Ooh, I hate it when people do that. I can remember being in an airport lounge at Heathrow with my parents, waiting to board the shuttle to Manchester. It was a very large lounge. Someone was smoking. I could smell it most distinctly. (This was long before public buildings started to ban smoking - I would have been about eleven or twelve.) I started to fret. I already felt airsick from the big flight from Saudi, and the smell of smoke was making me feel worse. My parents got quite exasperated. "Vicky, there is no one smoking in this room! The smoking lounge is all the way on the other side of the corridor!" I buried my head in my scarf, and I could still smell it. I felt ill.
Then my mum went up to the little cafe to get us something to drink. When she came back, she said to my dad, "There
is someone smoking. They're over by that potted plant."
"Well, Vic couldn't possibly smell it from all the way over here."
"Believe me, I can," came my muffled voice from the scarf.
I still sometimes get people telling me, "But it's odourless!" No, it is not, it is IN MY NOSTRILS, and I want it out. Now.
