When I was growing up on the other side of the world, in England in the old days, my mother was constantly trying to force me to eat greens. “For a healthy mind and a healthy body.” I resisted. What was the point of forcing brain food on me when my young brain was already too active and adults spent the whole time rejecting my ideas and telling me to shut up? Anyhow, I hated greens and after I left home for college, I don’t think I ate a green vegetable for years, with the exception of peas which don’t have that nasty taste of vitamins and iron about them. Of course all good things come to an end and my wife finally broke down my resistance to healthy food.  I now eat salad and many vegetables. Still no weeds – those strange plants which God never intended us to eat but which chefs insist on putting into fancy salads. And still no spinach because of a nasty incident that took place in Italy when I was sixteen. But that’s another story.

I was the top brain at my high school, so at college it was a shock to discover that there were much better brains than mine. A medical student friend of mine explained “You laymen don’t understand. Your brain needs exercise, and you are too lazy to exercise it enough. Research has been shown that the hippocampus of London taxi drivers is enlarged because of all the work they do memorising routes.”  I didn’t really believe this. Doesn’t the brain fill the skull already? How can it grow? I have to admit that I was rather lazy at college though, if there is a part of the brain that deals with pub games like darts and bar billiards, I am sure mine was super-sized by the time I graduated.

Now I am growing older, I am constantly seeing adverts reminding me to keep my brain alive and active. Hundreds of video games are now sold on that basis. And brain food comes in pills of all shapes and colours. I try. I do my daily crosswords and sudoku. I have books of brain teasers. My wife complains because the scratching of my pencil keeps her awake at night. I think complaining is her chosen form of brain exercise.  It must work because she never forgets anything I did wrong in the past. In my case, happily, I so far only forget what day it is once or twice a week.

Isn’t it an odd world that we live in?