Five Senses of Buffalo Living!

Sight

White flakes that amass into large globs on the ground slowly morphing into transparent slippery sheets, when left unattended. Car lights dashing by as they pierce through the white shower, leaving any vehicle in question with an unwanted coat. Tire tracks embedded in the white substance resemble a trail, but only in pieces. It never leads anywhere. People bundled in fabrics of cotton or wool to maintain warmth. Hands clasped together as an ectoplasmic figure escapes from the mouth as a means of speeding up the warming process. Streetlights cut the night sky embedding their radiance in the darkness. Signs of neon and bright colors add to this making your eyes tire from the constant light show.

Is it some dance? You think to yourself as the flakes keep swaying downward, hitting the ground without a care. Their disregard and regularity leads to many significant steps, heavy breaths, and sighs of relief when they’re out of sight, but never for long. The clothes may get shorter and the colors brighter, but sooner or later, it’s back to draping fur on yourself and propelling yourself forward like you were hiking to reach your desired destination.

Sound

Echoes of past successes reverberate throughout the city. You can hear it in a “Hi, or a “yous guys” an extra bit of bolster that commands attention as the words leave someone’s lips and hit someone else’s eardrum, alerting them to pay attention. Raised voices are a regular occurrence from arguments on street corners to cheers erupting. The city has it’s own volume, from day to day, but never as high as the roars found in sporting events, where the pitch could break glass due to anxious fans giddy to express their support for the home team. Yet that volume can never be wholly extinguished; it lays dormant always ready to rise out of the lungs and be free once more.

The scraping of boot heels as they trudge through snow, sneezes, and the rustling of coats are never far behind as well. Tree branches sway, mirroring the sound of a floorboard creaking. Engines pop and rattle to get going. The occasional pothole brings everything it touches into a sudden thud. Bottles and plastics riddled around sidewalks make clanking noises emphasizing an awkward step, thus breaking the rhythm you generate from your natural stride.

Touch

A sort of numbness follows you around through the cold months. You can feel it even through the warmth of a glove. The cold air feels rough against your skin, volatile in the way it charges at your body without warning. Railings become wet resembling the texture of a popsicle with the wrapping ripped off. Benches outside become endurance tests to see how long you can stay on their damp smooth surface before your body’s natural heat is unwillingly drained from you. The snow feels like a fine powder that instantly evaporates as soon as you touch it.

Your only reprieve is to go somewhere indoors with the heat on, which brings this sense of full-body mugginess, because of the sudden change of temperatures. Sweat may begin to slide down you, bringing on the slight sensation that something is joyfully sliding down the curves of your body, or someone is glazing you with a brush.

Your body never feels one hundred percent with the weather continually shifting like a chameleon in the wild. You might feel the warm air of a beautiful day gently caress you or the thunderous attack of the cold, causing your body to cower and shake as a response, who’s to say.

Taste

The dry crunch of a wing as the flavors of a special sauce seep into your taste buds from the Anchor Bar. The moist warm firmness of a loaf of bread, from the Lexington Co-op, as you happily break a piece to eat. Whether it contains olives or raisins or anything else, they all have that added warm glaze when they come out the oven.

The combination of varied textures found in a taco from Elmwood Taco ranging from crisp to painfully hot, possibly burning the top of your mouth. The sweet blend of old-style ice cream being blended with homemade soda, the only way a place like Jerks Soda Fountain can do. Carbonated and coldly sugary at the same time, some unholy alliance that you’re glad exists.

The watery unknowingness of a snowflake slowly melting on your tongue. Perhaps a hint of dirt, maybe it’s just plain old unclean water, but who’s to say for sure. The only certain thing is all of these tastes and textures make for an exciting taste experience.

Smell

Fumes from smokers and exhaust pipes always find a way into your nostrils. The further you get from roads and intersections and closer to stores, the sweeter the general aroma. Perhaps a waft of baked goods hits you, or the specter of a meal that’s already been eaten sneaks out of an open window to tempt you, or in some cases, disgust you. The richness of Coffee beans seeping out of the grinder. The scent of cheap liquor as a homeless person walks past. The dry scent found in the shifting earth of construction that reminds you of a burning log and a mud puddle. In all honesty, there isn’t a definitive scent that you can point to in the city without indulging a cliché (Buffalo Wings). The real scent of the town is a mildly cold air that wakes you up as soon as it enters you. It smells brisk, even more lively than the commercials for that old Ice Tea brand. (The one with the snowman, remember?) The closest thing it resembles is dry ice, like opening the refrigerator for the first time in a while.

It doesn’t linger. It’s merely a once morning adrenaline shot that you breathe in, and it shocks the system urging you to start your day.