Cognitive Ability and the Barry Humphries UK Tour 2022 Promo Clip

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Ageing and memory loss purportedly go hand in hand; Covid-19 and brain fog dominate the headlines; there's also menopause with the impact on cognitive functions of changing oestrogen levels. Is it little wonder that I am a tad paranoid at present?

Then at the weekend the Observer published a story on the hidden long terms risks of surgery  where studies have shown that the brain takes a pounding in the arms of anaesthesia. Call me neurotic if you wish but I am now constantly on the look out for personal symptoms signalling a worrying decline. I'm not sure that, whilst lunching with my brilliant gym buddies today, muddling up the name of a potential venue for a future meet up is a concerning sign or not.

Still I am conscious that where once I might have relied on pure mental ability to house a personal calendar and schedule deadlines, I now have a tendency to make a digital list synchronising across all devices. Mister E prefers paper and pen, but as a consequence I find his lists everywhere.

Obviously I dread the day I miss a vital appointment, so presently I find myself checking and re-checking just to make sure I've made the appropriate diary entry correctly. This weekend we hosted a cousin and her husband whilst friends from Suffolk called in on a journey Northwards meaning we ended up preparing a family dinner for 7 on Sunday night and lunch for 6 on Monday. I daren't tell you how often I checked to ensure I had the correct dates for everybody. Of course I did, and I think a wonderful time was had by all as new and old acquaintanceships were struck up or re-ignited.

However, success in recognising that any potential loss of mental faculties has so far failed to impair my ability to organise my own social engagements was offset by an experience walking around Richmond on Monday evening before four of us went for dinner. As we strolled along the footpath in front of The Georgian Theatre we were confronted by a queue of two apparently waiting for the theatre to open. Drawing closer to them, they asked if we had come to see the Barry Humphries tour. They explained that they had tickets for the 7.30 pm performance and although they had been asked to be in the auditorium for 7.00 pm, the theatre doors had not opened, the building appeared lifeless and they could not understand where everyone was.

Our first thought was obviously that they had the wrong night but the elderly gentleman drew the tickets from his pocket to confirm that they were indeed for 25th April. We could be of no assistance and moved on. As we left the town ten minutes later by car for our restaurant reservation, we noticed that they were still queueing forlornly. My cousin decided to check out the position using her mobile data connection. Barry Humphries was indeed scheduled to appear that night at 7.30 pm in Richmond but at The Victorian Theatre, 240 miles away in Richmond, Surrey!

I propose continuing to check and re-check all my arrangements.

 

 

Comments

Treaders said…
Oh those poor folks missing his concert! I have always been pretty administratively minded - my various jobs demanded it and I guess I'm that way inclined (as opposed to creative). BUT I quit my job in 1983 to spend six months backpacking round Australia. Flew to England to see my parents and then they drove me down to Gatwick to catch my Garuda flight. Only thing was, I was at the wrong airport (should have gone to Heathrow), so yeah, we all screw up sometimes. On the positive side, I was SOOOOO early for my flight that I actually made it to Heathrow just in time for my flight. That being said, I'm still a list-maker and keep a paper diary in my bedroom which I check every day. You can never be too careful can you!
28 April 2022 at 20:31
Caree Risover said…
You’ve just reminded me of someone I knew who went to Heathrow in error so made a mad dash to Gatwick by taxi only to find her flight was fog bound and ended up being transported by bus back to Heathrow where her plane had landed instead and was waiting to take off from! But you are right about never being too careful: these days I can check something so often that I even irritate myself!
28 April 2022 at 20:50
Cathy said…
For some reason I missed this post Caree……anyway I could sort of excuse a wrong theatre gaff - Georgian v Victorian but wrong town just does cut it does it! Now you’ve got us all wondering were the couple locals or out of towners, were they gifted the tickets or did they make their own booking, what was actually printed on the tickets to make them think they were in the correct place…...and was the air blue when they realised their mistake???


The perils of general anaesthetics and the effect on the brain have been known for a long long time….was the paper reworking an article maybe, trying to attract new readers?
30 April 2022 at 09:29
Caree Risover said…
Oh dear, not sure my brain can cope with all those questions (just kidding?). All I can say is, they reiterate exactly our own discussion but sadly I don’t know the answers. And yes, there are so many things known to affect the mental faculties but sometimes it’s good to remind ourselves of these, especially if the effect is a temporary blip only.
30 April 2022 at 09:40
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