This is one of my many smells...

The Dead Milkmen sung, in their song "My Many Smells", after several stinky sounding things, "...other times I smell like a city garbage strike". I have been thinking of that song lately, mainly because of the current public sector strike in Germany. It seems that the garbage collectors are the public sector employees that are making the most impact with the strike. According to the reports, if I understand them correctly, and I know sometimes my comprehension of the news is lacking, Heilbronn is not affected as much as other cities, such as Stuttgart or Ulm. Apparently the piles of trash bags are quite vast in some places. In Heilbronn, most public trash cans are overflowing, and some, such as those in the downtown shopping area, are supplimented by extra trash cans. But there just aren't big bags of trash everywhere, like some of the pictures I have seen. There seems to be a lot more loose pieces of trash on the ground than usual, blown up against fences or in corners. It is starting to get ugly. And make me realize how much garbage really is produced by people in cities. And how little it seems my wife and I do, since most of the stuff we dump is actually of the recyclable or compostable variety. It leaves very little actual, landfill-bound trash.

So far, the Dead Milkmen song is merely a whimsical thought. The trash isn't smelly, probably because it has been way too cold for the helpful bacteria to really get workin' on the stuff.

I have a feeling that this whole strike thing will be old news by the time the 1st World Cup game starts in June. But until then, it just might get stinky around here...

Here are some pictures from people on Flickr that are documenting this.