I spent a long time choosing the ten patches/memory triggers for each of my decades. Choosing the 11-20 years came the quickest and, as I look at the list now, half the items are from the later years of my second decade and are far less general and seem more exciting and easier to recall than the others.
This decade is about learning to create your own memories and experiences rather than relying largely on your parents/family. Three of the next ten memories are along the nostalgia lines of my first decade, two are connections to friends, more in the concept of having friends than specific friends, and five emerge from experiences I created. Interestingly, three of those very much reflect my interests and activities now, one is a bespoke object, something I now consider a covetable luxury but which then I took for granted, and another is a feature of life at university (and, no, it isn’t a medley of alcoholic drinks!).
Chapter 11 is about my dad’s Brut aftershave in particular, but with mentions of Old Spice and inevitable recall of the smells of the teenage years.
It’s now a few hours later, my I-love-Waitrose persona revealed by the just-fried spices in the picture to make my own garam masala. Making that, going out for coffee and errands with a friend, lunch … yeah, quite a long pause between blog and chapter today. But chapter 11 is now done, though it’s not one to be proud of, it’s a bit rambling.