Shabby, chic and now sweeter smelling
The other week I gave a polite diminuative Indian woman a lift home from work.
With some shame I noted that immediately after she sat down in Bluebell she opened the passenger window several inches.
" I am sorry about the dog smell!" I told her, oblivious to the eggy hair smell myself
And she nodded with grace
" I didn't know what the smell was " she countered then changed the subject.
As soon as I got home I shampooed the back seat within an inch of it's life.
As a ward manager it was once left to me to challenge a member of staff who had a marked problem with body odour . It was probably one of the hardest managerial problems I ever had to deal with and despite thinking I had been compassionate and incredibly diplomatic over the event, there were many tears before bedtime on that shift.
Smell has so much more an effect on what we think of a person than we ever would admit to.
It's subtle yet not so subtle.
The smell of cold cream hurtles me back to memories of my grandmother's kisses.
The smell of stale tobacco still reminds me of my mother.
The wardrobe in my bedroom still smells of my husband
I work in a place that smells of jasmine and orchids....no stale urine pong there!
This morning members of the community association are coming round for me to hand over the flower show reins so to speak, and so remembering the Bluebell Incident I've embarked on operation dog snot removal. Spring cleaning that was once only the prerogative of pre Mother in law visits.
I'm not going to suffer the shame of that opening of the window again.
ps/ the Association members didn't turn up! but at least I have a clean smelling cottage to enjoy
hey ho
Once had a similar problem. Very difficult. Had to confront a student the others were (justifiably) complaining about. It made no difference at all.
ReplyDeleteNow i would have pushed it back to the complainer
DeleteI hate the smell of stale cigarette smoke. I don't smoke myself but fresh cigarette smells don't bother me so much, but some people just pong. The smell of face powder always reminds me of my mom. When I was a little girl I would sit on her lap in the car (no seatbelts in those days) and could smell her face powder. Even now I still think of mom. Buuuuuut when I was still working, our informatics division had one person dedicated to the computers in the "big boss'" offices. Unfortunately he really smelled of sweat and nylon shirts! My friend left the office to go get a coffee and when she came back he was gone - or so she thought! That's when she said rather loudly "oh thank God that smelly little man has gone"! At which point he popped up from under the desk where he was hooking some wires up. She was mortified buuuuttt it seemed to have done the trick as he never smelt again after that!
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling that workplace BO may be a subject of discussion
DeleteSo funny. I stopped to pick up some hitch hikers a few weeks ago and my car must have smelt so doggy. The woman literally could not sit in the car! She made her partner unload all of their back packs and flag down another car.
ReplyDeletehello sarah nice to see you
Deleteyeap….sometimes its all a bit much for some.....
Thankfully the window roll wasn’t in response to your own body odor. I’ve got a sort of super smeller and tend to taste odors. It can be really awful sometimes and the taste of the odor lingers.
ReplyDeleteI get paranoid about my own body odour especially after a busy shift.….
DeleteNatural Thai crystal deodorant is magic. It cannot be beaten. It lasts for years and costs about £7 a bar. 100 % effective.
DeleteI'll try that....remember I used orchid spray at work recently thinking it was antiperspirant
DeleteYou just wipe it over your damp pits after a shower and it leaves an invisible and odourless trace of salts on them which instantly kill the bacteria which causes B.O.
DeleteeBay.
DeleteI spray cologne on my pits. When I sweat I smell like cologne. But I don’t have a problem with body odor or I’m sure that wouldn’t be enough.
DeleteScent is a very strong memory trigger for me.
ReplyDeleteexamples david?
DeleteIndeed, we can get so used to our personal and domestic smells we don't notice them, and it's only when someone else recoils that we realise there's something amiss. Luckily we have no vomiting children or incontinent dogs and our visitors seem to be happy with whatever smells they encounter.
ReplyDeleteI cannot abide the smell of my school locker room
DeleteI was in there the other day after a gap of say 40 years and it still made me gip
Your post moved on very quickly from your car smell. I am impressed by your swift flick of the wrist to get on to other people's smells.
