The power of smell, part two
The difference in the smell (is that the right word for perfume?) between my Burberry for Men and my previous bottle of L'eau D'Issey by Miyake is remarkable. A tribute to the perfume makers art and justification of the premium price their products command. But as difficult as it is for me to describe the music I enjoy, it is many times more difficult to describe the scent of the perfumes I favour. I could always quote the advertising blurb and, like the labels on bottles of wine, it at least gives you something to go on - fruity, smooth, full bodied - but it brings me no closer to being able to articulate the pleasurable sensation I experience when inhaling its scent.
There are unpleasant associations associated with smells too. Smells that trigger bad memories. Smells that raise anxiety levels and smells that frankly terrify. For me grass is the villain in the scary smells stakes. Fresh cut grass that if I touch brings me out in hives. Fresh cut grass that if I inhale too much of causes me hay fever. Which is a shame because I love the smell. I can even remember the moment (I think) I first had hay fever and why. It was in the 1960s. My friends and I were playing in a farmer's field full of hay waiting to be harvested. We rolled around in it. We plucked it from its stalks and threw it at each other. We probably even chewed on it a little. I went home with red runny eyes and a streaming nose and (I believe) this was the first ever time I had hay fever. Playing in the field (I have always thought) infected me with the 'hay fever bug'. If there is such a thing. I became susceptible to hay fever by being exposed to so much of the hay / grass pollen, my immune system kicked in, produced a flood of histamine, and ever since I have been a hay fever sufferer. Does that sound even vaguely accurate, medically speaking? If not, is there an explanation for the way in which my body appears to have developed a greater tolerance for pollen as I have grown older? Socrates might have had something to say about that. More about him next time.
The difference in the smell (is that the right word for perfume?) between my Burberry for Men and my previous bottle of L'eau D'Issey by Miyake is remarkable. A tribute to the perfume makers art and justification of the premium price their products command. But as difficult as it is for me to describe the music I enjoy, it is many times more difficult to describe the scent of the perfumes I favour. I could always quote the advertising blurb and, like the labels on bottles of wine, it at least gives you something to go on - fruity, smooth, full bodied - but it brings me no closer to being able to articulate the pleasurable sensation I experience when inhaling its scent. 
There are unpleasant associations associated with smells too. Smells that trigger bad memories. Smells that raise anxiety levels and smells that frankly terrify. For me grass is the villain in the scary smells stakes. Fresh cut grass that if I touch brings me out in hives. Fresh cut grass that if I inhale too much of causes me hay fever. Which is a shame because I love the smell. I can even remember the moment (I think) I first had hay fever and why. It was in the 1960s. My friends and I were playing in a farmer's field full of hay waiting to be harvested. We rolled around in it. We plucked it from its stalks and threw it at each other. We probably even chewed on it a little. I went home with red runny eyes and a streaming nose and (I believe) this was the first ever time I had hay fever. Playing in the field (I have always thought) infected me with the 'hay fever bug'. If there is such a thing. I became susceptible to hay fever by being exposed to so much of the hay / grass pollen, my immune system kicked in, produced a flood of histamine, and ever since I have been a hay fever sufferer. Does that sound even vaguely accurate, medically speaking? If not, is there an explanation for the way in which my body appears to have developed a greater tolerance for pollen as I have grown older? Socrates might have had something to say about that. More about him next time.
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