Somehow I managed to get the idea that Captain Blood and Long John Silver were the same person. It’s impossible to understand how. Admittedly, they are probably the two most famous pirates in all fiction, but that is hardly any excuse for muddling the black-and-white image of Errol Flynn with the technicolour iconic pirate of Robert Newton in Disney’s Treasure Island. It doesn’t seem credible, yet I distinctly remember arguing the point vehemently and being puzzled that nobody agreed with me. It’s one of those memories that pop into your mind in unguarded moments and make you cringe with shame, even though no one else will have remembered your embarrassment. I know because I asked them.
“How could you mix those two up,” Rosely laughs at me. “I hated your pirates, but I knew the difference.”
    She doesn’t remember the incident. Neither does anyone else. It would be easy to dismiss completely, was it not that there were such a lot of similar cringe-moments to come. Maybe this one pops in so often because it was the first.