What's That Smell?

Port-a-Potty ruminations in the middle of the grid

This thing smells awful, and it looks like they’re completely out of DVDs!

There’s a house undergoing renovation a couple blocks over, and for at least a month now, they’ve had the most novel innovation parked in their driveway.  I don’t know if this particular company is the first to attach a Port-a-jon to their dumpsters, or the only ones, but I guess if you’re not gonna be home while people are working on your house, it solves a lot of problems.

(When we had our roof done last winter, they brought a boring old loo-less dumpster. I mentioned to one of the crew that they could use the bathroom if they needed it, but nobody ever asked to.  Piss bottles in the truck cab?  Ducking behind the tree out back?  McDonald’s runs more often than perhaps necessary?  I guess it’s not my business.)

I figured there had to be a built-in time limit for any job, which would allow for removal and cleanup of the toilet, but like I said, this thing’s been there a minute.  When I walk past it now, there’s that campground smell, or maybe the one you’d associate with old highway rest areas they haven’t modernized yet.  It’s that strong but flat chemical disinfectant smell, very specific to this sort of toilet, and it’s also plain old piss and shit.