Ummm………..I’m trying to imagine someone sitting down to a nice meal while choking on smoke, or choking on smoke while having a hot bath, or choking on smoke while lying in bed reading a good book. Somehow, the pictures will not come.

But I can imagine breathing smoke. In fact, I know for a fact that I breath smoke with every breath I take. Smoke is permanently in the atmosphere. It comes from cars and trucks and aircraft flying overhead. And from cooking (both our own and our neighbours, near and far). And from volcanoes erupting in far off parts of the world. And from the hospital down the road where diseased body parts are incinerated. I’m not quite sure whether fungus spores and pollen and dust count as smoke, but the the air is full of such stuff. The atmosphere is filthy.

But I suppose that some people have super-duper noses. I have a normal nose, I think. It works like this:

My nose is very sensitive to new smells, such as walking into the kitchen after someone has been cooking. Sometimes, it is even the next morning. After a minute or so, that new smell becomes an old smell and I cease to be conscious of it. I might say that the smell has ‘gone away’. But another person walking into that room would also detect the smell – initially, before it ‘goes away’ for him too.

The possessors of super-dooper noses must live horrible lives. Imagine being conscious of every single stink all the time! There would be only one thing for it – one would have to permanently wear a surgical mask.