It reminded me of soggy Ceylon. I do not know from whence the smell came, as several people had passed in quick succession. But I suspect it was the old lady with the beaded purse. She looked like she might have a personal fragrance that resembled teabags, and physically she reminded me of an elderly dachshund I used to know. Bright beady eyes, a pointy and inquisitive face, and a slight sideways stumble to her gait.
No, the way she walked did not suggest that she had started the day with a nip. Rather, it indicated that arthritis was a word that featured prominently in her vocabulary. Along with a fierce determination to remain active and ambulatory.
Tea is highly recommended for the elderly.
As well as everyone younger.
Antioxidants.
I always enjoy imagining the depravity that other people may have engaged in during their younger years. That's one of the reasons that young people sometimes seem so callow and boring. There is so very little they regret, and they are still engaged upon that course of action. And really, today's young adults are so much more perverse than we ever were that it is doubtful they'll ever lament their misbehaviour.
The old lady who resembled a bright and curious Dachshund was very likely doing drugs like you wouldn't believe when she was in her twenties. That would have been during the flower-power era, so LSD, diet pills, barbiturates, and cheap pot would have been commonplace.
As well as extracts from the pineal glands of iguanas.
And free love with hairy revolutionaries.
Lots and lots of indiscreet sex.
Orgies, Cletus, orgies!
Actually, from the mid-sixties through the late-seventies, the rancid reek of patchouli oil and scant personal hygiene dominated, and the prevalence of sweaty tie-dye tee shirts, unwashed blue jeans, and cheap fruity personal perfumes guaranteed a nightmarish nasal overload.
The music was pretty terrible too.
Even the sex was ghastly.
So I've been told.
On the whole, I am so glad that era is over.
It is much more golden in retrospect.
A long distance away and ago.
She looked much too vibrant to have beeen a hippie pothead for very long. Far too intelligent also. She may have always had common sense and good taste, despite at some point being in her late teens & early twenties. And if so, she quite conceivably avoided any amount of stupidity.
As well as, probably, hearing the Grateful Dead.
That being a band that kills braincells.
Perhaps she always smelled of teabags.
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