LIKE FALLING OVER, choking in public is always a little embarrassing. When it happens, people feel the need to apologise once the episode is over, as if it were a sign of weakness or social gaucheness instead of an involuntary malfunction.

It is a sad fact that as we age, eating becomes more hazardous. A person older than sixty-five is seven times more likely to choke on their food than an infant. My elderly mother-in-law always loved to chat while enjoying one of the feather-light scones that were her trademark. Inevitably, crumbs caused a sudden coughing episode as she struggled to clear her passageways, inducing heightened anxiety because of her chronic asthma and weakened lung capacity.