priya.cardamomin Learning to Smell · Toronto ·
ChallengeThread of the week: describe rain without saying fresh
Thread of the week: describe rain without saying fresh, clean or petrichor. It has rained in Toronto for three days straight, so there's plenty of material.
1) Go outside, or open a window, while it's raining or just after.
2) Write what you smell in your own words. Comparisons welcome.
3) No fresh, no clean, no petrichor.
If you need a warm-up, the Class on fragrance vocabulary, from accord to sillage is a good place to stretch. Over to you.
14 comments
aroha.rain
Hot tarmac after a spring shower: wet coins and warm bread crust. Its my favourite smell in Wellington
maeve.moss
Here's a thing. Rain on the limestone out the back is wet slate and cold pennies and a bit of sheep and it gets into the turf stack so the whole yard smells like a pub fire nobody has lit yet, so it does. It sits under everything like the drone on the pipes.
dex_in_brooklyn
rain on a hot dumpster behind the restaurant. your welcome
nell.wattle
Melbourne rain after a dry week smells like gum leaves stewed in a teapot, and the bluestone footpaths add something chalky.
hamish_heather
It's dreich enough here to practise daily. Wet wool, cold chimney, a wee bit of seaweed when the wind comes up from Leith.
joon.yuzu
Seattle rain is too constant to smell.
- first rain after a dry spell: dusty, then mushroomy
- fourth day of rain: nothing, my nose has filed it away
priya.cardamom
Ha, mine gave up by day three. Ingrid, what does Berlin sound like? Over to you.
ingrid_berlin
Rain on the U-Bahn stairs: wet concrete, iron, someone's cigarette. Very little treble.
juniper_jules
Rain on the clay bins smells like a cellar and raw potatoes, wetter then the rain itself somehow.
jess.in.philly
Rain on the stoop: hot pennies and wet newspaper. It took me a while to not write fresh.
first.sniff
Exeter drizzle is wet hedge and a bus going past.
aoife_mint
Cork rain: wet stone, coal smoke from the terrace, and the river.
fern.moss
Swansea rain: wet sand and vinegar from the chip shop.
priya.cardamom
This is the best list we've had. Saving it for the next time someone says rain only smells of rain.