ReplyDeleteIt turned full circle back to my smells if you read all of the post
DeleteThe ps has appeared since I wrote the comment.
DeleteI returned to home smells before that.. why are u being so pissy ?
DeleteI didn't know I was. I just thought it was clever writing.
DeleteOh dear Rachel, you come across as being grumpy all the time. My Mother would have called you perverse or contrary. Cheer up chick.
DeleteWouldn't it just be easier to have a few clothes pegs in the glove compartment?
ReplyDeleteor an oxygen mask
DeleteOur dog sleeps with us. I love the smell of dogs but I noticed that after a couple of months on our winter quilt the whole bedroom smelled of dog, just the oil off her coat I imagine, and then I would have to drag the quilt to the laundromat and wash it and clean it. Took hours.
ReplyDeleteLast fall I had a brilliant idea, she now has a small blanket on top of the quilt in our bedroom and that is easy to wash every week. So pleased with myself. Only took two years:)
I had to tell a coworker about her body odor once too, nobody else would do it. It was so awkward but she thanked me afterwards. Now it's her shoes that smell, I decided to just move lockers rather than have that conversation again.
We have a dog, and I never think our house smells ... until we get back from a few days vacation and walk in the door, and it's kind of funky. But pretty soon we'll be able to throw open the windows and smell all the fresh air from outdoors. Ah, spring!
ReplyDeletei am so sensitive to smells. i can smell things that no one else notices. it's a curse.
ReplyDeleteOh yes the coming home smell.......it's always a shock
DeleteReminds me of the time my father in law lived in his bedsit flat on the ground floor of our house when we lived overseas. For several days we noticed a rather nasty smell in the house that got stronger each day. Even our neighbours across the road started to mention it. When FIL was out we popped downstairs and had a quick search. Opening the wardrobe door we found in a plastic bag his discarded, forgotten fishing bait from the previous week. We hadn't realised until then that his sense of smell had completely disappeared so he had been living with it all that time and never noticed it. God it was awful too.
ReplyDeleteOH dear god!!!!
DeleteOye, smells! A blessing and a curse! The family joke is that I can hear a fly fart in the next room, and tell you what he ate. It is the dichotomy of the very sensitive person. However, I wouldn't change it for the world, as I have heard the most beautiful melodies, whether they be a bird chirping, and I have smelled the most heavenly things, such as the smell of grass and wood and the earth when they warm up in Spring. I carry ear plugs with me wherever I go to dampen the unpleasant sounds, and I carry hand wipes to mitigate the smells! Dear Lord I pray that I never lose either sense! Science has proven that smell is directly linked in the brain to emotions; a fact that I must use now and then on my husband, who doesn't understand how affected I can be when I smell something unpleasant!
ReplyDeleteIt must be the same for dogs too!
DeleteWhy is it other folks doggie smells aren’t the same as your own furry friends? I used to love smelling my much missed dog, even the smell of her biscuity paws. Now if I stroke a pongy dog it gives me the heebeegeebees! I am about the furthest you could ever get from a domestic goddess, so no excuse there?
ReplyDeleteLX
I guess it's like a mom who will recognise her own baby by smell
DeleteWhen I open a magazine with those tear out fragrance infused strips accompanying a perfume ad, I usually think them yucky. However, just before Xmas I opened one which was such an unexpected moment, it was "my grandma" and immediately brought back memories of my childhood and sitting in a Lloyd Loom chair with her and looking out her sitting window.
ReplyDeleteThe perfume is Tiffany. . . . . . Bob bought me a beautiful bottle of it and when I spray I immediately feel great happiness.
Needless to say, I'm another of those lucky ones who definitely loved their grandmother. . . . . . she never had doggy smells or drools,
and of course no car, but somehow she had one of those old fashioned perfume bottles containing some similar fragrance tucked away in her dressing table.
