Memories, Like The......erm

I was going to treat you, dear reader, to details of my trip into Liverpool last Friday night and shock you with a revelation: there are in three pubs in town that I'd never previously visited! As it turns out, I'm assured I've been in one of them, I have a suspicion I've been in another and the third is a new pub, so that one doesn't really count either.

It was probably the swimming that skewed my memory; physical exercise can do that to you. The water was too hot, so it had probably coddled my brain; also, my eyes and chlorine don't get on, so my vision was blurred by the time we stepped back out into the early evening air. We'd had a similar experience in Caerfai Bay a few weeks earlier but that time the water had been too cold. After stopping in a few minutes too long, we staggered around like fools on the beach until we regained our senses; hyperthermia was setting in, Catherine nearly lost a hand!

Anyway, we'd noticed The Cross Keys, in the back streets behind Old Hall Street, a week or two earlier while walking the dog. Apparently, it had been a popular pub in the days of the boxing stadium and was now used mainly as a lunchtime retreat by the local office workers. It has a similar feel to The Old Harker's Arms in Chester, for good or bad. It was packed when we got in, so we stayed for one and decided to move on.

Outside, we headed towards Ma Boyles, the famous 'Guinness and oysters' pub near the waterfront. I was on a roll now, another new pub; what are the chances of that, or so I thought. A pint in there before the pull of pastures new took us again. We weren't particularly looking for unknown pleasures but as we walked towards Rigby's, passing The Courtyard entrance, I spotted The Lady of Mann. It's more of an annexe to Rigby's but that's beside the point, a new pub is a new pub.

Later, the doubts started circling above me; had I been in The Cross Keys years ago. I went for an interview at the Littlewoods building just after I left university. Afterwards the two men who'd done the interviewing had taken me to lunch in a pub nearby; could it have been there? I can't think of anywhere else round there that it might have been but places change and it was twenty years ago. What doesn't change is that I didn't get the job, so I obviously dazzled them with my brilliance! Interviews have never been my strong suit and being taken to the pub as part of the process was probably too much for me to cope with.

Yesterday, on the way home from Blackburn, the second pillar was knocked out. Catherine and Sam had been on a day out in East Lancashire, so I told Sam where we'd been last Friday. Shamefully, I can't remember any of this but I'd been in Ma Boyle's with her many years ago and she can even recall what I ate there! I know I've got a bad memory but, Judas Priest, bringing back that level of detail is just plain scary.

So, this list ticking exercise has turned into a celebration of my rubbish memory. The main benefit of this is, of course, that you gain whole new experiences from repeating long forgotten ones. This can be annoying for other people but that’s their problem. It’s better than remembering things that didn’t happen; they have a syndrome for that particular memory defect.

I’m sure there was a point to all of this but……