Because of the nature of my job throughout my teaching career and add to this the fact that I also have Epilepsy, the functioning of the brain has always interested me.
The brain really is such a fascinating organ. My son, as a child of about eight I suppose, was bought for Christmas one year a book about the Human Body. I can't remember what it was called but I do know that (at the age of almost 66!) he still has it on his (very laden) booshelves and both of us still call it by the name it went under when he was a young boy. It is the "Whirl, whirl, down into the butt book". This was because the frontespiece was a line drawing of the human body filled with drawings of various functioning parts. The brain was a mass of little compartments, each one with a little chap working hard at the task assigned to that part of the brain.
The body had somebody with bellows working hard keeping the lungs full of air - and so on to the lower bowel and bladder which exited into a water butt. It fascinated him as a child and we spent hours looking at it.
It always comes into my mind when I go on a 'trip' like yesterday, when friends T and S kindly took me to Woodlands Hospital in Darlington for a preliminary examination to have cataracts removed.
It is a good six years since I stopped driving and sold my car. (I strongly believe that nobody over 85 should be allowed to drive. However good our reflex systems are they are not capable over that age of quick reactions in an emergency).
Yesterday, driven very efficiently by T, who was being fed directions equally efficiently by S from the rear seat, we went on quite a roundabout route as they kindly like to take me through the villages rather than on the A1, so that I can see - and enjoy - the seasons. Yesterday the beginning of the changing of the colour of the leaves as Autumn begins to bite.
I used to drive regularly from here to Lincoln (my sister in law still lived there) there and back in one day. Leave the farm at 7am - the farmer waiting for my call at 9am to say I had arrived and again watching for my car coming down the drive at around 7pm. I could recite off by heart all the villages I passed through. Can't remember them now. Similarly of my regular trips for the day to Derby to see my sister and take her out from her Care Home for lunch. Can't remember the way there now either.
But - and here is the point - I could still take you in my head from my home in Lincolnshire to any point around the county. I can still remember the Lincolnshire Road Car Bus Inspector standing at the door of the last bus (I had had to leave the cinema early to catch it (10pm) calling out: "Last bus to Sleaford calling at Washingborough, Heighington, Branston, Potterhanworth, Nocton, Dunston, Metheringham, Ruskington, Dorrington and Sleaford." Similarly I could drive you in my mind from Lincoln to Horncastle, to Woodhall Spa, to Louth.
Yesterday we drove through lovely villages, through trees just beginning to exchange their leaves for the bare branches of Winter. I knew the names of the villages and often recognised a house where I had been with various friends over the last thirty years. But if T had dropped me off anywhere en route (having got fed up with my rattling on about the beauty of the countryside we were passing through) - I would have been completely lost.
I suspect you are the same. Over the years our brains seem to fill up with a lot of what becomes superfluous information as we move on literally and metaphorically but somehow what we learned in childhood seems to stick there.
(Dare I say that that even is true of our times tables. the Pythagorus theorem and how many days there are in each month).
You may not agree with me but I think the brain is the most fascinating thing - its working defies my imagination- but I know that now I shall never be able to recite off by heart the way from Leyburn to Darlington. I shall for ever have to rely on dear T and S to get me there.
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22 comments:
I sometimes think of the function of any organ (and resent that I can't see them in action - who knows what's going on inside one's body? You can't exactly lift the bonnet, can you?). So the heart is the motor, the kidneys the waterfalls, god knows what the spleen is for, the pancreas a silent mystery, a gall bladder a potential and absolute pain, and - not least - the liver. The liver at whose shrine I worship. The liver, the great detoxifier, working overtime when push comes to shove. Indefatigable.
The brain? The brain is at the helm of the whole caboodle. Without a functioning brain we are nothing. Don't tell anyone I said that - otherwise I'll be accused of god knows what.
My brain is still fully functioning. I could drive you round Piccadilly Circus on a Friday afternoon, Paris (if ever there was madness); at a push I'd still find my way round Rome. Without SatNav.
When I say fully functioning there are odd moments when I dig for, say, a name of a long ago person or an actor/musician/whatever. I will always have the first letter right. Then I put it to the back of my mind. And what do you know? Five minutes later that vast archive (my brain) delivers the rest. It's quite miraculous. Mind you, sticking with the theme and not wishing to be morbid (though what's wrong with dealing with facts?) occasionally I think it such a pity that all we have accumulated in said brain over a lifetime we'll take with us to the grave - to never be used/useful again. Mind you, the Angel (my son) has this theory that we are all part of the whole, the cosmos, consciousness - dead or alive. As consolation prizes go I'll buy that whole sale.
