I walked through the Castle Park on my way home having forgotten about the smell of them. I’d been distracted by the two figures that I saw ahead of me in the gloom (is it already getting slower to grow light?) . A boy and a girl? I couldn’t tell. I slowed my pace so that I wouldn’t catch them up. And then I caught the scent of the roses. They are going over (as his mother used to say) but the sweetness is still there. I love it. It reminds me of making rose petal perfume as a child. I loved the notion of it even if the mixture we concocted was appalling. The two men (for that’s what they were) walked slower than me, even with my hobbledehoy walk and stick. They were Asian, small and dark haired. I didn’t see their faces. They were both in shorts and one had a baseball cap on and a sweatshirt that on the back read – Korea Army.
