ChasFink
Justified & Ancient
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2016
- Messages
- 2,511
Was his father a carpenter in town for the census?No, as a baby who had been put down in the barn while his parents were working.
Was his father a carpenter in town for the census?No, as a baby who had been put down in the barn while his parents were working.
I'd written a long reply yesterday exploring that very point ... just about to send and deleted it instead. Oh I had plenty of language for that I can tell you!!!I've read somewhere (because I have an interest in such things) that memories tend to be formed more easily when the mind has the language to describe them,
It does frustrate me at times. I very rarely remember my dreams. Probably because they are mostly mundane. I may only remember the exciting ones.Which brings me to wondering why do some people not remember their dreams? I feel sorry for people who don't and feel they are missing out.
I have no idea. I am unconvinced that memory is neatly divided into short-term and long-term, as my memory is not bimodal. I suspect that memory occurs on a gradient of ephemeral to decades long, and how well it persists can be changed by events long after the creation of the memory.What I find interesting is - you know when you have one of those 'flashback' moments during the day, when you suddenly remember a dream from the night before? Some people tend to say things like 'oh, you just broke my dream from last night...' and then you remember scenes or details from the dream.
Well, how does this work? Either dreams go into long term memory (which happens if you recite them to yourself as you wake up, or write them down, or make a conscious effort to remember) or they don't, and just vanish into the ether. Which is natural, as, given the number of dreams we have, if we remembered every single one, our brains would be full.
So why the sudden memory?
From anything I've read, memories are first filed in 'short term' memory, but constant revisiting of them causes them to be shifted into long term memory. So anything disposable, only needed to be remembered for a moment, will slide back out again, whereas things that we constantly think about has reinforced neural pathways which mean it's long term memory.I have no idea. I am unconvinced that memory is neatly divided into short-term and long-term, as my memory is not bimodal. I suspect that memory occurs on a gradient of ephemeral to decades long, and how well it persists can be changed by events long after the creation of the memory.
Don't we have a real memory expert on here? Or am I remembering this wrong?!? Memory-person, please weigh in.
Might have more to do with survival instincts being stored long term, as to forget them completely would mean falling foul of your own demise!From anything I've read, memories are first filed in 'short term' memory, but constant revisiting of them causes them to be shifted into long term memory. So anything disposable, only needed to be remembered for a moment, will slide back out again, whereas things that we constantly think about has reinforced neural pathways which mean it's long term memory.
But dreams - there's not really any need or reason to remember dreams. Some seem to hang on longer after waking, therefore get revisted more and dwelt on, and therefore get pushed into long term memory. But what about the ones that slip away on waking, only to be jolted back into the forefront of our memories when something happens that makes you think 'hang on, I dreamed that last night...' and bang, there's a memory of at least part of a previous dream.
I used to keep a dream diary (don't judge me...). I found it during the house move and re read. Some of the images from the dreams I'd written down I could still remember. Others were just blanks, to the extent that I wondered what cheese I had eaten before bed to come up with them.
I have a few clear memories of playing out in the street in front of our old house (we moved when I was 4). However, what has really bothered me is that I have absolutely no memories of the 1966 World Cup. I have always been a football fan and cannot understand how I cannot have retained some memory of such a nationally important event. I am a fan of singer/songwriter Billy Bragg and in his autobiography he discribes walking with his Dad at half time and he had never seen the normally busy high street so deserted. We are bith the same age and from the same general area but always wonder why our memories differ so much.I have very clear memories from the age of two, including my sister being born, and some vague ones from earlier than that. I certainly remember England winning the World Cup in 1966 and being taught to read before I started school, both when I was three.
I can remember being in my pushchair which had a black vinyl interior (the early 1970s) and the hot sun making it so scorching it burnt my arm. My brother was born when I was 2 and then I remember sitting on the pram seat as it lunged forward as mum went up the kerb. Clear memories from such an early age. Not saying other people’s aren’t imagined but these are real.I have a very very vague childhood memory from when I was 5 years old and was involved in an accident where I received a nasty cut below an eye. Other than that most of my earliest memories are from when I was 7, 8 or older.
