Possumblog

"I love the smell of Delaware in the morning afternoon..."

"...it smells like--victory!" Or something.

Funny what you remember as the smell of home, but long ago when Birmingham was still the Pittsburgh of the South and the steel industry was in full, unthrottled, full emissions fury, I recall not being able to go much of anywhere without smelling the acrid, pungent smell of coke ovens. The air's clean now (aside from ground level ozone) so you don't smell all that stuff anymore, except when you drive out to Tarrant. (Or as we old hands call it, Tarrant City.) Despite the smell, there is still something sorta comforting about once again getting a whiff of your childhood. For a little while.