All the best, Pat, as ever you are such a joy to read,
Ursula
Interesting post as always, Pat. Indeed, there is so much information we absorb as children and on into adulthood and that's one of the best things about life.
It's always a bit surprising when names of people I knew from work and long ago neighborhoods pop into my head and I wonder if they're still alive and I wish them well wherever they are.
Like you, I hope to never lose my curiosity!
Hugs!
The brain is indeed an amazing organ. I can still remember my grandmother's telephone number from the the early 1940's, and the route number of the bus which ran through the village.
It's just remembering which day of the week it is that sometimes catches me out!
Another lovely post Pat, thank you.
Sadly, I think you are right to say we should not drive after we are about 85, no matter how quick we feel our reactions are.
I cannot imagine the heartache following a car accident involving injury which I know has happened as a result of an elderly person acting a second or two too slowly while driving.
My brother still drives in his late 80s and would argue till the sun goes down that he is ok to do so.
As always with your blog - lots of food for thought Pat. I have asked my sister (early 80s) to take great care driving and she is a bit miffed at me over the comment. But I have noticed her reaction time is much slower lately. My husband and I are in our mid 60s and we sometimes have difficulty thinking of a recent term but I have noticed that we can now remember a name or number from many years ago. Yes, the brain is fascinating. I am a bit unsure about all of the Dementia and Alzheimer's drugs though. While I know we are fortunate to have these available, actually knowing when to consider them is the quandary. Here in the U.S., if one is on Medicare, we must pass a test at our annual doctor visit. I have mixed feelings about the questions and possible reporting of answers. Jackie
On the other hand, if someone were to take you on that forgotten journey to Derby, you would soon find yourself recalling all kinds of landmarks which were there on your earlier journeys. So where were all those memories hiding? And how about a child learning to catch a ball? In order to do that we have to estimate the speed that the ball is travelling and calculate the parabola of the path that it will follow, then we have to time it so that our hands close over the ball at that split second when it arrives. You'd need to do some very complicated mathematics to work that out, but with a little practice most children learn to do it.
Around here, landmarks change and so I don't often recognize the area. I'm happy to use the GPS in my phone to get me places these days!
I have instant recall of the phone number I grew up with, but couldn't tell you what anybody's mobile is instantly. Even have to pause for my own.
I've lived in this house for 13 years and am still unfamiliar with surrounding street names, whereas growing up in the childhood home, we knew streets both near and quite far, guess as a result of much bike-riding and walking, and not the quick glances from a driver's perspective.
My mother is nearly 96, and is still cross with me about insisting she give up driver's licence at 89. It was not negotiable.
I remember the names of so many people I went to school with as a small child, and often wonder what happened to them as it was quite a tough school. At times we had to stand up and give our father's occupation (never our mother's!) and our religion, which the teacher duly recorded. Even then, I thought it was an excuse to be nosy, but I couldn't help but be fascinated. mortifying as it was for some. - Pam.
The research on the brain in the last 30 or so years has given much information as to what is going on up there.
Hello, dear WoG! Happy to hear you are going to get your cataracts taken care of! Having gone through it myself, you are going to be amazed at the difference. Like having new eyes! Seems as if everyone I know is suddenly having cataract surgery. It's that time of life, I guess... I am just so thankful that it's such an easy procedure these days, compared to what was involved decades ago when you had to lie in bed with sand bags holding your head in place! Can't imagine. Speaking of the brain...
Hubby and I just returned from a wonderful two weeks in Scotland. Our brains are working overtime to navigate driving on the 'wrong' side of the road, and the steering wheel on the 'wrong' side of the car (perhaps I should say 'opposite', but you know what I mean). Then throw in the roundabouts and single track, and egads, it just amazes me where we are able to go! That being said, we have come to rely heavily on our trusty (mostly) GPS to assist us. There was a time, not so many years ago, when I sniffed rather condescendingly at drivers using this feature, thinking, "That's what our brains are for!" As you can tell, I have changed my tune.
