Firing On Most Cylinders

I take part in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing and yesterday the ELSA lady visited to do my biennial interview and questionnaire

Some of the tests are on memory and thinking skills.

The computer reads out a list of ten words which you have to repeat.

"Hotel, river, tree, skin, gold, market, paper, child, king, book"

Which was correct.

"Not many people get all ten, and in the right order.  You're only the second person I've done who did."

"You just visualise a hotel by a river where there is a tree growing with skin not bark, you find gold, take it to the market and exchange it for paper money, see a child, who puts on a crown and becomes and king, and it's all in a book."

"The other person who got them all right said something similar."

Then she asked me to name as many animals as possible in a minute: 35 which was also a record.

Then count back from 20 to 1.

Then subtract 7 from 100 and down-over.

Then back to the ten words

"Hotel, river, tree, skin, gold, market, paper, child, king, book"

"Wow, not many people get them all right, and in the right order, the second time.  

At most they get one less."

"Well it's the same list as I had two years ago."

Mind you, when she asked me the date I said 4^th of July 2014.

And we did laugh at the “Who is the Prime Minister?” question