2000
Bennett speaks of objects in the family home bearing the marks of the past, and how the downward spiral from beauty to dotage leaves him with a feeling that the best of life has already eluded his grasp. This is furthered by growing up during the war, which harkens back to a near fantastical life which was purported to have happened before the conflict. Then it's the smell of the tree at his grandmother's house embossed on his memory and all the subtle differences streetwise children can detect. He concludes by observing how one's surroundings and proper name can fix the mindset of those endowed with them, and of elderly names compared to fashionable names today; and how will all meet the same end.
2000
The dearth of action in Leeds during the war, leaves Bennett with the feeling that life is something that happens elsewhere. He recounts the unusual family activities on the day war was declared, and how even the actuality of events portrayed in the literary world disappointed. He then speaks of how adult conversation to his young self, left him 'lost in a forest of names', the mystery of which captivated the imagination of his drab life. Trams and unused air raid shelters are discouragingly two of the few things he can recall, when first considering a career in writing, and he concludes by remembering names from the wireless; comparing them to those in Proust.