Grandma in a bottle
DeleteOne of my brothers in law runs a garage and used to say if our van smelt of dog it would fail its MOT! Sadly the dogs are no longer with us but the van is. My sister can't stand the smell of lavender, our Nan used to make lavender bags. One of the lovely ladies I used to work with wore cheap perfume and it used to make me feel physically sick. Cigar smoke reminds me of my Dad, although he only smoked them around Christmas.
ReplyDeleteLavender when it is strong is sickening
DeleteAh, the smell of hot boxwood plants is the fragrance of Virginia to me as we always came here on summer vacation to visit family and most of the homes, restaurants, and sites we toured had boxwoods!
ReplyDeleteThe odor of crayons and Pink Pearl erasers takes me to the elementary school bookstore. Occasionally on the breeze I smell my grandma's home tho I am 30 miles and 42 years from her former house. Go figure.
Enjoy your pleasantly fragrant home!
Hugs!
OMG, yes, boxwood hedges in the sun. I am immediately a child, visiting Georgia relatives. Does it every time.
DeleteThe smell of warm milk reminds me of primary school
DeleteSmells seem to connect me to people and places in a Moreno immediate way than let’s say, visual clues. The memories are more vivid, more.. alive?
ReplyDeleteI still remember the smell of the first man I slept with. Vividly.
Yay for spring sofa cleaning!
XoXo
What did he smell of?
DeleteStale sex?
DeleteOne of my strongest memories is the smell of my Auntie's hand cream. I loved it, but by the time I had sense to look for some they didn't make it anymore. Smell is one of the strongest jolts to the memory, both good and bad.
ReplyDelete*Of the bad: my ex husband had the stinkiest feet I ever experienced. I made him put his dirty socks outside because it would stink up the bathroom.
My feet could bring down an elephant
DeleteSoak your stinky trotters in surgical spirit and replace all of your footwear.
DeleteI gave my Mum a lift last week, n She complained about the doggy smell.I reminded her that it's their car!!😂
ReplyDeleteLOL that gave me giggles , Sally.
DeleteBest line of the night
DeleteMany years ago I loved Giorgio Beverley Hills perfume. Then I got pregnant with my daughter, had ‘all day’ morning sickness and couldn’t bear the perfume. Even now, if I smell it, it makes me feel quite queasy. Isn’t it funny how smells evoke such strong memories?
ReplyDeleteThe closest sense to memory
DeleteI had the back of my car full of dirty , end of winter horse blankets. My husband decided we'd take my car out to dinner. My son was home from university, so it was the three of us. My husband immediately started complaining about the smell of " something" in yhr car. My son, without missing a beat, asked him "WHAT SMELL"??? We had him firmly convinced there was no odor in the car.. and only HE could smell it!...
ReplyDeleteAlthough I usually smell of horse, so I'm sure the smell is embedded in my skin pores!
Horse oil....I remember the sensation of oil on my hands after rubbing the hair
DeleteIt's said that smell is the most evocative of all the senses, and I do tend to find it so. Although I've been veggie for 60 years (and now vegan) the smells in passing a butcher's shop and, even moreso, a fishmonger's (as well as baker's) takes me right back to my childhood every time, to where my then innocent mind didn't think about the nature of what was causing the particular odour - and, I must confess, it's still a strangely comforting feeling.
ReplyDeleteThe smell in the butchers was quite horrid as you have just reminded me
DeleteRight up there with the work body odour conversation is the alcohol on the breath while on duty chat. It's the denial, cough mixture excuse that gets me. Don't they think I've heard it all before?
ReplyDeleteI've dont that chat too
DeleteI always wear the same cologne and everytime I see my grandchildren and they hug me they always tell me how they love my special "grandma smell". I will never change cologne for that reason. I am still instantly transported back to my mother when I smell the cologne she used.
ReplyDeleteI always wear Clinique happy, I wonder who will remember that in years to come
DeleteFags as in poofs?
DeleteAbsolutely. I am dripping with ejaculated man fat and Jean Paul Gautier fragrance.
DeleteYou get worse
DeleteYep. Now pass me an ashtray and a puppy for my lap x
DeleteHaving recently been viewing possible house purchases I can only assume that dog owners are unaware that their houses can have an unpleasant aroma!
