun because it describes how people were taught to 'remember' things. As far as I remember (since it's been a long time since I read and lost the book) - it starts with the Greeks - then the Romans and Middle Ages onwards, but it stops around the 16th century.
(Of course, it all really started with several knots in a string, where each represented a group of things to remember, part of a saga, part of a prayer, a sucession of ancestors' names and deeds.)

The concept of 'a place' for each thing. How people learned to associate complex images with immense lists of facts. How the ancient monuments, and even relatively recent buildings (in historical terms) are based on these principles.

If you have a better memory - you have greater concentration. I know the previous generation was much brighter than mine. They had to memorise so many things. But contemporary educators decided it wasn't productive. I think they missed that link. Now people have to buy those expensive memory programs to try to recover that lost art.

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but I suppose you still hate the idea of camping

Hmmm, with the greatest of respect to your opinions PE, I'm wouldn't neccessarily agree with the idea that having more to concenrate on always makes you brighter, and by inference, better. I *do* agree that having more to concentrate upon keeps your mind sharp, just the way that exercising your body keeps it trim, fit, and supple, but like everything else, only if it's done in moderation. I think that people of my parent's generation (born in the 1910's and 20's), and those born in the 30's and 40's too grew up in a world where you had to use your mind much more because they didn't have information at the touch of a button unless it was the button that opened your address book or phone book. I was born in the 50's, and I think that's the crossover decade - I grew up in the 60's and 70's when things were just beginning to change, so I have the older skills, but I'm also now using the newer ones, but not always. I never use the address book in my email programme for instance - I keep all my email addresses in a notebook file in 'My Documents'. This helps me to remember the addresses because I look at them each time I type them in or cut'n'paste, and it also stops dead any viruses that use your address book to proliferate.

Now though, there are a group of people whose formative years were in the 80's, and grew up in that period of 'you must be at your desk by 6am and still there at 9pm and if you're not then you're letting the team and the company down'. They tend to use their mind *too* much by always being on the go, always having to have something to do, always feeling guilty if they're not busy. They never have time to the little things that are so important like taking a breather, looking around, enjoying a sunset. Those things are a waste of time to them. So I say again - moderation. It's not neccessary to always strive for more and better. Some people will never know satisfaction, but there are others who stop when they reach a point where they are content with what they have. You strike me as being that content kind of person.

You're right - the idea of camping in a tent doesn't appeal to me any more, but after having spent two years living out of a delivery van (which I used for work during the day, so it wasn't converted for living in, like the ones the New Age Travellers use), I don't mind being peripatetic. As a matter of fact, it's very good for keeping your concentration sharp because there are no lights at the flick of a switch or water at the turn of a tap or fresh food straight out of the fridge. It really keeps you on your toes.