Harvard Square stank today - I'd like to say it was a barnyard kind of smell, which it was occasionally, but I've been on farms, and the odor pervading the entire area was not the brand that cows, pigs, chickens etc. produce - it was the kind that only the human animal can produce with its diet rich in fats and carbohydrates. It was, to say the least, disgusting.

Now that we've moved, I don't always go through Harvard; sometimes I go through the next square down, where the bus stop usually smells of the remainders left behind by people who've drank too much the night before. Different brand of odor. Harvard usually ain't as bad, but today - ick! The place is usually pretty cool during the day and only gets dodgy at night, or early in the morning before the square is swept out, but today it had a particular charm.

I couldn't help but mourn the 20 minute ride in my own car, with my own music, to a reserved parking space that I had before I left. Now I travel and hour and a half (one way) through other people's filth in a public conveyance that is frequently pervaded with the same odors. And as the weather turns cool, I'm reminded that those conveyances frequently are not much warmer than the ambient temperature, which means I don't always warm up after my 10 to 15 minute walk to the stop. I suppose this won't matter five years from now. But right now, it's just depressing.