Glad you have lovely neighbors and a son to assist you when you need to go places. I love your spirit and the insight you have on life and the world. And your positive outlook--especially that! I wish I could 'pop in' for a cup of tea and a chat with you in person! A very dear friend of mine, also a retired teacher, lived to be 100 (missed 101 by only a few days), and she was so sharp and intellectually curious and interested in the world every day of her life. Never once complained or felt sorry for herself, which she easily could've done. You remind me so much of her. I am newly retired from teaching, a 'kid' of 65 (okay, 66 in less than a week), and enjoying the freedom of not having to set an alarm and get up to go to work. As teachers, we are lifelong learners, and I hope I have a few more decades to live with the same joie de vivre and optimism that shine through your thoughts and words, just as my late friend and mentor Dorothy exuded. So happy to have rediscovered you and your wonderful blog. I'll be dropping by more often. I just pinned it to the top of my computer page for easy access. Doesn't that make you feel important? ;-)
If I had my life to live over again, I would have liked to study neuro science. Brains fascinate me too, probably because mine doesn't work all that well at times. Depression is such a sneaky bugger. I find that stress really plays havoc with my brain as well.
Yesterday, my grandson sat on my lap and we watched videos of barium swallows because he started out asking about MRI scanners, then MRI brain images, and so it goes. He was quite fascinated by the vidoes. It's amazing what children can find online. I would have loved the internet as a child, love it now as a senior. The information available online is astounding.
In my late teens to early twenties I regularly drove from Sussex to North Wales, where we had a cottage. I knew the route perfectly, and am sure that I would still find it easily (unless they've changed everything).
Thinking about what you said about journeys Pat reminds me of how geographically inept I am about this part of Yorkshire with all of its towns. I much prefer the world of maps, with a north, south, east and west reference than satnav and a silly line to follow.
Welcome to Jacque from Colorado - join the clan/ I like to imagine we are all chatting in one room rather than words on the page. We are an interesting lot of folk - some are wonderful wordsmiths, some are brilliant photographers, some are all rounders. What we all are is Blog-pals and we give one another a great boost.
Thanks everyone - I am glad to see you have all got the old brains working to think about the brain. Also relieved to find that our 'over-full' brains are all experiencing the same problems.
In a book about neurology, I have read that neuroscientists all agree that with every answer they find about how our brains work, a multitude of new questions arise.
Utterly fascinating!
Lincolnshire buses went as far as Goole. Green. They had a garage there.
One pair of my great-grandparents were from Saleby (near Mablethorpe) and Amber Hill (Sutterton Fen). The rest were Yorkshire.
In the old days I would familiarise myself with a route before setting off in the car, but then satnav came along and I lost a lot of common sense and sense of direction through sheer laziness. I get lost more now than I did before satnav. If I do go back to somewhere I haven't been for 40 years, I don't recognise it.
Tom!! Lost a lot of common sense?
Sheer laziness?
Come on now - don't do yourself down like that - you are one of my pin up boys!
Thank you for the warm welcome back! I do enjoy reading everyone's comments, and I certainly feel the camaraderie and familiarity among the WoG 'clan'. I love reading anything that makes me think more deeply and broadly, and your blog fits the bill nicely. I'm going to enjoy working my way back through your posts, as well. I did so a bit yesterday, and when I found your poem to 'your farmer' and leaving a bouquet of flowers for him on the fence, it moved me deeply. I shall look backward as well as forward to more of your poems! Poetry expresses the human experience as no other kind of writing can...
Cheers! And have a lovely rest of your day!
I remember the number of our first phone. 4351. It became LO4351 and then 5624351. I was in elementary school.now I save my numbers on my phone. No landline…I have had so many phone numbers with 31 moves and tons of different cell phones. Your blog is thought provoking. Love it.
I just read your post for the first time and it was quite iteresting. I have a penpal that lives in your part of the world, have written to her for years. And, I have read a lot of English history from pre-historic times up through about Queen Elizabeth I. Also loved the James Herriot books and the "Last of the Summer Wine" TV show. I live in Indiana in the USA. I am 91 - I still drive locally, gave up driving in large cities. Our leaves are also turning and some are falling - the job of getting them off of the lawn is almost a full time job as we have a lot of trees in our lawn (live in the country). Our weather as suddenly cooled off quite a bit.Good luck with your cataract surgery - I had that done a number of years ago and was very successful. Hope you hae a good day.
Amy
I love this description.
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