Venire,

Having been on the DC metro, I assure you that B.O. would be a welcome refreshment from the humid, acrid sewer smell that seems to permeate the tunnels.

Regarding the "publicity" of smell: As mentioned, I think we (meaning we that don't have or use public transport) don't notice it as much as we are not in such close proximity to our neighbors. I must admit to having a hypersensitive olfatory, however. While driving in traffic with the window down, I can smell the Lucky Strike dangling from your lips two cars ahead. I'm certain that Spain doesn't have a monopoly on people with "that not so fresh scent."

Hello Calibasco,

As a daily rider of the DC Metro I certainly can agree about the smell of the trains and tunnels. I prefer Madrid's to DC's anyday.

Take care, Paco

Cali,

You're absolutely right on the smell. I rode from the Sacramento, CA airport to Citrus Heights, actually holding my head outside the window like a dog to avoid the "pungent aroma" of my driver. It was over 100 degrees, and the air conditioning on his cab had gone out. I think it must have gone out a couple of weeks earlier, and he'd failed to bathe since then.

I gave him a tip of $1.98... told him he should use it to buy Right Guard. The oaf looked at me as if puzzled

Now... before I get into a cab... I stick my head inside and make sure the driver doesn't have any three day old sushi stuck under the seat for "later."

Wolf

It is absolutely not a Spain thing. After working with refugees, I could tell what part of the world the clients were from, before entering the room (most of them came from places without inexpensive access to water - if at all). The europe smell is an "old sweat marinating in a wool sweater." I have to admit, I found it almost less bothersome than in Chile. Chileans are fanatically clean, and take it a little further by pouring on vast quantities of cologne and perfume. Getting on the metro in the morning I felt dizzy from all the smells and could taste them in my throat for hours after getting off.

Calibasco is correct - I notice no shortage of stinky people in the US at all. And if one is in Spain in the summer, sorry, but everyone stinks when it is 35-40 degrees outside.

Wolf-All I could visualize on your post was Walter Matthau pulling the stinking fish out of the back of his Bronco in "Grumpy Old Men"...good one.

And Nicole, I'm with you...as far as I can recall, human scent doesn't cause cancer, but some of those Chanel additives probably do!

Does anyone want to start into a different generalization? How about the Spanish-style "parking by braille" method? I'm always amused at the nonchalance with which cars are bumped, sometimes while their occupants look on, while others try to park in tight quarters in the urban areas of Spain. I'm all for it, as long as you don't jack up my car by ramming it! It's amazing to me, since NOBODY freaks out over it...it's just part of city life!

"How about the Spanish-style "parking by braille" method?"

Ha! You just made my day!

I remember when I first saw that during my study abroad 5 years ago. The parking lots near the clubs at night were particularly fascinating. Everyone left their cars in neutral and the attendent put blocks under the tires. When one car needed to get out, they'd roll whichever cars were blocking it in out of the way and then put them back.

I remember thinking that it was a pretty ingenious method for fitting a lot of cars in a tiny parking lot. Somehow, I don't think it'll ever catch on here, though. Can you imagine all the alarms that would go off? Ugh!

I love that phrase - "parking by Braille!" It makes sense to me, too! I never could understand why certain car makers stopped putting rubber - or whatever it was - on bumpers, and left painted metal instead. And Mel-knee's description of the blocks also makes loads of sense. How about parking on corners and sidewalks? I remember driving around D.C. once with my father, during the years I lived in Madrid, and he was looking for a parking space. Every corner could fit at least six cars, but he couldn't park there. It was driving me crazy! All that parking space along huge, wide roads gone to waste! (All right, I understand cars on sidewalks could bother the pedestrians, but if it's a little car on a big deserted sidewalk...) And (now that I'm the topic of driving), what about some healthy arm waving at fellow drivers? I've decided restraining my arms when I drive in the States out of fear for my life is causing me unnecessary stress. In Spain if someone cuts you off (you know, the old "My bumper is ahead of your bumper so MOVE!" attitude), you wave your arm(s), call him/her a choice word, and have a nice day. (I'd better stop now. I'm getting homesick again.)

[ 04-17-2001: Message edited by: Diana ]

The sidewalk parking reminds me of the very, very, hot day in Cordoba when I first saw the Spanish solution to not enough underground parking: six cars clustered together under a tree that was trying to grow on the terrace between the sidewalk and road and looking for all the world like bulls standing in the shade of a cork tree. Everyone just walked around them as if it were the most natural thing in the world! Try THAT in a U.S. city.