THEN-TIME

Today I was having a while of contemplation (is this why they call it whiling away the hours?) waiting for the bus to take me home after dropping our pretty girl off at the service station for a service.  As I relaxed in the cool air, I began to wonder, at what point did we start seeing in our memory, our youthful selves in the locations frequented (or even just a single time) at that time? At what point did making memories become remembering them?  Some places just require a scent of significance, others a brief memory of an event and still others, a ritual or habit of the then-time.

Yesterday....I popped into an op shop for a browse (to remind myself I'm not a size 10 anymore lol) and picked up a little sachet of lavender.  I don't even know when lavender stopped being an 'old' person's plant and became one of my favourites but I found it amazing when I sniffed this particular sachet, I was instantly transported in my memory, back to 1979 - the Strathgordon Primary School trip to Melbourne.  In particular, Sovereign Hill - Ballarat.  The lolly shop....to be even more precise.  More than that - I don't know if the lavender inside was mixed with another herb, just plain old or, a different variety but I had purchased another sachet of lavender only a week earlier and it's scent was different.

The way our brains are wired is just awesome.  Once in a while I will smell just the right smell of Sunsilk shampoo or Pears shampoo, both of which remind my of my Nan.  As does the smell of Ponds cream when the right person uses it. There are so many types of creams available now that I don't even know which one is the one she used. And it is the body's chemistry that affects a change in how we smell - and how something smells to us!

We can take..........Brut 33!  I remember smelling it in the bottle - and it was yummy.  Then the bathroom at home - when dad had had a shower.....if I didn't know it was Brut 33 I would never have guessed.  Then a high school boyfriend (or possibly more than one since it was a popular after shavey thing), John Snare - the smell of it on his New Town High School cardy/jacket - SO much nice than smelling it elsewhere, not to mention how it smelled on him!  We shall stop there.

Sadly, my computer time has come to an end again - children!  They're fed, and will soon be pyjama'd and tooth brushed and I might get 10 m inutes of peace before they start mucking around in their bedrooms.
I never seem to be able to find that moment wherer I can let all my thoughts loose in my brain.  The sound of my children calling 'mummy' seems to wipe my mind like a magnet did to a cassette tape.

And why do I need to be sitting at the bus stop with just a teeny keyboard for such complex thoughts that requires scribing app I don't forget.
I like my "BUS STOP" moments....good for clearing the cranial dustbunnies away