The Durian fruit is at it again.

Measuring up to a foot long and shaped like a spiky ball, filled with custard-like pods, its flavour and creamy texture has made it a hit around South East Asia. Unfortunately, it comes with a bit of a pong. So strong is its odour that the authorities in Singapore have banned it from being carried on its subway systems and many hotels in the region refuse to stock it. In November 2018 an Indonesian plane was grounded because passengers complained of the stench. The culprit? You guessed it, a shipment of durian. Imagine rotten food or dirty socks and you get the drift.

That brings me nicely to students whose hygiene standards have never been of the highest so the smell in the library of the University of Canberra must have been particularly bad to trigger a mass evacuation. After a thorough search of the building by the Fire Brigade, the culprit was unmasked. It wasn’t a gas leak, as originally suspected, but a half-eaten durian.

The offending article was removed and put into a bin but the whiff lingered for ages, I’m told.