Annual Shit Day

Yesterday was Shit Day. Shit, excrementa, feces, body waste, faecal matter, ordure, stool, human waste. You name it, yesterday was it. One day a year, usually before Chinese New Year, for some reason not fully understood by me, our apartment complex is cleansed of human waste that has accumulated from the 300 apartment units in some sort of underground storage system. A small troop of hardy, unfortunate souls enter the garden, open up these septic pits and proceed to empty the system by hand, filling sandbag after sandbag with oozing nightsoil. Sometimes when things get out of hand they crack up laughing. Prior to the event the guards run around the complex shouting "Close your windows! Close your windows!". The stench is overwhelming and palpable, seeping out into the surrounding neighborhood to the revulsion of all.