There was an item on TV last night, one of those fillers to leave people feeling less gloomy about the state of the world. This one was about the scents being used in stores and other commercial establishments, especially hotels, to make people feel welcome and cheerful and consumer-ish (?), i.e. in a mood to buy stuff. apparently one hotel has paid a lot of money for a "signature smell". Customers or clients don't actually recognize the scent but they feel good. The only store I can smell is some kind of kitschy gift shop with all the scented candles and smellies. That's what my hyper-allergic daughter called those little sachets women put in their underwear and linen closets. Liz called them "closet smellies", and threw them out when she received them as gifts. .

I remember years ago reading about a company in New York called Flavours and Fragrances and they were in the business of creating new flavours, tastes and aromas. Apparently when Jello wanted a grape flavour they went to F&F to create one. There were more practical (?) demands for their services. The company developed an Essence of Cave to lure bears into hibernation - I guess in zoos since presumably they could find their own bear-cave in the wilds. I wonder if women spray the man-cave room, so popular in houses now, with essence of male, to keep the guy at home.

I had a radio show at the time, a 90-second spot from your Big Sponsor in The Sky, that I wrote and recorded for the United Church of Canada. It was broadcast on independent radio stations across the country. Anyway, I wrote about F&/F - I always wanted to call it Favours and Flagrances - and I wondered if they had developed an Odour of Sanctity. Never did find out.

So - nothing new under the sun, and if there were it would spoil and smell. That would be a familiar odour. One of the new rules of eating is, don't eat anything that won't rot. That rules out artificial, processed, preserved food although I'm told that honey is the only food that won't spoil.

I do go on.