oldest or youngest(?) memory?

[Bill Gates]

Another noisy thing that scared me, was the toilet. High-cistern job with a chain, even when I could reach the chain I was afraid to pull it. And if an adult came along to pull it for me, I'd run screaming...

I had this phobia of having to get to the bottom of the stairs before the toilet had stopped flushing. This involved leaping down the stairs four steps at a time and swinging on the bannisters at the bottom. I always made it so will never know what might have happened if I hadn't.

 

[Aperitif]

I remember nicking a red train from some kid when I was out visiting Brighton one day. My folks were hard up and I thought I was helping them save money...

Seriously, Aged three, I remember wearing a Davy Crockett outfit and playing in the street, on the lawns outside my parent's maisonette. The lawns were mowed almost continuously by 'Ginger' who was tall, wore a blue boiler suit and obviously had ginger short back and sides - usually covered by a flat cap whilst working. We remember so much but have little visual backup. How times will change in the next generations when 'Memory Lane' comes out to play,,,

 

[longers]

I'm glad others have said about memories of memories because the first thing I have a memory of is seen from someone elses perspective. Which can't be right.

It was walking for the first time and I can see myself doing it and walking to Uncle Steve in the basement room of the first house I lived in. There's no photo's of that afternoon so I don't know how I can see it through someone elses eyes. I've got another memory like that but from about nine or ten.

 

[ColinJ]

Jeez…

I reminded him of it about a year before he died. He said that he had done it in a moment of madness and was aghast at what he'd done and had never mentioned it, hoping that I'd forgotten about it. No chance!

 

[661-Pete]

I think events that have an emotional impact, whether at the time or some other time, will be remembered most.

I recall a visit from a kindly old 'uncle' (actually a second cousin or something), who brought along a toy for me - it may have been Xmas or my birthday. It was a very educational toy of the 'sliding blocks' type, you had to arrange lettered blocks in a plastic frame to spell words. I clearly recall him squatting down on the floor to help me with the words - I must have been just about able to read by that time.

There was a sad sequel to this occasion: a few weeks later my parents received word that this man had died. Because I clearly remembered his visit, they explained the situation to me in a fairly 'grown-up' sort of way. I think it was the first death I can recall, of someone I'd known. It made quite an impression on me.

 

[Arch]

The first memory I can clearly recall in detail is the time around my sister being born - that's quite late by everyone else's terms, as I was nearly 4 and a half. I was picked up my our landlady (who lived below us in the house) and taken to have tea and play with her daughters, and Dad collected me at bedtime. I'd been enjoying their game of Mousetrap, so they let me borrow it to take upstairs. Next day I set it all up and played with it in the morning, before Dad took me to see Mum and the new arrival. I also remember her being bought home and being laid at the back of the sofa (so she couldn't roll off).

There may be memories of school before that, but I can't be sure if they were before or after her arrival.

 

[Yellow Fang]

I had a memory of getting my finger stuck in a bicycle chain. We lived in Zambia at the time. I must have only been about three because our female home help released me.

 

[Brains]

Playing on a swing when we lived at my grandmothers house. We moved out when I was 2.

Being snowed in for what seemed like months (probably only a few days) during the winter of 1963 aged 3

My brother in a carry cot (he is 18 months younger) so I guess I was aged about 2 and a bit

 

[palinurus]

The earliest thing I can remember which seems like it might be a real memory was playing with a plastic reindeer on the windowsill while looking out into the garden. My mother was there. I've no idea why I remember it, it's not significant. I think I was between 2.5 and 3 years old at the time.

Can't be certain I remember anything before that, some of it I've probably reconstructed from stuff I've heard from others. I can't imagine anyone telling me about the reindeer thing so I like to think it was real.

Memory is pretty unreliable though, I realize this everytime I have a couple of weeks of timesheets to fill in.

 

[BearPear]

I remember walking over a cobbled part of the street opposite my grandma's shop, heading towards the paper shop clutching an "old" penny in my hand, the intention was to buy sweeties!. I recall that it felt huge in my little hand. Since decimaisation was Feb 1971, I can't have been any older than 4yrs and 2 months old.

Before that I remember having my hair brushed by a neighbour, my mum tells me that this was an asian lady who brushed oil through my hair (she used it to make hair look glossy). We moved from there when I was 2.

One of my strongest memories is of a smell - my grandad smoked Capstan full-strength and whenever I smell strong cigarette smoke I think of him. He died when I was 9, which I know isn't an early memory, but I had developed that sense of his smell throughout my childhood. He was lovely, shame he smoked though as it killed him in the end!

 

[pepecat]

I remember being taken by my dad to go and see my brother in hospital just after he'd been born. I put a present (soft toy?) in the cot next to him, and there, by magic, was a doll in a box under the cot for me from him. I was two and a half.

 

[fossyant]

Can't remember yesterday, never mind lot's of years ago ?

I remember getting run over by a milk float (the electric ones) ................ was only 2-3, was OK, toy cart wasn't............. the milkman wasn't too good though.... 'eek !

 

[Bromptonaut]

Earliest I can pin down are around time my sister was born; early 62 when I was about 27 months.

Doctor Keighley coming to examine Mum with a stethoscope device for listening to the baby. Being with my Gran and watching rocket launches being shown over and again on TV - about the time of the first Gemini missions. Going to Gran's house with my Uncle, driving through fog/smog and 'helping' change gear in his Ford Anglia (the Michelotti design with reverse sloped rear window). Having to wear a nappy and managing to remove it 'cos I didn't need it any more.

And picking up Mum and baby sister from the Maternity Hospital.

 

[gbb]

I have three...can't think which came first, but they've all stuck with me.

First day at junior school...i cried my eyes out . I can see it now, i was stood by a fireplace somewhere in the school being consoled by a teacher.

My dad coming back after a year in Rhodesia. I remember him stood in the door...i thought he was a black man, he was sooooo dark. Actually, i remember the day he went a year before...i remember my mum crying her eyes out as she closed the door behind him.

Staying at my grandads in Avonmouth, Bristol. He was old then, in an old house with tram or rail tracks nearby. I slept downstairs....all i could hear was the thudding tick tock, tick tock of his grandfather clock. Even to this day, i find the ticking of a clock very relaxing and comforting.

 

[dellzeqq]

I can vividly remember weeping inconsolably at losing a red tin train and I'm reliable informed that I was about
2.5 years old.
It still brings a tear to my eye now!

I can remember receiving my first train set on my third birthday. Hornby 'O' guage, clockwork

there's another memory, just a snapshot, but clear as a bell. I'm walking, with my father, beside a road in Soest, Westphalia, where we lived. We're walking home. The sun is setting. We're walking toward a main road, which we have to cross to get to the house in which we live. I'm three years old - I only know this because we moved to another place when I was four. I look to my left. The sun is setting (so we're walking north) and against the setting sun I see a tank transporter, followed by another tank transporter - not an uncommon sight in a Canadian Army town. My father is a tall man, and he walks quickly, his legs not quite straightening. I'm walking beside him and I am so pleased to be walking with him. Without going in to detail, this is one of the very few happy memories I have of him.