The scent of spring

I have always thought of spring as a time of little fresh flowers poking through the soil, and blossom appearing on the trees and subsequently, a nice floral aroma. However, since someone pointed it out a while ago, I have been unable to ignore the other smell that rears its head come spring in Japan. As the snow melts, it reveals grass that has been buried for the best part of four months, and is thus somewhat rotten. Well, rotting to be precise. And now along with the flowers (which, by the way, are making the teacher next to me sneeze something rotten this year) I cannot help but notice the underlying scent of dying foliage. This has nipped my "thank God all the snow has gone" high in the bud.