Smell Again

A few months ago Lady Luck told me about smell and I wrote a little thing about it without giving it much thought.

I had always thought of smell as an artificial stimulant, that natural smell was lurking below the artificialness of deodorant and perfume and stuff. But a friend of mine was telling me the other day about a girl he's keen on who seems to like him too. Turns out this girl had told him that not only does she like his smell but she thought it suited him too.

We chuckled in a boyish way about this but then I remembered Lady Luck's opinion on this, I recollected that a few people had commented and agreed with her and I appeared to be in a minority. Now I'm starting to change my opinion on this vitally important issue.

I've started to wonder if two people can be kind of balanced, chemically or physically or whatever. I met a nice couple when I was in Colombo, two tourists from the UK who I got talking to and kept bumping into everywhere. The very first time I saw them I thought that they looked like a honeymooning couple, I can't describe exactly what it was but they had a look about them. It was in their body language and their whole demeanour. It wasn't even that soppy romanticism that I've seen in many couples either, this was quite pleasant to watch. Little things like the way that they were lying on two deckchairs, she had her leg casually hanging over his leg, nothing rude, just affectionate.

He was in Sri Lanka on business and, on one occasion, asked me what the situation was for going to the airport to see his wife off, as he had to stay on when she left. I thought this was really nice; most couples I know would have just said goodbye at their hotel or whatever.

Then, when I got to know them I discovered that they have been together for about ten years and have two kids, the eldest is nine. To be honest this shocked me. I hadn't expected it.

As a strong believer in random acts of kindness I was quite gutted that I didn't get a chance to see them before I left, just to tell them how great I thought they looked together.

It's got me thinking though. I've never been one who believes in fate. My take is that we all have a certain amount of ability and it's up to us how much of that we make use of. I'm beginning to realise that it's unlikely I'll ever get signed up by a top band in need of a drummer, no matter how much practice I put in I just don't have that talent. All I can do is to make the most of the talent I do have. Some coves believe in fate, they are convinced that they are destined to be the next Pele or the next great inventor or whatever. Good luck to them I say.

But, the thing that I have been thinking about is this smell and deck chair thing. What if there is someone out there who is chemically balanced with you, who has your serial number as such? What if there's that person out there whose metaphorical leg is dangling over your side of the hypothetical deck chair? What if there's a man or woman out there who likes your smell, whether it's Jean Paul Gaultier or Diesel. And I meant the perfume and the fuel respectively there, not the chap and the perfume respectively, although a bit of chopping and changing could be done.

And I'm starting to think that the good Lady Luck may be right, that there may be these idyllic couples out there. Some of them may have not even met yet, some may have met and got married, some may never meet and others may even be married to other people. But, when these people do meet, when the smells match and one's leg dangles over the other's deckchair, when they know each other's serial numbers, well that's when their journey really begins.

If they want.