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A Smelly Walk round the Dumbiedykes People tend to remember sights and sounds but only occasionally remember smalls, but how often does a smell send your mind crashing back to your childhood!? I was a youngster in 'the Dummy' during the 1940s, and so my 'smelly'memories are of that era. I became short-sighted at the later end of that period and so perhaps my sense of small was mor acute. Certainly when I was finally fitted with glasses a whole new world appeared! We lived at number 38 Dumbiedykes Road - coal fire in an old black leaded range with two gas burners for cooking, gas lighting and inside toilet. The houses opposite had outside loos….. They were the first to be vacated as part of the "Clearance ' of the Dummy. How many remember the smell of the coal gas, then the match striking as you lit the gas mantle? And the coal fire as it got started in the morning, usinmg paper and sticks - the sticks were sometimes boxes from the fruitmarket and would smell of fruit and vegetables! Then the smell of the newspaper used to create the draught for the fire as it gradually turned brown and caught fire if you weren't careful…. the acrid smell of a back-draught into the room, and the sooty smell in the house after the chimney had been swept….. The smell of carbolic soap, and the damp washing from the wash-house….. I remember certain people with distinctive BO smells about them, but socks are the only things that come to mind in our household because of the welly boots!! People had soupy smells in their houses and these tended to linger on the women because they were always cooking…. Dad was a smelly person to me in the nicest way. He was a brass moulder to trade, and his working dungarees had the smell of moulten brass. He also worked at nights in the King's Theatre backstage, and did his quick-change act between 5.30 and 6.30pm. He would come home, have his tea, strip, wash, shave, put on his shirt and tie, brylcream his hair and be on his way to catch the bus at the Canongate in that time span , all in our kitchen!! I think we were more aware of the smells of the Palmolive shaving stick and the Brylcream than of his actual presence in those days! No other cosmetics were used in the house in those days - no such thing as after-shave or cologne! The only other item I remember was the alum stick used for shaving cuts, but it didn't have a smell… Well, let's take the smelly walk I promised in the title! Turning left out of my house at number 38, the first smell was the 'Bleachy" - I don't know how many people were employed there….then you smelled Stein's sawmill, a source of wooden blocks for toys and firewood. Next door was "Hammy's', where I remember the smell of the "Fanta" drink he made up with syrup, water and a large oxygen gas cylinder. Then there were all the smells from the shops - the fruiterer, the butcher, the baker, the grocer - all separate shops to queue in to be served. At the fruiterer it was mostly the smells of fruit and vegetables in season - not for us the apricots and peaches we have today - bananas did not appear until after the war. The butcher's shop smelled of sawdust and blood, and the baker's shop smelled great if you were there during the deliveries - nothing was baked on site in those days. The grocer's shop was a delight , as you waited, seated on the bench, to be served - butter patted, bacon sliced, loose tea and sugar packed in brown bags - the smells drift back to me… On that bench, the housewives caught up with all the local gossip, whilst the 'moneyballs' whizzed up above our heads to the cashier's office. William Waugh's metal works were opposite the store with distinctive metal smells. They also had a steam hammer working! On the corner there was a fish and chip shop - chips in brown paper soaked in sauce! - and opposite was Mary Stapleton's sweetie shop . We helped her to make chocolate easter eggs in moulds just after the war - I can still smell the hot chocolate! There was another gocer at the entrance to Holyrood Square and once again the small of the bacon slicer comes to mind…. On Holyrood Road itself, there was the smell of the hops from the breweries - Bulls Cl;ose was the smelliest - you could see the vats. Then there was the small of the horses sweating as they laboured up the hill, their manure steaming and smelling in little heaps, waiting for the scaffy - noroses grew in the Dummy!! The smell of the gasworks was very predominant on an Auld Reekie day, when the mists came down and the smells were trapped. I also remember chemical smells from Duncan Flockhart's - the pharmaceutical firm - particularly on the clothes of two cousins who worked there. In Holyrood Square itself, where my Mum was born and my granny still lived, I remember the smells of granny's embrocation, Hallowe'en parties, with apples and treacle, and the New Year with black bun and sherry….and of course the smell of the pig bin at the bottom of the stairs. At the back of the Square was Watson's, a firm dealing in re-cycled canvas bags, and so there was the smell of the sacks and the flour, and also the horses stabled in the lane, and free-range chickens! And next door there was Stein's finishing shops with smells of wood and glue and lacquer. On the left was Gibby Scott's - a scrap car dealer, with smells of oil, petrol, tyres….When we had bonfire nights we would burn some of the tyres and a neighbour would always complain about the smell! We would cook potatoes for all the kids in the dying embers - ah! the smell of rubberised tatties!! At the back was the plantation in Holyrood Park, with smells of woodland, sheep, and , in the summer, the grass clippings heaped up by the 'Parkies". Then there were the drains which came out in the plantation, the swings with their metal and rust, and the toilets at the Park entrance….Then there was Cuppola's ice cream shop and the shoe repair shop side by side, both with their distinctive smells, and finally a baker's (pies on a Saturday morning!), before the short walk back to my house…. How far was all this? Less than three quarters of a mile! Where can you get such a variety of smells in a walk of that length these days? We have the photos and recordings of the sounds, but the smells are locked in our memories….. |