Saturday 6 August 2011

Coming to my senses...

So, there I am, swimming up and down my lane at the pool today and suddenly, I become aware that I have passed a female swimmer in the lane next to mine. I am jolted out of my zoned out state of mind and into reality by it. How did I know that the swimmer was female? No, this is not one of those lateral thinking puzzles but, undoubtedly, it has the potential to form part of one. The reason I knew that it was a female swimmer that passed me is because I could taste her; I could taste her perfume in the water.

Our senses of taste and smell (apparently they're related) change over time and sometimes as a symptom of certain medical conditions. For those of you wishing to dig deeper, this article on disorders of taste and smell seems to cover it quite comprehensively. For example, as we enter old age we can sometimes lose the keenness of our taste and smell; it's why old people often lose their appetite. At the other end of the spectrum, it seems that we are pre-programmed as children to like sweet tasting, safe, foods such as ripe berries rather than the potentially dangerous, bitter tasting foods such as poisonous berries. Most of us go on to develop an adult palette as we move out of childhood; we develop a liking for more bitter tasting foods and drinks.

I've noticed that my sense of smell has changed quite recently. I've developed a heightened sensitivity to perfumes, aftershaves and deodorants. It's what alerted me instantly to the female swimmer in the lane next to me. Not only has my sense of smell (and taste) become more sensitive, my perception of the sweet smells I once sensed has transmuted into something different. Many perfumes now seem to me to have a sharp and acrid edge, not dissimilar to the sweat they are trying to disguise. And I smell them wherever I go. I was walking down the street yesterday and I must have fallen into the slipstream of a good looking guy in front. All I could smell was a heavy, bitter, sweaty smell with notes of Gucci Pour Homme in there somewhere. I've no doubt that to anyone else he would have smelled as sweet as... well... as sweet as a sweet looking guy wearing Gucci Pour Homme.

So why has my sense of smell changed so markedly in the last couple of weeks? Quite honestly, I have no idea, however, I am reminded that George Gershwin died aged 38 of a brain tumour in 1937 and one of the symptoms he noted was the impression of smelling burning rubber wherever he went. I trust that the recent change I've noticed is an olfactory blip rather than a symptom of something more serious. In the meantime, I'll hope that people going for a swim at Cardiff International Pool have a shower before they get in; that's why they have poolside showers and I'll point you toward this beautiful performance of Gershwin's The Man I Love, as a tribute to the genius that he was.

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