AN INTERESTING VISIT During the Easter holidays my friend and I decided to visit Portobello Road. We both love old, useless rubbish and antiques and so we both looked forward to it. We met at Ealing Broadway Station and were pleased because the weather seemed good. We reached Portobello Road and saw a maze of stalls. We were delighted. Several stalls were piled high with antiques and interesting objects. The road itself is quite narrow and very long. There are many secondhand clothes stalls, one or two do-it-yourself stalls, a few stalls with new clothes, and lots of fruit, fish and food stalls. Not all the road is occupied by stalls and there is very little traffic, which is just as well, really. We both liked certain articles in particular. My choices were typewriters there were some old ones, but in excellent condition beer mugs, cut glass and coins- Ann liked station clocks mainly and brass objects. Among my purchases was a Spanish comb. The stallholder said it had real pearls in it but, as she only charged me two shillings, I was inclined to doubt this. Also I bought a cloth cap with a green plastic peak. It keeps the sun out of my eyes and looks very individual. Portobello Road is certainly a very interesting place to visit and I would like to go there again. It certainly provided an interesting day in my holidays. WENDY PEDLEY, 3A. THE IMPORTANCE OF REMEMBERING A good memory is a great asset but is also rare. Most people forget something or other at one time, and there are people who have extremely bad memories. I am unfortunate enough to be one of the latter. A very bad memory can get someone into trouble. It is so easy to forget a birthday or a schoolbook- Often a bad memory can cause a tragedy; many old people may forget to turn off a gas oven or to look before crossing a road. Even a usually particular person can forget things when under great stress. People also tend to forget little things, such as the date or certain things they had wanted to do about the house. It is very rarely you find somebody with a photographic memory and able to remember a page of writing, for example, after only seeing it once and for a few minutes. I have always thought this very remarkable and have always envied the owners of such fine memories. 30 Westminster Bank 31