Vintage Red Sox jacket. Box of old restaurant menus. Photo albums, paperback books, and records... Q: What do they all have in common?
A: They've been sitting in that damp basement, stuck in that musty corner, next to the concrete wall, stuffed behind the 70s loveseat, 'cause you thought you might need them again someday. Two decades later, the house is being sold and it's time to clean the basement out. All that old stuff just reeks of that musty basement odor — part mold, part swampy dampness, part mouse pee and, oh yeah, that cheeseburger you dropped behind the couch in 1982. You pick up the corrugated boxes and they just feel soggy. If you're lucky, there's no mold, but that smell...
For better or worse, I've actually lost the ability to detect that smell. I used to hate it, got used to appreciating it (knowing it meant old stuff), now it doesn't even register. Not great when I bring home boxes of basement stuff and load them into my own clean basement. I hear about that for a while!
Now, attic smells — that dry, warm scent of wood and heat-cooked paper — that's a nice smell.
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