Apologies again for not writing more often, but time really flies when you're having fun, or have a lot of work or are traveling or all of the just mentioned as seems to be the case for me.

I have been snowed under with work and have been away from the island for a couple of days (for those of you who are keeping notes, I've been to Puerto Rico on a work related trip, so unfortunately nothing special to report). I'm also pretty sure that I had some fun somewhere in between, but here is the thing, I can't particularly remember. This has become a big deal for me lately. Remembering stuff. I seem to have stopped remembering stuff.

I used to be very good at it, indeed I was (maybe I even still am) well known for it. The good old Platzl hotel where I did my training did not have the keycards that every hotel seems to have now, but real keys with number tags. I was famous for recognizing guests and their room number so I could give them their key even before they asked for it.

I also used to be very good at remembering birthdays, car license plates and names. The birthdays I still try to keep up even though I have to make use of little gagdets for it. Any license plate other than my own (and I find even that taxing these days) has been erased from memory.

Names (and people) then is the really worrying bit. I increasingly meet people that I could swear I have never before seen in my life. These people however are very familiar with me and who might even have been through some rather hair-raising situations (hair-raising for them that is) with me. I obviously try to pretend remembering all these particular incidents and fake recognition, but afterwards I have conversations with people that remember us both that go something like this:

Me: Now who the hell was that?

Common friend (CF): Well, that was Miss XY of course

Me: Who is Miss XY?

CF: She was in the year below us in College in Switzerland and you were really trying to chat her up at the Summer Barbecue on Riederalp.

Me: I've never been to a barbecue at Riederalp.

CF: Yes, you've been. You were part of the organizing team.

Me: I was what? When the heck was that? What happened?

CF: Well, everybody got pretty drunk, you disappeared for a while with Miss XY, almost missed the last gondola back down to the valley and in the end she took over your room when you left Switzerland.

Me: I had a room?

I have had conversations like this with my ex-girlfriend that went on for days and I still have been none the wiser at the end.

I guess it's just a sign of age and I have to say there is three good things I can say about age:

I can sleep sitting up now, I can read the same book or watch the same TV program over and over again with no clue as towards the outcome and I can't actually remember the third thing.

At least it adds entertainment value for everybody else. Increasingly I have telephone conversations with the girls in my office that go like this:

Me: S, I'm in Purchasing, why am I here?

S: You've gone to get some Purchase Orders.

Me: Thank you.

Similarly I have wandered from my bedroom to the kitchen (which is not all that far) to find that upon arrival I had no clue what I wanted in the kitchen.

You would think that this problem gets better the older you get as there is less of a mind to grow absent, but it doesn't seem to work that way.

My neighbor, the ever loyal Miss M from P has put me on some Gingko tablets now to sort of provide doping to the gray matter upstairs. We'll see if it works, or, more interestingly, if I remember to take the tablets on time.

Speaking of time: Time is actually another interesting one: Should the police ever show up and ask: Where were you in the hours between 4pm and 11pm on December 21? I will just hold out my hands for them to cuff me and take me away as there is no chance of me remembering.

It's been like this for as long as I can remember, which, of course, is not very long.

In any case, before rambling on forever, I better quit. I believe the point I was trying to make was that forgetfulness is not necessarily a bad thing, but to tell you the truth, I don't remember now.