smells in the city

one thing i have learned in my sojourn in toronto (which is very soon to become more of a relocation than a sojourn) is that this city smells.

i suspect all big cities smell. i also suspect this is no where near the worst smelling of the lot.

nonetheless, this remains a smelly place.

there is upon occassion some strange venting from the sewers that smells of, well, the best description i can give is rotting garbage, it smells of rotting garbage.

then there are the dumpsters which smell of, well, rotting garbage.

then there is the garbage bags which smell of... oh, you get the picture.

lately there has been an unpleasant smell that has nothing to do with garbage, it in fact is the smell of a flower in bloom. unfortunately this particular flower smells a lot like used condoms. yes. you did in fact read that correctly. the flowers smell like used condoms. luckily the flowers are now out of that cycle and now just smell kind of like sweaty body, which doesn't make me crinkle my nose as i walk down the street.

and today, today i experienced the piece de resistance... there was a person walking in front of me who (i am going to go out on a limb here and make an assumption) was homeless. this poor soul smelled so badly that my eyes were watering and i was seriously about to gag. i had to cross the street to get away from them, it was that bad. it was a putrid stench of urine, sweat, dirt, grease and the gods only knows what else. it was a bit heartbreaking that that there was a person who smelled so badly that even though i was walking a good 10 feet behind them or more i had to get away from.

what i'm trying to say is, toronto is a virtual cacophony of smells.