Ace of Mace

Yesterday, as we pulled into a parking lot to pick up something, I heard a funny hissing noise and smelt gas. We were in a hurry though, and I thought it had merely been the bottle of anti-freeze responding to a change in temparature... until I opened up the car again. I nearly choked! The interior was thick with an unbreathable cloud of something spicy and minty and as yet undefined.

Which led to a frantic mission to discover what it was, where it was, before it turned out to be some huge problem with the car!

Couldn't find a thing... until I reached into my bag.

Deep in the dark corners of that bag lurks a small canister of Liquid Bullet. I think I inherited it when Olivia the Landy arrived at my front door - it may have been somewhere in her (which means it was well-travelled!). Well somehow something had set this stuff off and it had half-emptied into my handbag!

We were in the middle of an installation - no time to go fannying about to get rid of the after-effects. All we could do was gingerly drop the still-leaking canister into the nearest bin. But the spinach and feta pie I had for lunch may have been a bit more spicey than intended by the baker.

Later in the day I happened to brush my left hand against my lips after handling my wallet. Hot Lips indeed. When I washed the dishes later, that hand burnt for hours. So yup, Sunlight Dish Liquid doesn't help. And we do know now that Liquid Bullet WORKS.

I have yet to clean out the handbag. I don't know what's been damaged or permeated. I do know that I was rather relieved when I put my sunglasses on and my eyes didn't swell shut. I'll get up the courage sooner or later to take a good look - but I admit it does have a lovely fresh smell to it once you get past the pepper.

Hey, it's not every day you can claim to have maced yourself accidentally! Better enjoy it while it lasts - and make it last long enough not to do it again.... :-)