Fume-ing Mad


I don’t normally try to use awful little puns like the title is, so you know that I must think it necessary.

Yesterday, when I can home from work I noticed an unusual smell in my apartment. Weird smells do occur from time to time in here, but this was different, this wasn’t as organic. I traced the source of the smell to my bedside window where I heard a car running. It was exhaust! So I go out the back door where some woman was clearing off her windshield because it had been snowing all afternoon. Not an unusual sight except she was backed up to the building and her car was on!! I was pretty pissed - it wasn’t even a newer car, it was an older car that badly needed some exhaust work done. The carbon monoxide aside, car exhaust isn’t supposed to smell as bad as the acrid fumes that made it into my apartment did. And whether it was the smell or the lack of oxygen, I started to get a headache so I packed up my gear and left.

I was going to post something right then, but I thought I might say something that wouldn’t be exactly PG-13 (not that I care), so I decided to let it sit for a bit. About an hour later I braved into my apartment and I opened the windows despite the cold and tried to air things out. The smell eventually left and I am still alive. When I was on my way to class this morning I thought that I would check to see if the car was back. It was. And it was backed in! At this point common sense and good taste overtook me and I didn’t write a note with CDR marker on her windshield or door, nor did I use a banana like was suggested to me. I did leave a note, but on paper and stuck it under her windshield. I basically just said, BTW someone lives in the apartment behind your car and would prefer not to die from CO poisoning or asphyxiation. I’ll be interested to see if she parks there again tomorrow.

Written by Colin Bate