Spring fever

I’m no Costa Georgiadis, that bushy goblin who hosts the ABC’s Gardening Australia, but I do love a pretty spring blossom. Put me in close proximity to a flowering apricot and I’ll snip a sprig for my studio desk. But this furious explosion of colour comes with a price: seasonal allergic rhinitis. Come springtime, my nose feels like a disco of bees engaged in a frenzy of jittery twerking. In reality, it’s the plane tree pollen that’s crucifying my nasal cavities, right? Or the goddamn grasses from the Mallee? To find out for sure, I took my nose for a walk under the cherry blossom and through city streets to see what delighted, and blighted, my senses.