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[ 4 minute read ]
Now where was I?
I think I lead a better life without me being there sometimes. At least, my memory is never invited to the events of my better or more interesting life.
A while ago, I needed a Phillips screwdriver, you know, the one that some people call a cross-head screwdriver, and is also the one that almost every one uses for the screws that have an 'X' in the head (some people use flat-head screwdrivers or knives). I looked in the usual places for lost things in my home: in all the kitchen drawers; behind the chairs; behind the microwave oven; in the bathroom; in the bookcases, behind the books; and, of course, in my toolboxes. I even tried a spell - 'Who stole my screwdriver?'. That spell usually leaves me feeling sheepish when I find a lost item within twenty seconds of evoking it (usually the right one). I still didn't find the screwdriver. Nowhere! Eventually, I bought a new cross-head screwdriver.
A while ago, I needed some screws. I usually have packets of them in the 'compartmentalised screw, washer, whatsit, and thingammy-bob container'. I could not find the right size screws there. This time I didn't look in all the usual hideouts for lost things. I had a half thought, 'I have used them....' The rest of the thought should have been furnished with my memory of where I had used them. My memory had nothing. Puzzling.
I use the same once expensive office paraphernalia back-pack at least twice a month (I bought it cheap in a charity /thrift shop). Like most backpacks it has compartments for stuff. This one has a laptop pocket and those little loops that hold pens, so unless I am going to my Westminster office or the one on Wall Street, I don't use it. In truth, my office in the UK is called the toilet, or when I am in the US, the bathroom (I have never been). All I use my special office paraphernalia backpack for is a bit of light shopping that goes into the main compartment; until yesterday when I attended an event. Someone gave me an A6-sized card and I had to put in somewhere. I found the Phillips / cross-head screwdriver and three packets of screws of three different sizes.
Where had I been and when? I often find that I am at a specific time and place that should have a link to a part of my past, yet I don't know what it is. They are kind of like when someone comes up to you as though they know you and gush a bit, and you are struggling to remember their name or why they like you so much.
'We must catch up more often!'
Not going to happen!
Newly found screwdriver and screws ahand (sic - but you will struggle to find the definition online - 'in hand'. It is a bit like 'afoot' and 'abound')
(Newly found screwdriver and screws ahand) I thought 'Spooky!' Clearly, I had used the screwdriver and screws somewhere outside of my home, and not locally, otherwise they would have gone into my pocket. If I put them into the office paraphernalia back-pack I probably also put something else in the main compartment. Since I use the backpack fairly often and have done so many times since I lost the screwdriver and screws, either the tool (if it was a tool) is back in the toolbox or a cuckoo clock (If I ever had one) is on someone's wall.
You know when optimists say, 'Never say never!'? At this stage in my critical thinking, I am going to say, 'Never say I never had a cuckoo-clock'. I might have had more than one but like the screwdriver and screws disappearing and appearing a while ago Cuckoo-clocks or jars of honey (no screws needed) might also have done so. Did I go with them?
I have recently been thinking about whether mass can cross from one plane of existence to another, and haven't reached a conclusion on that. However, I am fairly certain that it can't. This leads me to understand that I have done a job nearby but have absolutely zero memory of it. Although I do remember when I could not find the screwdriver; from which I extrapolate, I probably last used it two years ago.
I just really hope I had a good time when I fixed something somewhere some time ago. Did anyone come up to me and gush a bit and say 'Thanks'?