Deja vu all over again

I have previously shared that I have a terrible memory. This is one of the chief reasons I love taking photos, so I can look back and remember all those magical moments I would otherwise forget. Family holidays in particular are obsessively dated, themed and uploaded to a large storage device but even this method is flawed.

During a stopover en route to the Alps this year we decided to do something different and visit the Charles de Gaulle Memorial. Knowing little about the man, we brushed up on our history during the one-hour drive to Colombey. We learned that he was a great soldier (though he was shot three times and spent most of WW1 as a prisoner of war) and a revered leader (despite the assassination attempts). He was of course also a staunch ally during WW2 (albeit in exile) and, later, twice vetoed Britain’s entrance to the Common Market (EU to the young folk). Love him or loathe him, de Gaulle was a fascinating character and we couldn’t wait to learn more.

We got a little lost on the way and ended up parking around the back, some distance from the main entrance. This meant we had quite a long walk up a hill which overlooked the surrounding fields. As we climbed, I had a strange and overwhelming sense of déjà vu. This is going to sound strange, I said, but I think we have been here before. After some discussion we realised that we had indeed been here previously. Not only that, we got lost previously. We parked in the same inconvenient spot previously and had to make the same exhausting climb previously. Doh!

Many ancient philosophers (and some modern ones too) believed in something called eternal return that time repeats itself in an infinite loop so that exactly the same events occur in exactly the same way, over and over again. A few, however, think it is possible to break the cycle. I think I know how.

When we reached the summit, Lisa remembered a family photo we had taken all those years ago. One of our favourites. We couldn’t resist the opportunity to re-create that magic moment and set about lining up the children in what we were sure was the same position as the original photo. Needless to say, the instant we tried to re-create the event we failed, and the photo turned out to be the only thing we did differently that day.

You can't create magic moments, much less re-create them. They just happen and that's fine with me. I will soon forget everything I know about the great General and the whole process will no doubt start again - more or less - as it happened previously.