Stop and smell the...

Walking to campus, I need to pass through the small neighbourhood of San Nicasio. And regardless of the path I take through it, it seems that it is a constant assault on my olfactory senses. I guess you can become accustomed to these smells after a while, but sometimes, the magnitude of it just strikes you. I’m not sure whether today it was because it is a warm day, or I was particularly sensitive, but it was an unpleasant walk on my way here.

Some of the smells are identifiable and present in many cities, and then there is the general unpleasant background smell which I just attribute to suburban Spain. But sometimes I am walking and I get a whiff of something and think… «Oh god! What is that!» Nothing of this world should be allowed to smell that bad. Of course those who know me know that I have a particularly keen sense of olfaction.