An oriental looking man got on at Paddington as I travelled home on a London Underground Bakerloo Line train going towards Queens Park station last year. My head was down in the London Paper so I didn’t see exactly what he had in his hand. But I could smell whatever was in the bag he was carrying. It smelled greasy, like something cooked in a deep fry chip pan.

Sure enough when I eventually turned around and faced him he was eating fast food chicken and chips. The carriage was thick with the stench of the funky smelling food. I wondered if I was the only one who was offended by the smell since no one else reacted…

The last time I smelled anything like that it was covering the fish and chips I had bought from a shop in South London. I got violent food poisoning and was out of action for two weeks. I later learnt that the oil had been very old and that’s why I got sick.

I wanted to shout this out to the man but the way he ripped into the meat he looked like he was enjoying his food too much. All I could do was to nod a hello to him as I got off the train and secretly wished him a sick free aftermath!

I thought he was going to need it…