While at a recent dinner party, a guest piped up, ‘Someone smells divine, who is it?’ I always feel stiff with stress in this situation, mainly because everyone obviously thinks they’re the one with the nicest fragrance – that’s why they chose it.
However, no one wants to be seen seizing the title of most fragrant person in the room, so one must adopt the standard British response and insist that any compliment cannot possibly be directed at you. Hence my reply. ‘Not me, I smell of dog probably!’ (while smugly suspecting it very much was me, given that I had drenched myself in Chanel No 5 Eau Première).