It smells of back to school today. There is something about the change of season from Summer to Autumn that makes me feel, even in my mid-thirties, that I should be buying a new pencil case and trying on new shoes.

Research on memory suggests that smells are very powerful cues. One study, by Willander & Larrson, gave 93 older adults one of three different types of memory cue: a word, a picture, or a smell. The researchers asked the adults to relate any event from their life to the cue. The memories triggered by the smells were older than those triggered by the words or pictures. Smell-triggered memories were mostly from the first 10 years of life, whereas word or picture-triggered memories were most from early adulthood. The older adults who took part reported more of a sense of going back in time with the smells, and also reported that the memories they recalled were ones they hadn’t thought about as much as the memories that the words or pictures brought up.

I remember the night before the new term started as being quite terrifying, even though I liked school in general. I wonder if the smell of Autumn means that there is a collective feeling of that same anticipatory anxiety for us all as grown ups at this time of year. An excuse to have a minor existential crisis and not feel bad about it, perhaps. Or at least to buy a new coat.