ReplyDeleteWhy do u think I bought a carpet cleaner?
DeleteI'm a migraine sufferer and smells are one of my triggers, but when I actually have a migraine ANY smell is appalling. I don't like perfumed washing powders ( took me ages to find an unscented one), air fresheners an awful lot of perfumes etc, it's a real curse. Stale urine is particularly nasty!
ReplyDeleteInfected urine is worse . I was once hit by a full catheter bag full of rancid piss. It burst
DeleteYuck! I was barfed on by a sick man who had been bitten by a rattlesnake so was in the ER. He was mortified and I told him not to worry, it was okay because he had the best excuse. I changed into scrubs after washing up. The joys of being a nurse!
DeleteThrough various unexpected tricks of Fate, I have ended up with 3 cats ..I might be a little paranoid about cat box smells but with a little work and a lot of fresh scented litter, no one has gagged when visiting :)
ReplyDeleteSu, me too although cigarette smoke is the main culprit:(
There is nothing worse than a full cat litter tray......
DeleteThank god for cat flaps
When I was a child and we went away for a few days or weeks I loved coming home and into the house with its special smell that meant home. Wasn't till decades later that I realized the house was pickled in Camel cigarette smoke; my parents were chain smokers. Now I can't stand cigarette smoke, tho I still like the smell of a wood fire.
ReplyDeleteAnd you probably smoked 20 a day yourself
DeleteYes--I never have had enough lung power to blow up a balloon. Other than that it was a very good childhood, and I didn't know how bad the smoke was...
DeleteI open windows in cars as I am simply too hot and need a blast of air !
ReplyDeleteCheap lemon scented washing up liquid takes me back to a hostel in Jerusalem ..... a magical place I loved staying in during my twenties when I worked in Israel.
I love the feeling when I smell that scent again.
Nicely remembered and written x
DeleteLove a whiff of dog smell. (Only this morning one of my art ladies gave me a lift in her immaculate,sweet smelling car and first thing I said was "you don't have a dog do you!"
ReplyDeleteI hate those Christmas Tree air fresheners in cars, they make me feel terribly sick
DeleteThe smell of dettol always reminds me of giving birth to my son.
ReplyDeleteI have one of the farmer;s caps hanging on the back of my bedroom door. It will be twoyears on Friday since he died. I can no longer smell him on his cap but it touch it every night before I go to bed.
It reminds me of vomiting in a plastic bucket as a child
DeleteMy so. Has my father’s old dresser and it still has the same scent I remember from childhood. I’ll put his clothes away for him sometimes so I can smell it.
ReplyDeleteSon*
ReplyDeleteHaving company over is always a great motivation to clean things up -- and even if they don't show, as you said, you get to enjoy the benefits!
ReplyDeleteAnd the sweet air
DeleteThere's a commercial for an air freshener in the US that cautions us against becoming "nose blind" - getting used to the bad smells in our homes so that we don't smell them anymore. I did a blog post about the cat litter system I use because it's the best, most odor-free litter I've ever used! Not sure if I believe it or not, but I've also heard that ghosts communicate they're with us by smell. After Pete's Mom died recently, he smelled her Polish bread baking very strongly.
ReplyDeleteI think I'd need a hammer and chisel to remove the dog 'aroma' from my car!
ReplyDeleteThe smell of cigarettes and coffee remind me of my Grandfather .. a US Marine Drill Sgt who would do anything for his granddaughter, even let her drive his Studebaker when she was a little girl ..
ReplyDeleteI worked with a woman who had atrocious breath one day. I bought a roll of breath mints, popped one in my mouth and offered her one. She declined so I said to never decline a breath mint. She looked at me a moment, then got the point.
ReplyDeleteLove your sofa. It looks comfy and welcoming. I'm sure it smells sweet. Mine is similar - alot of throws covering it.
ReplyDeleteImagine what it was like in olden days with body odour and then to be crude, unwashed body part odour. I guess mouths were not so much involved in sex back then.
ReplyDelete