'What is?' I said, befuddledly.
'On the phone.'
'Is it ringing?'
If I'm bed and the phone rings downstairs I don't hear it. When the grandchildren were staying and shouting from their bedrooms I didn't hear them downstairs. (No, ability to cut out unwanted noise is not my new power.)
A while ago I said I thought the smell in my nose had gone: it hadn't. But my theory is that, rather than having a strange smell in my nose as such, my nose has developed extra-sensory powers. To compensate for my getting-worse hearing my nose is becoming more acute. No, I mean my sense of smell is. My nose stays the same large red thing it's always been unfortunately.
But I'm not sure this is a good thing. Anything, even the nicest of smells, gets a bit much when it's there stuck in your nose for any length of time.
I've always been a very sniffy person. I've loved beautiful scents and have frequently commented to complete strangers how lovely they smell - with not always delighted reactions I have to say - and I'm forever sticking my nose in flowers and all sorts of places to get a better whiff.
So you'd think an improved sense of smell would be a good thing but it's not. But there must be some advantages. If I think of any I'll let you know.
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| Aren't noses weird when you think about them? |
P.S. Early warning that the house is on fire?
3 comments:
Well, as superpowers go, I suppose it could be worse.
There are smells and smells, of course. Hot chocolate is one thing, sauerkraut another …
I too tend to be especially aware of odors. You may find it interesting that from a biological perspective, it is believed that our odd (human) nose shape is believed to have evolved to shunt water (rain) as we became bipedal. Animals that are quadruped have their nostrils face forward and will simply tilt their head downward to avoid rain. Our canopy design makes it possible to keep our face upright and have better bipedal balance.
PipeTobacco
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