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I well remember Dave Baldwin`s comments about "coffin nails" on the Fell Lane Bus.I also remember that every so often the top decks of K.W.Y.Buses received new coats of paint of which I always remember "the smell" when I open a can of paint.So what must a smoker`s lungs look like?
No doubt all old building K.B.G.S. pupils will have a tale to tell about "smells" whilst incarcerated in that building and I don`t mean the frequent type of "SBD`S" emanating from the likes of K.Bywater`s behind !!
Are you sure the "smell" top deck of a West Yorks Road Car bus was paint and not the preparation used to remove the stains of baccy tar and Nick 'O Tine. During several tours of duty at the West Yorkshire Bus Garage in Suresnes Road, I was required to clean interior staining of said upper deck road cars using a cogent prepararion known as "Teepol" - and bloody good stuff it was -would that I had a jar or two now.
The most evocative smell of all - for me at any rate -is that of singed horse hoof. At the bottom of our street in Cowling was one of the two village backsmiths. When I was a kid the milk, coal and many other deliveries came by horse and cart and most farmers also had horses, so the smithy was kept busy. Shoes for the big draft horses were fitted hot, so they would burn into the hoof, without causing the animal any discomfort. Whenever I catch that smell now - perhaps at an agricultural show or working farm - I am instantly five years old again.
A little later, I was mightily impressed by the general stink of Keighley and other industrial towns compared with our little windswept village.
Later still, I fell in love with the smell of Henschke's Hill of Grace shiraz and Laphroiag single malt. Unfortunately, those aromas come with a higher price than the long-gone village smithy.
As I work in the chemical industry, I well remember 'Teepol' Terry. I havent heard of it for ages, but I seem to recall it was Sulphated castor oil, or contained it in a diluted from , togther with other additives.
Also many years ago when I worked in Wandsworth, my regular barber was closed and I went to a real backstreet fellow, who'd been there for years. He put some shampoo on my head which stung like hell. 'This'll clear your dandruff' says he, 'its sulphated castor oil, I get it from a chemical merchant ! ' It could easily have been 'Teepol'. Any way I didnt suffer any lasting effects!
LM Stockdale ('Stoker') had his opinion about smells.
Pupil: 'That stuff smells 'orrible Sir'
Stoker: 'No boy, that stuff doesn't smell. Indeed it cannot smell because it doesn't have a nose. You can smell because you have a nose. That stuff doesn't smell, it stinks'
When I first arrived in Australia, nearly 50 years ago, many homes were still not conected to the sewer system and relied upon "sanitary pans". These were replaced on a weekly basis (by the folk remembered in the ballad, "We are the night sh*te shifters") with empty pans, disinfected with carbolic acid.
The first time I ever smelled one of these, I asked my father what was the smell, he told me it was phenol. Now Brian Craven has previously remarked upon my hybrid Tyke/Cockney way of speaking, but not my inability to pronounce "th" except as "f". I replied to my father, "It don't smell like our (th) f'en oil used to smell. (chicken run)
As you well know, Marcus, they already are. Shouldn't that be "fy" ears anyway?
Incidentally, I have an article from a recent Yorkshire publication "Down Your Way" (kindly sent me by David Rhodes) describing the adoption of Felvus as a Christian name by a Sunderland family in 19th Century Keighley area. I'll scan and email it to you. Oddly, there's no reference to "Little Rocks", though.
Best smell i'Keighley at that time was Aaaron King's Brewery in Cook Lane - just beside the Sally Army Citadel. It confused me at the time ( reference preference)and clearly Paul thowt it woh summat else.
Just as an aside, I knew a Felvus Sunderland !! . When I became organist at Fell Lane Methodist Chapel in about 1962 (I was 15 then), the most senior church member was Felvus Sunderland. He must have been at least 80 which meant he was probably born around 1880. Might have been the original or more likley son of the original !
Felvus Sunderland was a doughty Methodist Local Preacher whom I knew in the 50s as an occasional mentor. He was a kind man of the people whom he served with a generous spirit well into his last years.
Back to Smells ! I always said that if anyone had blindfolded me and taken me to the Gymnasium in the old school I would have known at once where I was without a doubt.