The clichéd truth

Old people smell. They do.

I was on a bus and it stopped outside a care home. I looked in at the old people sat in their high-backed chairs and I thought 'smelly'. It seems to be a knee-jerk reaction. Everyone smells though. It's just that most of the time old people smell slightly more unsavoury than the hip bright young things. Fair enough, they're old. It's harder to move and reach the places that need cleaning, incontinence kicks in and they don't always have much of a social calender so there's no motivation to spruce up. Leave them to it. Well maybe not leave them for so long that they start smelling so bad that it makes your nostrils sting, but there's no need to whisper about it. It's the whispering I don't understand. People pussyfoot around smells.

When I was younger I used to hate going to smelly houses. I used to dread going to my grandparents house because it smelled a bit funny. It wasn't awful, it was just...musty. My nan was definitely a bit smelly though. My mum would be all fine and dandy with talking about it outside the front door, 'I know it doesn't smell that nice but you get used to it. You've got to see your nan..' but then once we're inside the house it's taboo. Alright it might be a smidge embarassing but maybe the world would be a better place if we all just said it how it is, smell-wise.

In school I had a friend who had a bit of a body odour problem and I never had the balls to say anything. Well I suppose you don't know what to say really and you don't want to hurt anyone's feelings but when a teacher comes up to you and says, 'Have you noticed Bertie smells a bit?' It makes you wonder if you could have nipped it in the bud with some tactful, friendly advice or maybe the gift of a Sure roll-on before it got out of hand and became a teacher matter. It makes me wonder if it's the pussyfooting to blame or just me.

I hope that I can learn from this smelly business. When I'm old and grey [and hopefully not bald. It could happen. I have fine hair :'( ] I'm going to be truthful with my grandchildren and tell them straight, 'I know I smell but here's a pound.'