Diesel

The smell of a diesel engine running sometimes has an odd effect on me.

It says two things and nothing much else:

• Ice-cream van
• The miniature railway at Saltburn

I don't quite know how this operates. I only notice the association when it is positive, that is, I never catch myself thinking "diesel engine but no ice-cream/Saltburn association" so I don't know if it is only some subtype of diesels that does this, or what. Certainly, when I was a young child I possibly did not come across diesels much apart from those two delightful instances, and the effects of subsequent encounters (including living in the Big Smoke for 28 years and indeed the fact that one of our extensive fleet of near-wrecks is diesel-powered) do not seem to have had much influence on that very early connection, which is still very strong. I walked past an Agrekko generator powering building work at Florin Court last night and as it exhaled over me I was instantly transported about 220 miles northwards to a land of childhood bliss.

In other news, yesterday was the 33rd anniversary of my Dad's death. I don't usually blog about very personal stuff so we may as well stick with Saltburn and you can try and guess if there's a link. It does make me feel quite old, though.