Being a physician, I have encountered smells that so intense that my eyes have watered. Smells that get so deep into your nose that you get a faint memory whiff hours after being removed from it’s source. It began with the harsh sting of the formaldehyde (which also flares up asthma by the way), through the pungency of a nicked bowel on surgical rotation to the rotten air of gas gangrene.
    So recently when I was out on my bike in the middle of a “from the heavens” downpour I was confronted with a scent I know all too well...STOOL.
    As I have written before I am trying to get back in shape while I edit this film. I have embarked on a semi-serious biking plan to do so. Close to my home, is a flat stretch of road that runs along twin lakes and has a decent shoulder and low traffic volume and speed. I often will ride that stretch back and forth to get in my workout. When the clouds opened and I was caught in a thunderstorm that I haven’t seen in New ENgland in my 4 years here, I decided to ride on. After a few miles and some 10 minutes the water began to cover the roads as the ‘storm drains’ met critical capacity. A few minutes more and I was crossing frequent patches of standing water that rose to the level of my wheels rim. Then it hit me. The smell of human waste. I looked around and wondered if I had pasted a decaying animal. None to be seen. Then another nose full flung my memory to the hundreds of rectal dis-impactions I have performed as an ER doctor. And I knew, these ‘storm drains’ where backing up and letting their not so sanitary contents back up into the streets.
    I road on, clinching my lips tight as to not get any spray in my mouth. I refused to drink from my water bottles. Back and forth I road the short 2.5 miles stretch that goes from what I assume to be West Medford, a nice middle class Italian community to Winchester, an affluent community of monster homes with perfect lawns. Each lap I caught certain points that had the strongest smell at the same places. And as I finished my 90 minutes ride I realized that the wealthy area didn’t smell any sweeter.