Something Smells in Here

You would like to say that everybody has a sense of smell, but I have met people who don't.  Research says that 70% of our sense of taste is actually our sense of smell because of the nasopharynx connection.  That should explain why when you have a cold you say, "I can't taste anything!"  You only taste buds are sweet, sour, bitter, and salty.  Our sense of smell controls our taste buds and has great power to trigger memories.

I teach at two schools for ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages).  Most of the day I am at Hollis Hand Elementary School, but drive through LaGrange to Troup High for a 7th period ESOL class every day.  The smell of pit smoke from Country's BBQ is wafting on the breeze to tantalize me Monday through Friday.  Our sense of smell very often triggers very "real" and very "deep" memories.  It has been my pleasure to visit over 50 countries and smells (aromas if you prefer) are a trigger for memories of some of my adventures.

Jet Exhaust
I have spent countless hours on the ramp (parking apron if you prefer) of airports around God's green earth.  A flood of memories with the smell . . . and a smile.

In Manama, Bahrain, we were in Desert Storm.  Pre-flights (walking around the outside of the aircraft checking for leaks and being sure nothing was falling off of the plane) were punctuated by SCUD alerts and tactical aircraft taking off in full afterburner (full military rated thrust) loaded with bombs en route to downtown Baghdad.

On the IKE (CVN-69) standing with right arm waving over my head and two fingers extended and shaking.  Not 20 feet away in the pitch black of nights is an F/A-18 Super Hornet with only red and green navigation lights at afterburner waiting for me to launch them.


My parents divorced when I was 3 years-old.  My Dad moved to Melbourne, Florida, when I was 9 to take a civil service job at Patrick AFB near Cape Canaveral (or Kennedy whichever you prefer).  He drove to Georgia at the beginning of the summer, picked me up took me to Melbourne to spend the summer with him.  Not wanting to drive the "highway to hell" that I-75 can be even in 1968, he bought an airline ticket from Delta and sent me home to Columbus on a DC-3 (that is correct).  I have no recollection of the flight or boarding the flight.  However, the smell of humidity and jet exhaust as I walked across the ramp at Columbus Regional airport still lingers in my nostrils.  Never crossed my mind that I would log over 3500 flying hours in Naval aircraft in the future.


Seabreeze

Lynne and I spent three months in a condominium on Perdido Key during my signals intelligence school at Corry Station in Pensacola, Florida.  I don't think we ever closed the windows or the sliding glass door.

My favorite place to have breakfast is a ristorante in Xania, Crete, (pronounce han-yah) the Old Venetian Harbor.  On a Saturday morning, nobody is out and the only sounds are water lapping against the harbor walls and the whisper of the sea air through the scalloped fringe of the table umbrellas.

Hong Kong and Kowloon are both easily described as a metropolis. Skyscrapers fill the skyline of each.  Sometimes, when we were caught up in shopping or price haggling we would lose our way in the shady valleys between skyscrapers.  The salty sea breeze from Hong Kong Harbor is to shoppers and residents alike the same thing the North Star is for sailors.  It provides re-orientation and direction in an environment where Mandarin and Cantonese are spoken almost exclusively.

Take the smell of sea air, add a generous portion of diesel smoke and a hint of dried fish and you take me back to slow, sunny rides on the Star Ferry across Hong Kong Harbor.  Hong Kong is an island and the city of Kowloon is on the mainland.  You can ride the subway and make the trip in less than 10 minutes.  Star Ferry is cheap, but the experience of crossing the harbor on the Star Ferry is priceless.  The sights, smells and sounds are a feast for the senses.  "Rubbing elbows"  with the locals make this an authentic Hong Kong experience.

What smells and memories can you share?  Let me know at larryninas@gmail.com.