IS IT THE SEA? IS IT THE STOCKING? NO! IT'S THE SMOKED SALMON!

I was in the U.K. in May 1992, visiting 20 over British universities in a familiarisation visit as part of my new job portfolio. My lady boss, Carmen, who is British, was my wonderful guiding light. It was on the last segment of our ‘tour’ when she decided that we deserved a weekend break and suggested that we take the scenic Scottish coastal road and stay in any nice B&B that we could find while heading up to Aberdeen to visit yet more universities. It was a Friday, after a full campus tour of Dundee University, when we set off on our holiday. At the end of the campus tour, I was aching to slip off my shoes and give my toes a break as I have been walking non-stop in my heels from university campus to university campus for the past few days. (I wore heels because I am very petite and didn’t want to look too small standing among the ‘kwai-lohs’!) :-) I dare not let Carmen knows that my feet were actually killing me lest she chides me for wearing heels.

So while we were safely on our journey and admiring the coastline and the villages dotting it, I slowly slipped off my shoes into my stocking-ed feet. A short while later, I thought I detected a fishy smell, and my first thought was, ‘oh dear, it smells suspiciously like my stinking sweaty stockings, hope it will not get to Carmen!’ (Incidentally, I’ve been wearing the same stockings for the past 3 days as I didn’t have time to wash them. :-) )

At the very next moment, as we were nearing a small town, Carmen asked, “did you smell that?” ‘Oh my God’, I thought, ‘my stockings did smell that bad!’ I just kept quiet and pretended not too hear and tried to slip my shoes back on again, very quickly but slowly, so as not to attract her attention. Then she stopped the car, wound down the car window further, stuck her head out and exclaimed, “Ah, the smell of smoked salmon! Don’t you think they smell wonderful? My dear, welcome to Arbrough, the seaside town famous for its smoked salmon!”

The relief I felt knowing it was not my stockings she was referring to was instantaneous and I was laughing so much inside that I was close to bursting but luckily she wasn’t paying attention as she was already getting out of the car and heading into one of the smoked salmon shops.

Hahahaha, so what to me was the stinking smell of smelly stockings was the wonderful aroma of smoked salmon to her! At that instance, it reminded me how durians smell like heaven to us Malaysians, but not so to most westerners!


Picture on left: Beautiful coastline of Scotland
Picture on right: Picturesque view of one of the fishing villages dotting the coastal road, much like Arbrough.

(Now, everytime my girl asks for smoked salmon (and she loves smoked salmon!), it always remind me of that little fishing village in Scotland. It was many years later, when I didn't felt silly anymore about myself, that I shared this secret with Carmen and we had a good laugh! I hope she still remember this!)

P/S: I want to express my heartfelt thanks to Carmen & David Guard for a wonderful part of my working life. The experience I gained from my visit to the U.K. has been priceless and has carried me through for much of my work in academic counselling. This would not have come about if not for their kind generosity and guidance while I was working with them. Especially to Mr. Guard, I would not have been where I am today if not for your unselfish sharing of your wealth of knowledge and mentoring to make me a good counsellor. It is this very trait that I bring with me to my working life in the hope that I can help another fellow colleague as how you have helped me. Thank you so much. :-)