The scent of a woman

Al Pacino had a point. One of my best friends might argue that to make a point Al always has to shout (he's not a big Al Pacino fan for this one reason and has always warned me in the past - upon going to the cinema and me getting my way and choosing one of his films - "If he (Pacino) starts shouting you're gonna bloody get it..." Now I do it just to annoy him and entertain myself, but that's another story...). Anyway, this time Al made a blind point as the Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade in the oscar-winning film The Scent of a Woman.

With all the internet banking it's very rare these days I have to go in a bank. Well this week I'm glad I did. As I walked in to join the short morning queue my eye caught a woman pass me with confident feminine strides; early thirties I guess, very elegant, and very sexy in her office attire and heels. Yet I could have closed my eyes and have guessed she was like that - I could have constructed her image in my head with just her scent as she strode past me and out the door; just like Colonel Frank Slade as he sits down at a table with Charlie and catches the scent of a young woman called Donna at a table near to them, preceding their Tango dance together. And yes before you ask, I did turn around and follow the slink of her hips as she left.

Soft and delicate. It was one of those summer perfumes that wafted so faintly past me. I instinctively breathed long and hard in through my nose, filling my lungs. It hooked me like poison ivy. It was like I wanted to pull on a rope scent and reel her back in to me. It was a scent just how I like it. As oppose to the heavy, potent womens' fragrances of the 80s which I remember almost passing out to as a kid every time my mother sprayed on some Poison by Christian Dior. Instead I love that faint, breezy and not too sweet fragrance that entices you to stick out your neck and almost sniff hard at the air it has invigorated. I remember a perfume of an ex with who - when she wore it and we went out - I would find myself just catching a faint whiff and subsequently getting closer to her, homing in on her neck, getting closer wanting more...and wanting to subsequently go home pretty much after ;-)

So as I stood in the queue the scent of that woman lingered. It was a great start to the day. It lingered with me all day. If I close my eyes now and slowly breathe in I can still feel it on the tip of my nose. Now before I feel myself getting all romantic I'm gonna go in the fridge and crack open a can of beer or two to see me through the rest of the evening. Or should I write too about the scent of a nice cold beer..? Mmmm...