I do find it a little unbelievable when listening to psychics and mediums who claim to have extremely clear recollections of interactions with spirits from the age of 3. And a guy on telly recently was recounting the sad death of his mother from a heart attack when he was 3 years old and was saying how helpless he remembers feeling because he couldn’t help with the CPR that others were attempting to save his mothers life. I strongly suspect he would have little understanding of what was happening at that age.
Am I unusual in not being able to clearly remember incidents from age 3 or are some of these people imagining false memories from such a tender age?
...does he recall, maybe ahem, three older, wiser looking types coming to see him?No, as a baby who had been put down in the barn while his parents were working.
...was the baker “ Two ton Ted from Teddington”, perchance? ( and that also is on theme- we can probably all remember that particular number 1) ....What Tyler I too remember being about the same age and locking my Mother in the outside toilet and going off to play.
She had to wait till the visiting baker let her out.
I have a few clear memories of playing out in the street in front of our old house (we moved when I was 4). However, what has really bothered me is that I have absolutely no memories of the 1966 World Cup. I have always been a football fan and cannot understand how I cannot have retained some memory of such a nationally important event. I am a fan of singer/songwriter Billy Bragg and in his autobiography he discribes walking with his Dad at half time and he had never seen the normally busy high street so deserted. We are bith the same age and from the same general area but always wonder why our memories differ so much.
Yes. it was Barking Road!If he’s talking about Barking, my family would have been watching the final about 500 yards from the High St, which is an odd coincidence
That’s a bit further away, but within a mile or two, close enough to still be odd!Yes. it was Barking Road!
There is another strange coincidence in that book. Billy talks about his first paper round. His round started at the WWII prefabs on the corner of Victoria Road and Ilford Lane. My Nans prefab was the first on the corner!That’s a bit further away, but within a mile or two, close enough to still be odd!
What I find interesting is - you know when you have one of those 'flashback' moments during the day, when you suddenly remember a dream from the night before? Some people tend to say things like 'oh, you just broke my dream from last night...' and then you remember scenes or details from the dream.
Well, how does this work? Either dreams go into long term memory (which happens if you recite them to yourself as you wake up, or write them down, or make a conscious effort to remember) or they don't, and just vanish into the ether. Which is natural, as, given the number of dreams we have, if we remembered every single one, our brains would be full.
So why the sudden memory?
Only trouble there is that rubber bands can quickly become perishable!In Transactional Analysis they call it rubber banding. The theory is that each memory is attached to an elastic band, and something similar or familiar in the present pulls on the elastic band thus triggering recall.
I don't very often remember my dreams, and the ones I do remember are ones I was having when I've been prematurely woken up, for example if someone rings the doorbell. We tend only to dream whilst in REM sleep, and if waking naturally, we pass through shallower stages of sleep where the memory of the dream fades prior to us waking up fully.
MrHermolle, is it possible that the stream was actually run off from the farm ? And you were playing in contaminated water, hence the orang mud? This could explain why the other boy warned you off, as he would have been told not to play there by his father.Away from the original topic perhaps but I have an odd childhood memory, going back 40 years to when I was 10. At the back of our house we were living in was a farmers field on a slightly lower level to the garden. At the edge of the field was what seemed to be a marshy ares full of long grass. I remember being fascinated by the sound of running water - a stream I couldnt see? One day the fence was down and I got to explore this marshy area. Thete was indeed a small stream flowing from a culvert that came from under the garden. In my memory the stream was narrow but quite deep , leading off from this there was a deep trench full of weird orange mud. We played there for a couple of weeks until the farmers son (our age) came over and said we would be in 'serious trouble' if we were caught playing there... So we didnt and the fences soon got fixed anyway. The whole memory seems unreal and dream-like. No-on else in my family remembers this area anf the stream. Met up over the weekend with my next door neighbor for the first time since the 80s. He bought up the stream as well - I spoke to his parents whp have no memory of the stream either. Seems its just me and him. But its odf how such a small thing has becone such a vivid memory - more important than what the memory should be. My old 10xt door neighbour felt the same too - he was only 5 years old at the time as well - I was 10. Ive looked on Google Maps too and theres just a farmers field - no sign of a stream or a grassy area. Maybe it got filled in - but the whole memory has a heavy strangeness about it.