I was going through my hard disk and deleting a mass of useless and temporary files which were cluttering up my computer and slowing it down. Of particular concern was the accumulated rubbish. I was quite ashamed of the atrocious quality of many of the video and image files that were stored for no good reason.
If only, I thought, I could clean out my mind and delete all the rubbish stored there for no good reason. It always amazes me that stuff I have no use for, and which has no redeeming features, is stored permanently in my memory whereas important and useful stuff I would like to remember is stored nowhere.
Just during the time it has taken to write this, the following indelible trivia rises, unbidden, unforgettable, into the forefront of my memory:
- A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
- If a woodchuck could chuck wood, how much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could, and would, chuck wood.
- The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep,
- Double double toil and trouble but which witch is which?
- 1729 is the smallest number which can be the sum of two different cubes in two different ways – 10 and 9 and 12 and 1.
- To be, or not to be not, are pretty much the same.
- The boy stood on the burning deck, and perished like an idiot.
The longer I sit here, the more trivia bubbles up. But I cannot recall my children’s telephone numbers. Of course I don’t need to – but I cannot if I try.
When it comes to deleting memories I certainly have no free will.
