Smells.

[longers]

Time machines for the brain.

They have the ability to transport you back in time to memories you'd forgotten you had.

Cutting some oak today took me back 7 years instantly to a previous job and what seems like a different life.

The smell of burning clutches takes me back 25 years to my Grannys front garden (she lived at the bottom of Hartside Pass).

Anything olfactory interesting for you?

 

[Baggy]

A whiff of Elnett hairspray takes me back to my first trip overseas, to Germany, in about 1984.

 

[snorri]

I was cutting a notch out of a round post today to make a strainer for a fence and my nostrils were assailed by the smell of the creosote soaked deep into the timber.
A smell that took me back to the summer of my first year of employment, the people, the places, and the strong tea brewed outdoors on a gas stove.

 

[mickle]

I replaced Mrs Mickles lavatory this afternoon.

 

[gbb]

Very occasionally, i smell olives while riding.

I cant smell them of course, there arent any here...but thats what i smell !!!

Takes me back to Crete....

 

[Aperitif]

Cycled past some grass being cut in Chiswick this morning...always a 'trigger'.
Also, I have locked away the smell of prepared rope for marine knot making. I met an 'old salt' when I was doing the Puffin Book show at the Commonwealth Institute - about 28 - 30 years ago. The Commonwealth Institute is in a sorry state now but the rope is still strong. I'm going to have a look in my Mum's shed this weekend to see if a knot or two are still hanging on the wall...

 

[Noodley]

wind dried clothes and towels
the hair of my children when they were young

death not nice

 

[bonj2]

Those shiny dark green leaves that smell of aniseed when you break them takes me back to queuing outside the school changing rooms for rugby when a boy called tristan discovered that they smelt weird and thought you could get high off them and went round with some stuck up his nose.

 

[Abitrary]

lol!!!!

 

[Kirstie]

Smell memory is the most evocative kind of memory IMO.

Rotting autumn leaves reminds me of the start of teaching in the autumn term, even though I don't teach terms any more. Unfortunately this evokes stressful feelings I'd rather forget!

The smell of the soil when I'm gardening reminds me of helping my mum garden when I was little.

Fresh cut grass reminds me of the school playing field

Car park stairwells remind me of La Paz in Bolivia. The whole place stank! Actually car park stairwells smell nice by comparison

 

[NickM]

Can you still get a perfume called "Moondrops"? I'm sure it would bring back memories of thrilling fumblings with Fiona 35 years ago...

 

[ChrisKH]

Fresh cut grass in summer speeds up my heart rate and I get a surge of adrenalin and feel nervous. Ditto dewy grass early in the morning. Reminds me of early morning hammer throwing practice (6.00-7.00 am in season) and school and district sports days.

Churned up grass and mud remind me of winter cross country and rugby at school.

Flex hair conditioner on anyone takes me back to when I first met my wife at 17. Strongly evocative smell for me.

 

[Kirstie]

Flex hair conditioner on anyone takes me back to when I first met my wife at 17. Strongly evocative smell for me.

Wow yes flex hair conditioner. It has a very distinctive smell - I remember it well!

 

[Carwash]

I associate the smell of tar and smoke with Swedish faluröd houses.

 

[Arch]

Teak Oil. Right back to my Mum polishing the teak coffee table when I was little. She still has the table in her garage and I'm going to have it as soon as I have anywhere to put it. It has tooth marls where I used it for teething on, and every couple of weeks my Dad barked his shin on it. For about 20 years.