WHAT DID I HAVE FOR BREAKFAST? It's extraordinary how one can remember things clearly from over sixty years ago yet very recent things are often difficult to recall. Also the memories of the middle years are growing dimmer. Sometimes I confuse one wife with another or when I recall the many dogs in my life I can't remember if I was in France or Ireland, Scotland or Africa with a specific dog. Usually the correct memory will come back with perseverance. This dementia really is the enemy. I think that I'm holding my own at the moment, although yesterday I thought that I had parked my car in Checkers and couldn't find it when I had finished shopping. I duly reported it stolen and was very embarrassed when a few hours later the police informed me that they had found it in Pick n Pay! The other strange thing about memory loss is the difficulty that I now have recalling certain things. The oddest in the town of Durbanville which I have to find on the map to remember the name.This place is not far from me and I have been there many times and have no bad memories so it's strange. Another thing is peoples' names. I have read that Napoleon had a marvellous memory for this, but it has never been my strong point. Now however it can be very embarrassing when I say"Hello William how are you?" and it turns out that I am talking to John. Perhaps the dreaded alzeimers is developing after all. The funniest thing of all though is that I often forget what's wrong with me. It sounds a bit ridiculous when I say "I went to the Doctor about my memory problems, but I can't remember what he said was wrong with me." This is actually true, although the name of the illness does come back in due course with concentration, so there's hope yet! Moving on from the dreaded memory loss and alzeimers, yesterday I carried on working on the outline for my next book. I think that it will be called 'Down and out in Bolandville.' It's a curious thing that I spend up to a year planning a book, but write it in about six months. New Years Eve is tonight and people are getting very excited about it. In Cape Town I have read that 80'000 people will watch and wait for the big countdown. I'm just grateful that Julian, my child bride doesn't want to join in.The passing of each year no longer thrills me! Last night I started to re-read my favourite book, 'Thirteen Moons' by Charles Frazier. I just wish that I had this man's wonderful way with words. Even the first paragraph is so stunning and expressive; 'There is no scatheless rapture. Love and time put me in this condition. I am leaving soon for the Nightland, where all the ghosts of men and animals yearn to travel. We're called to it. I feel it pulling at me, same as everyone else. It is the last unmapped country, and a dark way getting there. A sorrowful path. And maybe not exactly Paradise at the end. The belief I've acquired over a generous and nevertheless inadequate time on earth is that we arrive in the afterlife as broken as when we departed from the world. But, on the other hand, I've always enjoyed a journey.' David Barnato. South Africa