That Funky Smell
From CNN today:
It is a sure way to cause frenzy in Manhattan - an undetermined mysterious odour that blankets the city on an early rainy Monday morning. No one could say exactly what it was and where it originated. They just say it was strong and funky. So the Mayor and his team automatically assumed it was harmless - well, unpleasant but harmless, like some STDs.
And then someone concluded that it was 'just natural gas'. What kind of natural gas could be so strong that it would cross the Hudson and linger crosstown of downtown and midtown Manhattan (we are talking about more than 50 blocks here). That's one great fart, don't you think?
I can only speculate because I ended up indoors the whole day, in my office with the windows shut. I did not smell it at all. My nasal glands were numbed by the vinegary smell of the caulking work being done to one of our windows. The building management announced a little after the news about the smell leaked out that they were shutting down the building's fan system. So I guess that meant by the end of the day we were literally breathing each other's breath. Well, makes for one great big family at work...another one of those very intimate days.
At the end of the day I walked half a block to get my bus and then at the stop on the Upper East side, disembarked and crossed the street to get home. I don't feel anything weird except that my eyes had been burning the whole day. Hmmmm, do you think it was something?
In paranoid New York (Can you blame us? When terrorists are in the mood for some excitement they shoot down our buildings!) you assume anything and everything can happen. If it wasn't an accidental gas or steam leak and when its source is undetermined til the end of the day it only raises more suspicion. Could it be natural gas like what the mayor said? What if it was the core of the earth breaking open to swallow us whole? Wow, someone needs a real strong mouthwash, huh? Sorry, weird thoughts popping up in my head. I digress...
Or what if it was a huge vial of a virus that broke and it was carried by the wind across the city? Would there suddenly be a weird epidemic in the tri-state area? Measles? Chicken pox? Acne? Athlete's foot? Oh boy, where is Jack Bauer when we need him? Or it could be massive amounts of laughing gas - since my officemate was acting weird today. (On second thought, she acts that way all the time just weirder today....)
Ah, shush then...it is nothing I am sure. Oh look... I am growing extra skin between my toes...cool! Webbed feet! How cool is that!!!!
It is a sure way to cause frenzy in Manhattan - an undetermined mysterious odour that blankets the city on an early rainy Monday morning. No one could say exactly what it was and where it originated. They just say it was strong and funky. So the Mayor and his team automatically assumed it was harmless - well, unpleasant but harmless, like some STDs.
And then someone concluded that it was 'just natural gas'. What kind of natural gas could be so strong that it would cross the Hudson and linger crosstown of downtown and midtown Manhattan (we are talking about more than 50 blocks here). That's one great fart, don't you think?
I can only speculate because I ended up indoors the whole day, in my office with the windows shut. I did not smell it at all. My nasal glands were numbed by the vinegary smell of the caulking work being done to one of our windows. The building management announced a little after the news about the smell leaked out that they were shutting down the building's fan system. So I guess that meant by the end of the day we were literally breathing each other's breath. Well, makes for one great big family at work...another one of those very intimate days.
At the end of the day I walked half a block to get my bus and then at the stop on the Upper East side, disembarked and crossed the street to get home. I don't feel anything weird except that my eyes had been burning the whole day. Hmmmm, do you think it was something?
In paranoid New York (Can you blame us? When terrorists are in the mood for some excitement they shoot down our buildings!) you assume anything and everything can happen. If it wasn't an accidental gas or steam leak and when its source is undetermined til the end of the day it only raises more suspicion. Could it be natural gas like what the mayor said? What if it was the core of the earth breaking open to swallow us whole? Wow, someone needs a real strong mouthwash, huh? Sorry, weird thoughts popping up in my head. I digress...
Or what if it was a huge vial of a virus that broke and it was carried by the wind across the city? Would there suddenly be a weird epidemic in the tri-state area? Measles? Chicken pox? Acne? Athlete's foot? Oh boy, where is Jack Bauer when we need him? Or it could be massive amounts of laughing gas - since my officemate was acting weird today. (On second thought, she acts that way all the time just weirder today....)
Ah, shush then...it is nothing I am sure. Oh look... I am growing extra skin between my toes...cool! Webbed feet! How cool is that!!!!