Today the record was broken for the number of smelly people who crossed my path in downtown Halifax. The elderly woman with the open sores all over her body, wearing the same clothes I've seen her in for over a month (obviously not washed during that time), whose rank odour caused me and several others in the shop to nearly puke, to the point that several of us left the store without purchasing anything; the young wannabe-hippie guy with long, greasy, unwashed hair who smelled like he hadn't bathed in months; the middle-aged, smartly dressed woman who looked clean at first blush, but who stunk to high heavens of old sweat; the pretty teenage girl who smelled like she had fucked an entire football team and hadn't changed her underwear for weeks; the elderly man who smelled like someone had poured beer all over him and sat him in the sun to broil; the disgustingly filthy old drunk who lives in my building who's been wearing the same clothes, every day, for the past three months...there are more, but you get the picture.

I've lived all over the world, including several tropical countries, and have never lived anywhere where there are so many foul-smelling people. There is no reason why people can't wash themselves and their clothes; a bar of soap and some deodorant will only cost a couple of dollars and will last a month or more; there are public washrooms where you can do a "soldiers' bath" if you're living rough. There is no bloody excuse for anybody to be so disgustingly filthy and smelly. —Disgusted in the City