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Pollutants

Last night, went to bed with the stench of burning rubber and plastics hanging in the air. Some neighbor couldn't wait for Friday morning's garbage collection and decided to burn his/her trash in their backyard. So the rest of us within the smoke range of his/her lovely little bonfire got to inhale the toxic results of his/her ingenuity. Life's not fair, is it?

This morning woke up to the usual cocktail of freshly brewed coffee coming from the kitchen, and diesel fumes coming in through our window, which overlooks our not-so-busy street. Why is this normal?

Later, when I walk downtown, I can expect to be assailed by more diesel fumes, carbon monoxide, secondary cigarette smoke, overpowering perfumes, and other invisible, insidious, odorous poisons. Perfume strong enough to kill a tree is one of my pet peeves, second only to smoke-belching vehicles expelling black plumes of poison at a leisurely pace of 20kms. per hour. Who do they think they are, fumigators of pedestrian pests?

It's enough to drive one mad. Why is no one getting angry? Because we are all sleepwalking.

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