Who?

I've only fairly recently discovered that there's a name for my embarrassing inability to recognise people, even those I've known for years. Some people suffer from this much more than I do but now that I know it's not just an individual failing, I tell people about it when I first meet them and ask them to introduce themselves again when we next meet. Without a clear image of a face I have nothing to attach a name to so I am also bad with names.

There are advantages: I do not recognise actors, even famous ones, so when I see performances they are the character they are playing, not themselves. The downside is that I don't recognise characters when they reappear in a film or play so I often find the story hard to follow.

I faced that more today than for quite a long time. I was invited to a fairly new friend's lunchtime birthday party: a milling over food in our local independent cinema then a showing of Buster Keaton's 'Sherlock Jr'. Of the hundredish people there I recognised my host and one other. Then someone came up to me and while she was chatting as if she knew me, I realised she was vaguely familiar but I couldn't place her. She introduced me to another person and as I was trying hard to memorise her name, she told me that we'd met - she was a trustee of a charity where I worked for several years. I owned up to my difficulty but still had no clue who the first person was.

Then the film, which involved a story within a story. Were the characters in the embedded story the same as in the main story? If so, who was who and how did they relate to each other? The slapstick and stunts were more important than the plot so it wasn't a disaster but even so...

Later in the afternoon I was meeting an ex-colleague I sat opposite for three years but who I hadn't seen for four or five  years. I wasn't too worried but I joked yesterday that I hoped we'd recognise each other after such a long time. Thankfully I spotted him walking into the pub before he saw me. Embarrassment averted.

This evening I want to a concert where I knew a good friend would be. I found her in the interval and she introduced me to her companion who told me we'd already met...

The concert was lovely: Catrin Finch on harp with Aoife Ní Bhriain on violin. I've heard Catrin Finch live twice before, once with Seckou Keita and once with Cimarrón. She is extraordinary and chooses extraordinary musicians to work with.

I saw my blip as I emerged from the concert. Flashing lights and loud music that would have astounded the people who built the Divinity School 600 years ago.