The smell of rain on warm earth

Photo: Gordon Smith, Evening Storm

I came out the office building in Ashfield (Sydney) that I have been working in for the last few days to a change in the weather. It was overcast, the temperature was falling and there were irregular drops of rain. Suddenly I caught the smell of the coming rain. But what a difference from my past.

Growing up, I used to sit on our front veranda watching the storms beat in across the valley. I loved the sudden smell of rain on warm earth. But what a difference! Now in Ashfield the smell was a sourer one, of still distant rain on tar and concrete.

I suddenly realised that I had forgotten the original smell. In fact, I do not know the last time I smelled it.

This got me wondering. We already know that an increasing number of metro kids have never been on a farm or seen a farm animal outside shows. So I wonder how many metro kids actually know the wonderful smell of rain on dry earth?