A rant

I hate gingko trees. I am sorry trees, I hate to discriminate, but I do. 10 or 11 months out of the year the things are just fine with me. They're even pretty, and tall, and must be collegiate since my experience with them has been exclusively on college campuses. The other one or two months? They stink. Literally. Like something dead. Well, more like something rotting. See, when gingko trees drop their pretty yellow, uniquely-shaped leaves in the fall they also drop odd little seed blobs. Said blobs/balls/technical-term-for-the-thing-that-falls-off-gingko-trees stink. They also smash easily underfoot, until the entire sidewalk around the tree is covered in smelly yellow scum that is slippery to walk on and, if I haven't already mentioned it, smells like something particularly cloying is rotting. There is one I walk past regularly on campus here. My first experience with the things was in undergrad, where I honestly began to wonder if the House of Thought had a dead body hidden under the floorboards until I realized it was the tree next to it that stank. They are pretty trees. But like pretty people, pretty trees are far less appealing if you can't stand to breathe while around them.