Smells and Memories

I was just reading about smells and how it can induce memories. It got me thinking on some of the times I think this has happened to me.

When I was little I had been hospital. I was discharged and my Mum and me went to stay with a friend. In the middle of the night I got really sick and had to be taken to the Emergency department. The friend we were staying with wore a particular perfume. Over 20 years later, I'm not sure what brand of Perfume it was. However sometimes I walk past someone in the street and smell a bit of it. It is not an unpleasant smell as such but I hate it. I think because it reminds of hospital.

When I first got into Harry Potter books we had a particular type of hand soap. Sometimes I buy that brand or go somewhere that has it in the bathroom. That's a positive memory and whenever I smell it I remember the thrill of reading the books for the first time.

Recently I was walking past a food shop in the CBD. I don't know what they were cooking but the smell reminded me of China Town in London. I closed my eyes for a few seconds and imagined I was there.

Anyone else have similar experience or am I just a freak?

Totally.
There's a type of green paper towel they have in some hand dryers that reminds me of primary school. PVA glue, crayola crayons and Play-Doh also remind me of school, as if I'm back there for a second.

Occasionally I smell a fabric softener or perfume that will remind me really vividly of an auntie's house or old neighbour's house or somewhere else I haven't even been for 20 years.

Plasticine, that I used to play with a lot in childhood and..........

Old fashioned hardware store, where I used to buy my fireworks and heavy elastic for catapults.

The memories come flooding back with those smells.

Ooh, I smelled something the other day that smelled just like an overheated scalextric (don't know how to spell that) controller. Burnt wires, I guess?

Ooh, yes the arcing smell off an electric train set as it went over the track joints and points.

Smells definitely invoke long-lost memories. If I smell teabags in their box/container it takes me straight back to doing grocery shopping with my Mum in the 80s. I also adore the smell of big box washing powder as it smelt of cleanliness and houseproud friends and relatives.

Your avatar has never been so apt!

Miss Cathcart would be after her if it wasn't all clean!

Marzipan does it for me, takes me right back to giving Andrea Fuller one while she was icing a Christmas cake. Her mince pies were lovely.

I don't know why, but the engine and smoke off a bus reminded me of school because we did some fuel experiment and the smell reminded me of it. Also, every time I have chips, it reminds me of my grandparents owning a fish and chip shop years ago.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 11th December 2015, 5:24 PM GMT

Plasticine, that I used to play with a lot in childhood and........

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You've just made me smell that, right in my nostrils, NOW.

Bulmers sweet cider..... I'm 13 years old again drinking from a quart glass bottle getting drunk for the first time. Me and a group of girls and boys falling about plastered and getting amorous.

Quote: zooo @ 11th December 2015, 7:12 PM GMT

Your avatar has never been so apt!

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Absolutely

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 11th December 2015, 8:01 PM GMT

Miss Cathcart would be after her if it wasn't all clean!

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Miss Cathcart is truly my nemesis

Quote: keewik @ 11th December 2015, 10:08 PM GMT

You've just made me smell that, right in my nostrils, NOW.

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Ditto Play Doh.

I remember the smell of sausage rolls being baked, because we made some in food tech at school.

Quote: keewik @ 11th December 2015, 10:08 PM GMT

You've just made me smell that, right in my nostrils, NOW.

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We are kindred spirits.