A few days ago Hails over at Coffee Helps posted on the smells she most hates and those she most loves, which has inspired me to do the same. I’ve always known I have an excellent sense of smell; I can often smell things other people can’t — especially useful for gas leaks etc. But don’t have a strong stomach to ho along with it. So here are my selections; they aren’t necessarily the definitive top tens, but they’re going to be pretty close.

Top 10 smells I most hate:

• Sewers and drains (make me retch almost instantly)
• Vomit (as above)
• Anything stagnant (and again; I really do not have a strong stomach)
• Gas (well yes; natural gas is actually odourless and has sulphurous compounds added to make it smell nasty and prevent you gassing yourself accidentally; old style coal gas had these smells in it naturally)
• Sweaty unwashed people (yeuch!)
• Tobacco (especially cigarette) smoke (despite once having been a smoker)
• Stale urine (as in subways)
• Rotten meat and fish
• Pernod and absinthe (disgusting stuff; how can anyone drink these?)
• Burning rubber (this is organic sulphur compounds again)

Top 10 smells I like:

• Brewing coffee (even though I hardly ever drink it)
• Baking bread (heavenly; no wonder supermarkets use it to encourage people to shop!)
• Frying onions
• Newly mown grass (always takes me back to my childhood, and my youth playing cricket)
• Sea (wonderful fresh iodine smell which clears the head)
• Wood smoke (which always reminds me of my youth and scout camp)
• Roses (especially old roses which almost always have a wonderful perfume; why do modern rose have no perfume?)
• Grapefruit oil (it’s just so uplifting)
• Christmas spices (that combination of orange, cinnamon, clove, etc.)
• Pine trees (that fresh resinous smell which, like the sea, clears the head)

Anyone feel like contributing their favourite hated/loved smells?