Little Meme
Things that are supposed to smell nice, and do
A freshly bathed baby
Freshly washed hair
Bread or cake freshly baked from the oven
Bacon grilling
Eternity perfume
Things that are not supposed to smell nice, and don’t
Dirty socks
Rotting food
Halitosis
Unwashed Bodies
Stale urine, (but it is great for the compost heap!)
Things that shouldn’t smell nice, but do
Wood-smoke
Creosote
Nail varnish
Warm Tar
Pipe smoke
steph said,
March 18, 2008 at 9:30 am
I have a super-sensitive sense of smell and strong smells like creosote, tar, nail varnish, disinfectant etc.make me feel ill and I just want to escape them.
However, people who lose their sense of smell (through surgery/illness) also lose their sense of taste and to me, a world without being able to taste, would be a sad place indeed.
Do I have to wee in a bucket for use on your compost heap, if I come to visit?
Grannymar said,
March 18, 2008 at 9:50 am
Steph no worries, drowning the compost heap is not advised. 1lt diluted per day is more than enough!
Nick said,
March 18, 2008 at 12:02 pm
I tried to comment on the sweetshop post but Wordpress wouldn’t let me. It kept saying I’d commented already!! So I’ll try again on this post:
The local sweetshop didn’t have a such a big place in my life, though I do remember how hard it was to choose from such an incredible selection of sweets, and how excited I got spending my 1p or 2p or 3p. And goodness, I ‘d forgotten about the ice cream wrapped in old newspaper. How ingenious we had to be before we got all those modern appliances like domestic fridges and freezers!
To continue: I have a terrible sense of smell (though a good sense of taste) but there are some smells I can detect just fine which I love - like newly mown grass, chocolate and roses. And yes, I love the smell of freshly baked food.
Grannymar said,
March 18, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Nick apologies, you were sin-binned by mistake!
Sorted now, so please come back.
kenju said,
March 18, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Someone gave me a can of bath salts recently, and I opened it yesterday. The stuff smells exactly like turpentine! It says it has rosemary, eucalyptus and stuff like that in it. I don’t think I’ll be bathing in it anytime soon….LOL
GoingLikeSixty said,
March 18, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Sin-binned, I love that, will use it!
Great list until I hit creosote and warm tar. Blech. But a bunch of us hoodlums used to chew warm tar!!!
Grannymar said,
March 18, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Judy ~ I have a drawer full of those ’smellies’. The aroma is bad enough but goodness knows what they would do to my skin!!!
Candles with a strong perfume, very popular nowadays, turn my stomach. I have been known to turn on my heel in a shop and leave because of them.
Sixty ~ Chewing warm tar
How could you?
Primal Sneeze said,
March 18, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Here’s an idea: Creosote as aftershave.
Creosote - for the man with a well preserved pole.
Grannymar said,
March 18, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Primal I am not going there!
Magpie 11 said,
March 18, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Creosote and tar and Jeyes fluid….Olfactory memories of child hood…what are you trying to do to us? I love them all BTW.
Genuine Oil of Turpentine is fantastic…I use it to make Beeswax polish.
On BBC Radio 4 Today today…uh?…there was an item about cleanliness and the fact that we humans are scared of smelling like humans.
The pipe smoke depends on the brand of tobacco…soe have a fantastic vanillary aroma. I love the smell of a good cigar or Turkish or Black Russian cigarettes..
And cooking except fish!
Baino said,
March 18, 2008 at 7:01 pm
I have a hypersensitive sense of smell! just ask Drummerboy, his bedroom pongs but he can’t tell! Love Eternity and Chanel and Escape and Byzance . . .love the smell of felt tipped pens and petrol . . .I used to wash my slate floors with a splash of kerosine in the water, cuts the dirt and leaves the place smelling fabulous. Always have an oil burner with lavender or frangipani or sandlewood. I hate garlic breath and body odour.
Ian said,
March 18, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Grannymar,
I think the strong link between smell and memory might rule out some things smelling nice, whether they are supposed to or not. I once spent weeks painting the chicken houses at a local egg farm with creosote, (I spilled so much on myself I thought I would remain weatherproof forever). It was a task I hated and the smell still recalls how much I hated being there.
