Aromas

Why is it that of all our sense the sense of smell has the extraordinary ability to transport me through time and space. I was reminded of this the other day while walking past a newly mown hay field, the familiar smell took me from rural Berkshire to the Outer Hebrides some 40 odd years ago.

My younger brother and I used to spend 5 weeks there in the summer on our Uncles croft and the two smells that take me back there are newly mown hay and the smell of peat burning.The hay was cut with a tractor but then had to be turned to dry it and then collected using hand held tools, my memories of joining in this task always coincide with clear blue skies and of the sun glittering on the waves rolling into the bay below us.

I remember the field as being huge but that is with the eye of a young boy, the reality is that it was quite small. I also remember assisting in the collection of the peat to provide the croft with winter fuel - and then I return to the here and now.

So here in no particular order are my favourite aromas:

Wood Smoke
Peat Smoke
Freshly baked bread
Freshly ground coffee
Grated ginger
Spice markets of Dubai
Sea shore
Single Malt Whisky
Pine Trees
New Mown Hay