‘The sight sand sounds of pipe smoking makes me think of dad’
Sara O’Neill (35), who lives in Portrush with big wave surfer Al Mennie, is a stylist and designer. She says:
There are lots of instances in my life that I remember through music. The first is how I was very influenced by the music my dad Eddie listened to when I was little.
Songs by The Doors, Leonard Cohen and Neil Young. Even today those songs bring me back to a family camping trip or playing outside in the garden.
Weirdly the Simon and Garfunkel song The Sound of Silence reminds me of the Narnia books.
I must have been reading them at the same time so even when I hear it now it brings me right back to those stories.
Also, the smell of a pipe makes me think of my dad, who smoked one and still does.
All of the sights and sounds associated with pipe smoking remind me of him — knocking the ashes out onto the fireplace, pressing the tobacco down with his thumb and, of course, the smell of the smoke.
Unlike cigarette smoking, pipe smoke is sweet.
Brown Thomas in Dublin, which sells my scarves, has a brand called Maison Margiela which has launched a range of fragrances called Replica and one of those is called Lipstick On. The smell of it reminds me of my late grandmother Mary who was very elegant and always wore lipstick. This was in the days when lipstick had a particular smell — it doesn’t anymore.”