My favourite solo meal is the ultimate comfort food of a poached egg and stewed tomato on toast. It brings back happy childhood memories of quick Sunday evening meals after a day out adventuring. I also favour a pumpkin, olive and feta frittata (husband eschews omelettes or frittatas) or hot and sour noodle soup with fish or even spaghetti marinara (husband also weird about fish in things).

A subject close to my heart. My first ever 'grown up' perfume was Mitsouko when I was about 17 or 18 - a present from my dad. He bought it from then Silver Ferns coach, Lois Muir, who worked in a pharmacy in Dunedin that specialised in fragrance. My dad takes buying fragrance very seriously and is very good at it. He bought Balahe for my mum many years ago. I think it is now out of production but still one of the most distinctive fragrances I've ever encountered.

I still love Mitsouko but now wear Shalimar for every day. Mitsouko is almost so complex and layered that I find myself distracted by it when I wear it. I've flirted with other perfumes but always come back to Shalimar.

A fascinating read. I love that even reading about fragrance can trigger the same memories as the perfumes themselves.

It never ceases to amaze me how few people who work in HR are actually any good with people.

I dated a Norwegian in my youth. He was uncommonly fond of the weird brown (?goat) cheese and would bring a block back to London any time he went home for a visit. I never quite developed a taste for it myself.

On a slight sidebar: I take it you have seen Jane McGonigal's excellent TED talk about how gaming could solve the world's problems...

And of course Carnival isn't a Cuban thing anyway

Ooh but it is - in Santiago in the Oriente it's a huge deal in June/July every year and the general feeling is that those Brazilians are a bunch of flashy amateurs.

Best apology I've ever received: "You're right, I was wrong. I'm sorry." Simple, to the point, and takes the wind out of the sails of anyone gearing up for an argument.