I Forgot to Remember

THEY TALK ABOUT the straw that broke the camel's back, but really it should be the password that wiped out my memory bank. My world is now in ashes. Let this be a warning to others.

- By Richard Glover

I was going along fine-with instant recall of my bank PIN, my mobile phone number, my Facebook log-in and the date of my cousin's birthday. Then I joined a gas station rewards scheme.

The sign-up form on the company's website asked me to create a password.

When I typed in "gas1," it was rejected for not being complex enough. I needed to add at least one upper case letter and one symbol.

I tried again: "IHateHeartlessOilCompanies@#$%Prices NeverStopGoingUp." But that was too long and didn't include "at least one numeral." It may also have been defamatory.

Following my usual custom, I utilized an obscure fact about my favourite singer, Elvis Presley: "Garon1935"-a reference to the middle name of Elvis's sadly stillborn twin brother.

This was accepted by the heartless people at the oil company, though I was drawing on a tragedy in a way that should make us all feel uncomfortable.

My excuse: I'd used up all other Elvis references, including but not limited to GladysPresley1912, Priscilla 1945 and Tom Hanks 2022.