What's your Proustian madeleine?

[BrightonCalling]

Simple things that hit your memory/nostalgia button?
Things that take me right back:

The smell of limes
Airplane trails at dawn or dusk
Hearing seagulls from in bed
Lawnmowers on summer days
A weird one: an open window with curtains gently flapping

The smell of a new car.
The feel of sand on my feet
The taste of cold coca cola/fanta/sprite (but it must come from a glass bottle) reminds me of family summer holidays abroad.

Smell of vine tomatoes and soil.

Someone else said this... the football results being read out

Ponds cold cream makes me think of my mum’s lovely soft cool face at night when she came in to give me a sweet dreams kiss

Using the still going coop garlande crockery we bought with vouchers. So many family dinners cooked and eaten on them.

I have loads relating to my grandparents: Creosote, old spice, nivea body cream, oil of evening primrose talcum powder, sweetpeas, fresh cut grass and tomatoes in the greenhouse. The taste of a newly pulled carrot rinsed under the standpipe. Pastry and jam cooking. The sound of tractors permanently low in the background. Mr sheen furniture polish and brasso.

The smell of cucumber reminds me of Sunday's at home. Honeysuckle makes me think of my parents garden.
Wood pigeons cooing takes me back to lying in bed at home in the very early morning.

The smell of aeroplane on a suit ... my dad travelled a lot when I was younger.

Coffee on a weekend morning... it used to mean that my dad was home... now it means that dh is up and I'm getting a lie in!

Rain on hot tarmac from when we lived in America and the sound of a screen door slamming.

The smell you get backstage in a theatre... I'm not sure what it is... probably sweat and booze! But it takes me right back.

Dirt roads, rain and spices from when we lived in India.

The smell of Evo Stik takes me back to standing watching my Dad working in the garage.

Vimto and a packet of salt and vinegar crisps remind me of a couple of family holidays.

Carbolic soap and that very specific smell of boiled wood, or the sight of a pair of those wooden tongs that used to be used to take the washing out of the copper, remind me of my gran's scullery. I bought a bar of carbolic last time we went to the museum at Ironbridge, and I dig it out and have a sniff occasionally.

Carbolic soap and that very specific smell of boiled wood, or the sight of a pair of those wooden tongs that used to be used to take the washing out of the copper

I very vaguely remember my mum boiling nappies and that really 'hot' smell. School always used to smell strongly of carbolic on the first day back after the holidays.

Love how wood pigeons keep coming up 😊

The smell of diesel oil (from trains). My late dad worked for BR the whole of his working life, so his overalls smelled of diesel and hung in the hall of our old house. Reminds me of him.

The smell of horses (especially wet ones).
Fresh cut grass
Dogs' paws

Ginger nut biscuits - DM's go-to biscuit for beach picnics

Steam iron + grand prix - DF's Sunday activities

Carbolic soap - My grandmother's outdoor laundry

Fruit mince - My other grandmother's speciality

Dappled light on a tent roof - camped a lot as a child and in Australia under the trees is best

The sound of a lawn mower on a Sunday afternoon while I'm trying to nap

Bad Moon Rising - it's the first track on the Big Chill Soundrack with which we always started long car journeys and it feels simultaneously like adventure and epic boredom

The smell of coal fires takes me right back to my family's pit village

The mineral taste of Sheffield water

The sound of a tent being zipped shut, cosy for the night

Horses, the smell and sound of them chewing hay

Van Morrison playing on vinyl- my dad's favourite

Peach ice tea. I can drink it even on the bus and be taken back to holidays driving around France

The smell of the musty un-aired upholstery in a caravan on a hot day. Reminds me of childhood holidays to the Welsh coast.

Imperial leather soap. Reminds me of my nan who was an ex nurse and washed her hands religiously. She always smelled lovely and soapy.

Brut aftershave and rive gauche perfume reminds of family parties. My mum dressed up, and hugs from my lovely uncle who I didn't see often.

Toasted teacakes and longcase clocks

Someone else said this... the football results being read out

I just have to think "Aston Villa 1, Arsenal nil" and I can actually taste the macaroni and cheese that was the standard Saturday night dinner after my mum came in late from the bingo.
Similarly it took me like 3 years of living in/near Switzerland to stop associating the sound of Swiss German with lamb's lettuce salad (it's the staple salad that my Swiss MIL makes so I've eaten a lot of it while listening to Swiss German).

A certain piece ofusic reminds me of lying in the grass under dappled sunlight,his dad's home made wine in real glasses.We had been for a walk ,he poured out the wine and played this on cassette from the car.This music still brings me back to that feeling of utter contentment.

This is an amazing thread, thank you for starting it.

The sound of a bee, with the sound of a lawnmower behind.
The smell of hot tar (less frequent these days than it once was).
The taste of Sherbet, or blackjacks.

Isn't it interesting how evocative of the past smell is?

The smell of cut grass and the sound of a lawnmower - always reminds me of my Dad.

Nowadays I find that cigarette smoke reminds me of clubbing and going out in the evenings - as you could still smoke in pubs and nightclubs when I first started going out.

The sound of the title music to ER, takes me back to sitting on my sofa in my first flat in the 1990s having a precious evening in specially to watch ER (no catch up in those days).

The sound of yacht rigging clicking in the wind reminds me of weekends going sailing as a child.

Only on MN could there be a thread with this title :)

Mine is a certain flower that grew in our school playground and which I could always smell when we lined up to go in.

I have no idea to this day what it is, but sometimes I must walk past it and get an aroma and am transported back to childhood.

Oh yes lemonsunshinecake, the sound of a pigeon cooing on the roof with the sound coming down the chimney.
Also, weirdly, distant panel beating. We lived near a specialist garage and could hear faint sounds of car tinkering.

Lux soap bars = my grandmother's house on washing day

Sounds bizarre but it's the combined smell of scrambled egg and wet paint! My dad did lots of decorating at home. When he was painting, the house was too chaotic for my mum to cook much so we always had scrambled egg.

Wild garlic from days spent playing down the dene
Shoe polish from dad doing all the shoes on a Sunday
Pipe tobacco from grandad
Petrol on a warm day from when dad filled the Triumph just before going away for the day/week

@FrancisCrawford
Your two dad memories really moved me

Love this thread!

Vine tomatoes
Warm, earthy dog paws
The smell of Freshly mown grass (and the faraway buzz of a mower on a sunny day)
Sunlight under the water
The smell of banana boat tanning oil
That dank somehow cold smell of a very shaded wood on a warm day