Ta for the memories

The grass is always greener on the other side...
“Ta for the memories” is a British short story by Deborah Moggach published in 1994. The story is about a plain woman called Edith who lives a normal life in England. She works as an editor and one day she is asked to make an autobiography of the wild pop singer Kenney Loathsome. The meeting between them is a big change and eye-opener to Edith. This text is all about the clashes between cultures and classes and knowing who you are...
Edith is a quiet and plain woman. She lives in an apartment in Peckham High Street with her cat. She enjoys peace and quiet and the only noise she makes, is when she sings in the choir. On the surface she seems happy and very comfortable with her life. She loves to read books by great philosophers and poets, and she quotes them at any given chance. She is quite conservative. She has no understanding for heavy and noisy music, and she prefers to stick to herself and stay out of the spotlight. She does not have any close friends, let alone a boyfriend. She is closed and reserved. The only social contact she has is with her co-workers and she does not get along with them very well. At Edith’s two weeks stay at Kenny Loathsome’s place in Nice, she starts to change. Suddenly she starts wearing contacts instead of glasses. She starts to get a tan and thinks about her looks in a different way. She tries to impress Kenny Loathsome, but he does not deign to look at her. She becomes kind of fascinated by him. He is the opposite of her and that is why she finds him interesting. Opposites attract. Even though she finds him interesting, she is on one hand horrified. He uses drugs, he is wild and uncontrollable and she does not know what his next move is going to be. On the other hand he is exiting because of all these things.
Kenny Loathsome is the total opposite of Edith. He is a very famous pop singer and idol for many young people around the world. He is wild, popular, outgoing and cool. He is the lead singer in the group called The Nipple Faktory. He used to take drugs and he is living a wild life. Because of the drugs he cannot remember anything from his past. Edith, who is supposed to write his autobiography, is having trouble because Kenny Loathsome cannot remember anything. The only thing he remembers is small pieces of his childhood here and there. Kenny Loathsome is a foster child and he did not know his biological parents. Ones grown up life are often reflected by the childhood. If the person has had a bad childhood, then it can cost some trouble later on. We do not know a lot about Kenny’s youth but I would say that it properly wasn’t the brightest years of his life. The fact that Kenny is called Loathsome, which is a synonymous to words like disgusting, abhorrent and repulsive, is a sign that his parents did not really like him. “He’s had sex with nine hundred women” breathed Murial. “One thousand two hundred” said Oonagh from reception. The people in the office loves to gossip and Kenny Loathsome are a hot subject. Mostly we hear about the people in the office as a group and it is therefore difficult to say anything specific about them. The girls in the office moaned. “You lucky sausage” said Murial. It does seem like the girls in the office are much different from Edith. They think that Kenny Loathsome is hot and therefore I will make the conclusion that they are not Edith’s types.
“Memory is not so brilliant as hope, but it is more beautiful and a thousand times as true”. In the end Edith says this to the people at the office. She has learned a lot on her two weeks stay at Kenny’s place and now she is changed. Even though she might not have the perfect life, she is now aware of all her good memories. She has had a perfect childhood and she can now value her life. She has always liked to quote people, and here in the end, she still does that even though she is not sure it was the exact words. I read this as she is still the same person, but much more confident and happy. Because of the change to see another beings life she has got her own life in perspective and this is also why the story is called “Ta for the memories”. When she goes to see him in Harrods at the book signing she already knows that he would not recognize her. “What shall I write, love?” he asked, without looking up. She smiled, and pointed to the empty page. “Just write ´ta for the memories´.” All she wants is to thank him and this is the best way of doing it. The experience has not been anything special for him, he has already forgotten all about her, but for Edith it has changed her life. It makes no sense to her to write a letter or call him.
In this short story there are many different themes. One very important is not to judge people before you know them. Edith is sure that Kenny Loathsome is a terrible person who is totally out of control, but when she gets to know him, he is a lot different. The media and the fans have created a personality and this is not at all similar to the real Kenny. Another thing that is very important in this short story is to see things from another perspective. Edith gets to see things though Kenny and this helps her. It gives new insight and knowledge to see things though new eyes. It can give you a new view on things or maybe you can discover the truth about something, like Edith did. Edith has never been happy about her life, but now she realizes that her life may be a better life. And then maybe this is the most important thing, the grass is not always greener on the other side.

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