Q. I am in my mid-sixties and have started to suffer from nominal aphasia. At a recent wedding in the Highlands, two very familiar faces came towards me and I couldn’t put a name to either. Worse, at a wake following a funeral, one old friend was very upset when I failed to recognise her, she claimed wrongly that it must have been because she had aged since we’d last met. I seem to have the rest of my faculties intact, so I wouldn’t want it to get around that I am ‘losing it’.
— Name and address withheld
A. As a general rule, at large events you should always make a beeline for the seating plan and scan it thoroughly. You will then be more able to match the familiar names with faces. If you are still at sea when someone comes up to you, greet them warmly, then ask in conspiratorial manner: ‘What’s your news?’ Listen intently.
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