Autumn Smells

And then sometimes when your body doesn't function properly, or rather has to fight off the alcohol you just drank and thus neglects your sense of balance, it sometimes heightens other senses. So there I was, I had had 3 pints, which is under normal circumstances not terribly much for me, but that day it hit me so that I couldn't even finish the last pint. On the bus back home I started getting really dizzy, very uncomfortably dizzy indeed, so that I decided to get out at Newington Green and walk the alcohol off. And even though I was tired and just wanted my bed, the hour it took me to get home from there was a really nice experience. Strangely enough.

See, either it was the lateness of the evening and fewer cars around that could dilute the smell, or just my body focussing more on smell since other functions were a little impaired, I am not sure. But on the way, on this slightly damp autumn night, I had to pass three parks, and I vividly remember the beautiful smell. 

This is autumn, this is how autumn smells. Like damp brown leaves, like wet earth, like the coming of rain and storm on a green lawn... There is still some life in this smell, other than the somewhat dry winter smell where you can smell nothing green, nothing alive. And it is yet warm enough to carry well through the air, together with the drizzle that seems to be settling in for the season. This is the smell that brings back images of red and yellow leaves on a tree being shaken about by the wind; of fighting against the blow of the wind while walking in the storm, huddled up in a big warm jacket and a scarf that is whipping the air behind you; of the hot tea waiting at home and the amazing feeling when you settle back down into the warmth...

So, I guess it is not always bad to feel drunk and dizzy, if it helps to notice some of the beauty around us. To an extent...