Scent of the Desert

Today DD presented me with one bottle from the collection of scents she brought back with her from Cairo, aptly named 'Scent of the Desert'.

I dabbed a little on before we went out and it took me right back to the first time I travelled along the desert road towards Libya 30 years ago, and the rich, deep smells that surrounded us as we lolled in the back of an ancient bus beside the open window for hours on end...

After a while, and as the sun was sinking, the sand became completely flat. Occasionally, there were yellow shoe-box houses, with a low rectangular tent beside them. Flocks of sheep huddled in circles, the colour of their fleece making them appear like golden pennies. Shepherd boys sat on the sand in twos and threes. Every few miles there was a water well, always surrounded by donkey carts supporting large oil drums to bear away the precious liquid. And sometimes, I would catch sight of a lady in billowing red robes walking across the desert, far away to nowhere.

The other scents, from left to right, are jasmin, sandalwood, lavender, Nefertiti, and lotus flower.