Cheese and Onion Tuesday

Cherry

By Turlough

Thu, 15 Feb 2024
  • 954 reads
15 comments
 

 

Where I once lived the railway station

Unless my nostrils were mistaken

On Mondays smelt of smoky bacon

To blight my work-bound transportation

 

Passengers sniffing in dismay

Subjected to the strange bouquet

Of cheese and onion on Tuesday

Screamed ‘let’s depart without delay!’

 

Showing my ticket, I’d start to worry

Train doors slammed shut in such a hurry

Just a tad more fragrant than pig slurry

The Wednesday whiff of industrial curry

 

Each day a trauma more severe

Commuters’ minds all wracked with fear

Thursday’s lethal souvenir

Was a ketchup loaded atmosphere

 

On Fridays it came as no surprise

Bringing misery to the nose and eyes

The weekly bad aroma prize

Went to the evil stench of Scampi Fries

 

On the Harrogate to Knaresborough line

Beware the Starbeck station sign

A place deservedly much maligned

‘Cause its smell’s disgusting every time

 

Not far beyond the railway tracks

A plant performed most heinous acts

Producing chemicals in sacks

To flavour our potato snacks

 

A place that’s smelt but never seen

Clothing’s tainted, no longer clean

So folks will always know you’ve been

Near this deadly seasoning stink machine

 

Image:

My own photograph. This is how I imagined (because I had never seen it) the food flavouring factory in Starbeck in North Yorkshire would look. But really this is the Port of Gdańsk in Poland.

Certificate 12
Poem
Poetry in Commotion
Humour
Inspiration Point (work that responds to our weekly writing cue)
Autobiography

Comments

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Bent on putting people off their food? People seem very varied in their sensitivity to scents and smells. When we used to pcinic when out walking my husband used to want me to sit down-wind when eating my much beloved banana as he said it flavoured whatever he was eating otherwise, and he still sometimes suffers when I have one at home!

what can be nice in small quantities, is overpowering if in high concentration!

Have factories cleaned up their smells as they cleaned up their effluents? Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Turlough on

Hello Rhiannon,

I can see your point of view and your husband's. A banana never did anybody any harm (as far as I'm aware), but clouds of chemical produced food additives wafting through a whole district of a town is a different kettle of air pollution.

When I was a kid living in York the entire city would sometimes smell of chocolate from Joseph Rowntree's factory. As a nine-year-old I found that quite acceptable.

I don't think the factory in Starbeck exists anymore. We moved away from there in 1996, but not specifically because of the cheese and onion. 

Thanks for reading and commenting.

Turlough

Submitted by marandina on

"The Wednesday whiff of industrial curry"

Made me think of the HP Sauce factory in Aston not far from where I went to school. The stuff it belched out stank out the entire area.

I enjoyed that nasal trip down memory lane. As ever, nicely done Turlough.

 

Submitted by Turlough on

Now I would have expected Aston to smell of vanilla.

Thanks for your cherries and your kind words Paul. Always greatly appreciated.

Turlough

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

There was a 'flavourings' factory near where I lived once and that wasn't pleasant, but nothing could quite beat a brewery and a lanolin factory (in different places thank goodness)for making me feel extremely queasy. The Lanolin factory was near where I lived when pregnant, so double queasy and sometimes pleasestopthecarsoIcanbesick queasy. So yes, thanks for the memories Turlough! : )

 

Submitted by Turlough on

It seems that we all have a smelly local factory story tucked away in the backs of our minds.

I'm glad and sorry to have brought back the memories for you.

Turlough

Submitted by celticman on

Fags coloured my life. Sunday breakfast always a stink, but in a nice way. 

 

Submitted by Turlough on

Perhaps the fragrance of your fags protected you from worse.

Turlough

Submitted by Penny4athought on

I loved this and I think we all can sympathize with that stench of industry seasoning the air with unpalatable odors. Where I grew up there was a paper factory...enough said... and I loved your rhyming of each day’s pungent aroma and the shrewdly hidden factory at the end of your poem was brilliant. Very much enjoyed! smiley

Penny4athought

Submitted by Turlough on

Thanks very much for your kind words Penny4AT.

I hope the paper from your factory tasted better than our crisps.

 

Turlough

Submitted by Penny4athought on

HAHA, I'm not sure why I said paper, it was a soap factory...and it was an awful smell.smiley

Penny4athought

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

HI Turlough, 

your poem reminded me of the first job I had in Clare Street just off Baldwin Street Bristol in 1970. I was in the vicinity of a beer making factory and had to work with the smell of hops brewing all day. It had a distinct aroma that I still recall to this day and it was always very heavy in the air, especially in Summer.

I like the rhythm and rhyme of your poem and the reminder of how aromas can stir memories.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by Turlough on

I know Clare Street in Bristol. It's a continuation of Corn Street which has become the place for trendy bars and restaurants. I worked in Victoria Street, just the other side of Bristol Bridge, for six years. I think where I worked may have been part of the old brewery but it was all being gentrified while I was there. I loved Bristol but hated the work that I was involved in while I was there.

Many thanks for your interesting comment and for reading my thingy.

Turlough

Submitted by D G Moody on

I seem to have missed a whole 'Slough'  of poems, like this one; and yes, it took a while before I realised what those smells signified! Nice on Thurlough! BTW, my wife once lived near the Mars factory, and they could smell the Mars Bars.

Dougie Moody

Submitted by Turlough on

Many thanks Dougie.

It seems we've all lived near a factory with a smell.

I was talking to a friend about this the other day. She said she used to live near a mineral water bottling factory in a small town in the mountains and there was a constant smell of plastic.

None of us are safe.

 

Turlough