Generator exhaust fumes smell like defeat

I can’t say I love the smell of napalm in the morning. Truth be told, I have no idea what napalm smells like.

But according to Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, played by Robert Duvall in the movie Apocalypse Now, it smells like victory.

When it comes to smells, I absolutely hate and detest the smell of the exhaust fumes from all the generators in my neighbourhood.

I don’t really mind the constant humming, drilling through my eardrums into my brain. I can block most of it out with my earphones during my daily walk.

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But the smell… it clings to the inside of my nose, working its way down my throat.

At first it causes a slight irritation, but progresses steadily until I think my throat is on fire.

At times it gets so bad, that I’m too scared to blow out a candle, imagining I will spontaneously combust from the toxic fumes trapped inside my lungs.

My own generator is probably the worst.

Made in China, I don’t think it has been subjected to any form of environmental impact assessment.

It’s very small, only producing enough electricity to keep my computers and Wi-Fi going during the five hours of daily load shedding.

But it is absolutely compulsory for me to start the death machine in order to fulfil my daily tasks and earn my salary.

The two-stroke engine requires that I mix some oil in with the petrol before filling it up.

Once started, it spews out blue smoke and a vile stench for about the first minute or so. Imagine a mortuary full of corpses – on fire – that’s my generator.

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The smoke helps me determine how to position it so that my neighbours get the brunt of it.

Once the engine warms up, the smoke dissipates, but the stench remains, now invisible and able to infiltrate every cavity without detection.

Windows and doors are closed and the wind direction checked continuously to avoid what I imagine to be just as dangerous as mustard gas.

I suppose eventually I will get used to it. It is, after all, in our nature to get used to everything if it lasts long enough, even war.

But for me, generator exhaust fumes smell like defeat.