Top Five Smells

Having so many different senses is wonderful but I think many of us would agree - if you had to lose one, it would probably be smell. Sight, hearing, and touch are all much more useful in everyday life and, while people who unfortunately lose one of these, or even never have it start with, do adapt to the loss (or absence), it does present a challenge. This wouldn't be the case if someone lost the ability to smell things but it would deprive them of many lovely aromas. Here are the first five splendid ones that popped into my head:

5 - Coffee Brewing

Until very recently I didn't even drink coffee - it always seemed to make me thirsty when I tried it which is the opposite of what a drink should do, surely? Regardless of whether I drank it or not though, the smell of it brewing, in one of those fancy machines, preferably, always made me want some. Hmmmm...

4 - Barbecues

One sure sign of the arrival of summer, here in the UK at least, is when the smell of barbecues fills the evening air. I'm not actually that keen on barbecued food, personally (although bangers like those pictured are awesome), I think it's more that the distinctive smell is like a announcement that it's a really nice evening...

3 - Bacon Frying

It's not particularly healthy and I actually don't eat it very often but, to quote good old Vicent Vega: "bacon tastes good!". He is of course correct and it smells pretty awesome while it's cooking too, especially if one is fortunate enough to wake to such an aroma. Mmmm, breakfast...

2 - Cut Grass

Much like the barbecues, the smell of freshly cut grass is a sure way of knowing the summer is upon us, and this (hopefully) means splendid, lazy days are here as well! Since I moved to the city it isn't nearly as common to encounter this smell (or indeed much in the way of grass) but when I lived in the country it was lovely...

1 - Bread Baking

But not as lovely as the divine smell of a bakery in the morning, baking their wares for the day! When I used to work nights, I cycled past just such a bakery on the way home and the smell was unbelievable. Fresh crusty bread, still warm, sometimes still too hot to even hold, for breakfast every morning... Mmmm, it was almost worth working nights for that treat...

No, it hasn't escaped my attention that four of these are food/drink-based! One thing that did amaze me, however, is that I didn't think to include the smell of my very favourite food - curry! Eeek!