Sitting writing this piece on a miserable, chilly and wet October morning, it is easy to think back to the warm days of summer. In actual fact, they are not all that long ago, even though the raindrops rolling down the window beside me make it feel like they were.

But if I really think about it, and really remember the summer just gone, was it as good as my mind is telling me it was? Sweltering in the car whilst making those essential journeys, enduring uncomfortable heat whilst trying to work, and spending many a restless night just trying to get cool enough to sleep peacefully.

How many times do we hear of the break-up of a disastrous relationship, and then within weeks or months, one or both parties is keen to rekindle the partnership, and often, they do. And when they do, it is usually the case that 'situation normal' resumes after a short period and another dinner service is placed, fragment by fragment, into the nearest pedal bin. The latest national crime survey shows crime overall to be down, but no-one can believe it. Surely things are worse now than they have ever been? Or are they?

And what about the 'good old days'? Everyone has them, whether it was during the war, after the war, the '60s, the '70s, your teenage years or whenever. What was it about them that made them so great? Then, consider the other things that were happening at the same time. They may not be so memorable, and certainly won't spring so easily to mind when thinking about the whatever period was your 'finest hour'. But it was all there and was all still happening, possibly to a greater degree than the 'good stuff'.

Why is it that as humans, we blank out the bits that are not so appealing about the past? If you approach a blackbird sitting on your bird table, it does not remain there in the cosy warmth of knowing that it has not been attacked by 99.9% of other living things. It remembers vividly the 0.1% who have tried to, and acts accordingly. The same applies for the rest of the animal world, generally, perhaps excluding goldfish who many argue can't remember anything. Mine, however, clearly remembers what is going to happen when I approach with net in hand, and responds accordingly, usually for about the next five minutes and much to my frustration!

Perhaps only when the human race uses evolution to adopt this holistic use of memory, will we be able to effectively use the past to shape the future.

This is as equally relevant to us in our private lives as it is with national or international issues, both long and short term.

The next time you are reminiscing over the 'good times', just have a closer look and see if the grass was really greener, particularly if you are using those memories on which to pave your future!

Updated: 13:07 Tuesday, October 25, 2005