Paddy Bloggit said,
March 18, 2008 at 7:25 pm
I love freshly cut grass ….
wisewebwoman said,
March 18, 2008 at 7:30 pm
I have to add fresh brewed coffee and the smell of fresh roasted coffee outside Bewley’s in Dublin - is that still happening? I’ll be there to check in September.
And also that ozone smell of the ocean just before you reach the top of the hill before going down to the beach.
And heather.
And my grandmother’s dog roses.
XO
WWW
Grannymar said,
March 18, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Magpie ~ I never mentioned Jeyes fluid but yes, I actually like the smell - do I associate it with clean drains and dustbins? Perhaps. I heard the piece on BBC Radio 4 today. They tell us we are obscessed with washing.
Paddy ~ cut grass and the fresh smell after a summer shower of rain.
WWW ~ Prepare for a shock! Bewley’s Grafton Street has changed!
http://www.bewleyscafetheatre.com/
Jo said,
March 18, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Things that shouldn’t smell nice - Fire Lighters! I want to eat them!
I have a terribly sensitive sene of smell too - it’s a curse, it’s put me off my husband completely
There was an amazing post about pregnancy cravings - women were getting up in the night to go out to the shed and sniff the heating oil, one woman had washed her pillow in dettol so she could sniff it all night, another had crumbled a firelighter into a bag to keep in her nightstand and inhale during the night. All this insane, toxic stuff!
I’m so with you on the paraben filled cosmetic stuff. We absorb 60% of what we rub on ourselves… since having children I find it hard to even wear perfume, I hate when soemone holds my baby then hands them back to me all chemical smelling!
Grannymar said,
March 18, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Jo, Eating Firelighters
That is not for me!
My pregnancy cravings were rhubarb and raspberries, both out of season and 30 years ago it was not like today where everything is available all year round.
When my Elly was a baby and out with her dad, I knew who they talked to by the scent on her when she came home. I worried in case i was turning into a dog.
Alice said,
March 18, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Now who and what are peeing on your compost heap? And do you get to watch?
Alice said,
March 18, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Whoopsie! Your comment thing is a bit crazy today; kept blipping me off! Sorry about the repeats!
Grannymar said,
March 18, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Alice WordPress seems to be misbehaving today. I have cleared the surpless comments.
The liquid compost feed is gathered discreetly with NO peeping
Roy (irish taxi) said,
March 19, 2008 at 3:21 am
Just the one question , where do you get the stale urine for the compost heap?
Quickroute said,
March 19, 2008 at 4:57 am
For the smell nice list - Batter Burger & chips with vinegar at 1am !
For the NOT smell nice list - Batter Burger & chips with vinegar at 9am !
Grannymar said,
March 19, 2008 at 10:08 am
Roy ~ for the compost heap fresh is fine so long as it is diluted. It is excellent for breaking the stuff down.
Quickie ~ burger & chips early or late are not for me!
steph said,
March 19, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Grannymar
There is an old dame down our road who has ‘hi-jacked’ one of my two cats. I know you don’t like cats but this was a really special one which I’d rescued as a kitten 12 years ago. When he first started disappearing for long periods, we used to pick him up and sniff him when he came home and right enough, he always smelt of the same ‘old lady’ perfume. She loves his company so much she wouldn’t stop feeding him so we had to give in eventually and now he only comes home to visit us when she is away.
I obviously don’t wear the right perfume
Actually, I very rarely wear perfume because of an over-sensitive sense of smell but when I do, it’s Eternity I love
Grannymar said,
March 19, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Steph Cat perfume
I like Eternity, it is not too heavy or overpowering.
Magpie 11 said,
March 19, 2008 at 11:16 pm
You didn’t mention Wright’s Coal tar soap either…..
Smells/scents are evocative
“Distant people, in their cars,
Seem not to be a part of our small world
Of Pine Woods’ smell a patch of precious Rosebay
And the sudden rising song of a lark.”
Each time I smell a scent of pine I remember a walk with a long missed friend.
Grannymar said,
March 20, 2008 at 11:11 am
Magpie, I only chose a few items so everyone could add something new as they passed by. That soap is not one I remember useing.