Episode 134 - A Trail of Perfume

As I was walking to work one day this week, I noticed a smell. A pleasant smell. As I walked along I looked into the hedgerow to see if it was the flowers, but as I continued walking the smell was still there as strong as before and it continued long after I had passed the hedgerows and flowers. This remained a mystery for a while until I noticed a woman in the distance who had been walking ahead of me all the while. I had seen her right from the beginning of my journey, I just hadn’t noticed her. The smell must have been her perfume! I find it funny that someone I had never met, someone whose face I’ve never seen, someone who I wouldn’t be able to recognise, had made such an impact on my journey, and had done so without realising or ever finding out.

It made me think of all the colleagues I had in my life with whom I never worked with directly but whose work effected my ability to do my job. Whether it be previous engineers who maintained the machines I now look after before I joined the department, or the people who brought the spare parts up from the service yard, or the countless other people who unknowingly impact me every day. And I thought about how what they do and have done can really make my life much easier or much harder, much better or much worse. It’s amazing that we all share this planet together and that my journey is intertwined with so many people who I will never know or meet, but whose life I will change in some small way for better or worse without either of us knowing. I wonder whether or not I leave a sweet smell behind me.