Best theory about the Big Stink

Twitter was full of comments and questions yesterday about the source of a nasty smell pervading Toronto. Of course there were the usual jibes… Toronto always stinks… but no one seemed to have an answer as to the source.
This morning, someone mentioned an explosion at an Acton sulphur plant and I accept that as the most likely explanation. In fact, when I noticed a smell yesterday, I thought of sulphur and wondered if someone was working on a permanent hairdo in one of the apartments I was passing at the time. I’ve smelt that smell when salon technicians put concoctions on women’s hair. Sulphur is definitely part of the process.
Sulphur also plays a role in the treatment of pulp. I once spent a day as a longshoreman in Woodfibre, B.C. where the air made your eyes water and the stench was so powerful that human noses simply shut down after 10 minutes. “That’s the smell of money,” proclaimed an unapolegetic cabinet minister who represented the area.
So I know the smell of sulphur and that’s what I smelled yesterday.
Not exactly on topic, but may I tell my other Acton story here? For years, Torontonians were subjected to endless commercials claiming “It’s worth the drive to Acton” to shop at a leather goods outlet there. When Danica and I found ourselves in the vicinity one weekend, we gave in to curiosity and went to see the outlet store. Quite disappointing, actually… except for what was written on the open page of a big guestbook that all visitors were invited to sign.
The page was headed by a big question: “What brought you to our store?”
There, for all to see, another disappointed visitor had written “Sent by enemy.”