Thanks for this post, Baldur!

The story that you gave us is a very good distillation of this phenonoma.

It's quite true that memory is a fragile thing, that's easily colored by those around us; those who wish to place their own narrative on to your recollections; the feelings we had then/have now about the event in question; and the way the brain 'fills' any gaps (which, as time goes by, there will be more and more of). There are other things that can also affect memory.

It's therefore very easy to misremember things, or for memories to change over time, without the person whose memories they are even realizing it.

In short, memory is unreliable. Like you, I've had instances where I've remembered a shared memory totally differently to the other person. That usually ends with a few good laughs about it all, and comments of 'Well, isn't that funny?!'.

However, as we all know sometimes the consequences are more serious...

BTW, being totally anal, I did some sums on inflation...

I'm no accountant, but given that with an average inflation rate, the purchasing power of money roughly halves every 10 years, that £40 in 1968 would now be worth around £650. Add to that the high inflation that Britain had in the 1970s, and you get around £800 - £900.

If you live in Merry Olde England, and you want to buy a horse, well, it depends what you want...

If you want a horse suitable for showjumping, polo or maybe a bit of dressage, a young thoroughbred colt, sired by a racehorse or other good stud, would set you back around £3,500 to £5,000, or maybe £6,000 to £8,500 if the sire is a particularly outstanding racehorse or stud.

If you want a horse for riding and the odd gymkhana, you'd probably get one for between £1,500 to £3,000.

I'm a bit out of date on these things, so I might be wrong, but that seems about right to me.

So yes, that £40 back in 1968, given how horse prices have changed, probably was about enough to buy a horse, or near as dammit...

Tril.