Olfactory Recall – a post from the past
(first published, October 2009)
Olfactory recall… or rather the way a smell can bring back a memory.
I find it incredible that the slightest hint of a familiar smell can trigger a picture or an emotion in your mind.
Yesterday I was sitting, working at the computer with a mind full of Photoshop and the internet when I got the merest hint of a smell. Instantly my mind emptied of Photoshop, the internet and everything else except the clearest picture of my grandmother.
In a flash I was in her house in Campbeltown, which always smelt of fresh air and soap. I was in the front room looking out over Campbeltown Loch in all seasons at once. The image was so out of the blue and so vivid that I nearly cried out in fright. Writing this now, a day later, I’m still spooked by the experience.
It is reassuring that a person does live on, carried on in memories and stories.
For Margaret McInnes Webb, a wonderful lady…