We've all been to a big city. We've all had those experiences of odour; sewage, trashy smells, diesel fumes, petrol fumes, smog...those scents of a big city. We try to escape them, desperate for a breath of fresh air. It often starts when we drag our luggage out of the airport doors to hail a taxi. It slams us in the face and we know we're in Big City X. Nice. Not.It struck me the other day, returning from Washington DC on another business trip. Tired. Ready to just get home. But often if you live in another major city, well, you come back to, smog. Petrol fumes and all the other odours of a big city. But not Halifax. I walked out those airport doors for the bus to the extended parking and well, yes, I got slammed with odours. Actually, scents. A fog was rolling in. From the ocean, 20 KM's away. I could smell the ocean. With the breeze I could also smell the pine trees. No gas, no diesel. Just nature's perfume. In a city of 400,000 people.
That's Nova Scotia. Ocean winds that carry away the detritus smells of a big, bustling city, and anyone who thinks Halifax doesn't bustle? You need to visit here. We know how to bustle when the bustling is good. A major container port, a high-tech corridor, five universities.
We don't manufacture on big scales here. That's not what we're about. We're about being smart with how we work and what we do. Knowledge-based industries and a passion for our healthy environment. Clean. Ocean breezes that carry fresh, salt-scented air that clears the lungs and mind. The scent of pine on hot summer days, the Lilac bushes in summer throughout the city, the uplifting scent of fresh lawns after a heavy rain. The falling leaves in the autumn and the crisp fresh air of a winters day.
That's Nova Scotia. Balance between bustle, hustle and sanity for the senses. Pure gold.
(Photo Credit: Johnfromnscas)
