Smells

Some of my earliest memories are smells.  When I was four we lived in England, and when I visited again years later I recognized several smells from that time.  Stuff like greengrocer shops, butcher shops, coal smoke (from the time we visited London), bus diesel fumes. I also remember the popcorn smell of cinemas.

I once smelled something in a dream. (It was a locker-room smell.) I've also tasted beer in a dream, which is odd because I've never tasted it in real life, but I recognized the taste from the smell.

Growing up in New Brunswick, I occasionally smelled skunks.  Here in Toronto I never seem to smell them.  And our lawn in so small that I don't smell freshly mown grass much, unlike back in New Brunswick.  When my window is open I sometimes smell barbecue smoke. (We used to have a KFC in our neighbourhood and I could occasionally smell it in our back yard.) I recall a time when we drove past the Christie cookie factory in the Lakeshore area and there was a fragrant smell.

Once a rubber band got under one of our stove's heating elements and melted.  What a stench!