im sure someone must have asked this question before, but im wondering, what causes that "old smell" - everyone knows surley what i mean! - and what is it? oddly enough, i remember the same smell occuring when i was a kid. we had a wooden box in the attic, that had the amstrad computer in, whenever i opened it, it distinctly reminded me of my grandparents house. another example is from my friends. i used to stay with my best mate and his girlfriend, never noticed anything. then they got their own house, and moved out. when we went back to collect stuff, the old smell gatahered, her mum now lives alone. (by the way, im not been agist, its a wierd smell indeed, but im only curious!)
I know exactly what you mean danny. I opened an old jigsaw puzzle yesterday and it had that distinct aroma of age. It also made me break into a fit of sneezing and made my nose and eyes run....eeeew.
Many of the old musty smells associated with old people especially the clothes they wear etc, and it was always present in the old Jumble Sale is usually Moth Balls. In bygone days when everything was made from natural products people would put Moth Balls amongst their clothes to keep the moths out, these days there is no need for moth balls put the elderly still often use them.
In my answer I was referring to the smell of older books in the library that tend to make my asthma worse, It may be dust collected in the pages I guess . :-)
And dust tends to be a collection of mites, dead mites, mite faeces, and human skin cells that have been shed, among other equally unpleasant things no doubt. No wonder that damned puzzle made me come over all allergic when I opened it.
Aprilis, you might need to think twice about your almighty opinion concerning mites: the mites may do you harm, and then they might not. Might I remind you that the All-Mighty also created mites. Mighty good of him/her I might suggest.