The London plane is not a native tree, but it is ubiquitous. It is therefore almost certain that the following event has happened before, to some other person.
I was walking briskly through the town centre. There was a strong wind. A seed pod from a London plane tree came away from its parent cluster and lodged itself in the back of my throat. I could not bring it up, so was forced to swallow it.
At first I was worried that the seed pods were poisonous.
London planes are not poisonous, I read later. In fact, some people believe them to be the cleanest of trees: they are apparently able to detoxify pollution. However, another view states that they take pollutants and poisons out of the air only to store them within themselves. Nothing can ever be simple.
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