I’ve probably mentioned this on here before but I have a very keen sense of smell. My husband calls it my bionic nose. It’s not that I’m sensitive to smells in a negative way (well, most scents anyway) but I can usually smell things long before other people can, or simply before they notice.
For example, I can smell rain from far before the clouds start rolling in. Same thing with fire – if someone is burning something anywhere in the vicinity (like in km’s in radius), I’ll know. Same with food or dairy that’s bad or will soon be bad, is i the fridge, sitting in a garbage bin anywhere in the room I’m in… Perfume, flowers, food, detergent, tea, anything with a smell, good or bad…I’ll know it’s there.
Sometimes even long after it’s gone. Like when I come home from work and ask my husband “Oh did you make chai tea?” “Umm, ya, I had some at lunch…” (followed by the Val-is-crazy look).
I love scents and smells – they bring back memories (perfume or holiday smells), they entice (spicy food), they comfort (fresh bread), they invigorate (freshly ground coffee), it’s all awesome.
Sometimes I turn it into a game. I commute to work and am surrounded by people on the train and also on the walk to my office building using the underground path. I try to guess who the smokers are, who’s wearing Calvin Klein Eternity (and is it someone who wore it in high school like I did or someone new to the scent?), who shaved this morning, who has french vanilla coffee in their thermos, who’s wearing hair spray, who has the handbag made of real leather…
Just this morning, I was laughing to myself and thought how I would write a post about it tonight. I was walking underground surrounded by a bunch of people and I was directly behind a burly guy carrying a laptop bag when I caught the smell of apples (the smell that comes from a beauty product, not the fruit). It was so unlikely that the dude in front of me smelled like this but the totally unexpected scent made me smile. Then I took a look around and I spotted her – a girl with gelled wet-looking long curly hair. The apple girl was walking in front of the burly guy. So funny. 
