I stink.

I smell like I doused myself with some kind of swampy, muddy, sweaty, buggy, mysterious eau de drainpipe.

… Sigh, okay, I can’t lie to you…

I did smell that way – about 1/2 an hour ago, before I took a shower. But really, who starts a story by saying, “So, I smell kinda normal”?

I also didn’t want you to go on reading this entire post thinking that my blog is more important to me than things like personal hygiene or basic cleanliness. I mean, I really like you and all, but first things first, okay folks?

To re-cap:

1. I don’t actually stink (at the moment).

2. I can’t maintain a convincing lie for more than 2 sentences.

3. My blog ranks somewhere below soap but above dignity on my personal priority scale.

Now, back to my story. You might still be wondering why I was smelly to begin with. If you are actually still wondering that, then you didn’t read the title of this post very carefully. It’s kind of a big clue. So is this picture:

Anyone up for some living room Slip’n’Slide?

It’s prime travel time around here, so some people are Eleventy Thousand kilometres away (that’s about Eighteen Billionty miles for those of you who have trouble converting imaginary numbers). Meanwhile, it’s been raining pretty heavily, and the canal has also decided to take a holiday, and made itself at home in a friend’s vacant house. And really, a canal is a messy house-guest to begin with, but when it invites the shady friends it met in the Ditch & Drain to join the party, things get pretty gross pretty quickly. Especially when they get the munchies and raid the fridge:

Canals will eat anything…except honey & ketchup

You may remember a few weeks ago, I posted about the downsides of living in a transient community far from home. This week, I was reminded of the upsides. Within a matter of hours after the flooding was discovered, a group of people hailing from at least 4 different countries descended on our absent friend’s empty, squishy, soggy, smelly house. Everyone armed themselves with hoses, mops, squeegees, and ridiculously huge smiles.

Is there mud? Then it’s a party.

As we all worked together, it was great to see that being part of a supportive community isn’t dependent on geography, nationality, or even close proximity. It was also really great to eventually see a clean floor:

A job well done

It was a long, dirty day – and I was glad to be a part of it. I might smell awful, but being surrounded by people who care for and support each other in practical ways is pretty sweet.