When the fairies doled out my christening gifts, they forgot a perfect memory. My weakness is names. But I’m not alone. According to David Eagleton’s, Sum, we waste over two hours of our lives wondering if we are talking to Sheila or Eileen. Memory is selective, and while good ones are useful – remember David Cameron wowing blue rinse Tories by speaking without notes? – there is no such thing as a perfect memory.
The French diplomat Charles Talleyrand once remarked: “When a diplomat says ‘Yes’, he means ‘Maybe’; when he says ‘Maybe’, he means ‘No’; and if he say ‘No’, he’s no diplomat at all.” Talleyrand’s diplomatic prowess in the reign of King Louis XVI and then Emperor Napoleon I is legendary and earned him the sobriquet ‘The Prince of Diplomats’.
It’s a pertinent question as Arctic conditions grip Britain. And as we enter a New Year that’s guaranteed to bring its further share of surprises.
For whatever our desire for control in our lives, one thing that life guarantees us is its fundamental unpredictability...
