An Ill Wind From Europe
Folks in London and many other areas of Britain are raising a stink over the smell of overripe manure wafting over them from Europe. Apparently, the foul aromas will continue for at least a couple more days until the winds shift.
LONDON, England (CNN) — A foul smell permeating London and parts of England over the past two days is due to farmers on the European continent spreading manure in their fields, forecasters and British farmers said Saturday.
The agricultural odor is inescapable in central London and smells vaguely of farmland or even garbage.
Forecasters said a stiff breeze from the east is carrying the smell across the North Sea from Belgium, the Netherlands and even Germany. They said the smell is likely to hang around through the weekend as the easterly wind continues.
"You can't say it's going to smell for two days, but the wind is coming in from the same direction," said Chris Almond, a forecaster with the Met Office, Britain's weather service.
"It's not really until Monday, Tuesday that we'll see a change in the wind direction, with a more marked improvement in air quality."
He said the smell had probably been stagnating in those countries for a few days, resulting in a more pungent aroma once the winds brought it to England.
The National Farmers' Union blamed the smell on the muck-spreading by Dutch farmers, who it said are banned from the practice in the winter and are now spreading it "en masse."
The British government is contemplating a similar ban on spreading manure in winter. So the problem could be even worse in the very near future. We do have one small question about the manure-spreading ban, however: will that also apply to politicians and bureaucrats?
If so, we favor it.
World news | Gaius Sunday, 20 April , 2008
By TKelso, Sunday, 20 April , 2008 @ 12:56 pm
How can we be sure it’s the manure they’re smelling? Couldn’t it just as easily be the odor of Western Europe’s decaying culture?….
By Tom, Sunday, 20 April , 2008 @ 1:01 pm
Perhaps they should place a ban on themselves for the manure they spread and the hot air (CO2) that they emit…