Top & bottom 5: Smells

It’s funny how we find these kinds of topics sometimes the most fascinating. I mean, who doesn’t love the smell of a good soap? Well, I don’t. I find most soap overly perfumed. Some even make me gag, their scent so strong.

So, just what are my 5 top and bottom smells? Well, I thought you would never ask:

TOP FIVE

  1. No. 4711 — My mother’s favourite cologne, is the original cologne made in Germany more than 228 years ago. As the name implies, this was the 4711th iteration of the scent that made it to market. My mum wore this scent almost exclusively her entire life.
  2. Bronnley Lemon Soap — This lemon shaped soap is another pioneering product that my mother loved, and whose scent I associate with her and a happy childhood of warmth and safety.
  3. Grass — For someone who suffers every year at spring time from tree pollen, I absolutely love the smell of fresh mown grass. I don’t know what memory it evokes but I always stop to breath in that scent whenever I encounter it.
  4. Freshly baked goods — I remember my mum baking nearly every day throughout my childhood. And so, when I catch a whiff of freshly baked goods, whether pie, cake, or other sugary delights, it always reminds me of home, my mum, and those happier moments of childhood.
  5. Jet Fuel — Okay, I know, this is going to sound weird, why would she like the smell of jet fuel? But again, it’s a smell I grew up with, and a smell that has a strong associate for me, of happier memories, and of the places my parents were posted to. The smell brings out a sense of excitement at travel and going places.

BOTTOM FIVE

  1. Sewage — There was, for a six month period between my father’s postings where we, as a family, we housed on what was called a Transit Camp, while my dad was off somewhere doing training prior to another trip abroad. The camp sat downwind of a sewage processing planet. And, let me tell you, we all knew about it every time the wind blew in the right direction.
  2. Meat — Specifically, braised liver or kidneys. My father loved to eat them and my mother duly cooked them for him … but the smell? Lingered for days, and days, and always made me feel nauseous.
  3. Rotting Seaweed — Have you ever gone down to the beach for the afternoon on a hot summer day and … there’s a long line of rotting seaweed stretching off into the distance, in either direction? That stuff gives off a hideous stench as bad as raw sewage.
  4. Decomposing Food — One year, when we were younger, my mum took us all up north for two months to visit my aunt, in Scotland, for summer holidays. It was fantastic. One of the most memorable summer breaks I remember. But, when we got home, there had been a power outage while we were away and, everything in the fridge had been slowly decomposing for TWO MONTHS. When my mother open the fridge door …
  5. Dead Skunk — Truly, there is nothing, and I mean, nothing in this world that smells as bad as a decomposing skunk within 100 yards (down wind) of your bedroom window on a succession of long, hot, summer nights, in New England.

And there you have it. My top and bottom 5 memorable smells. And you, what made it onto your list of good and bad smells?

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