The Swearing Words of My Mum and Dad

When he was five, I used to sneak into the living room and listen to my parents' conversations with their friends. They were probably saying the F word, but you wouldn't even recognise that as a swear word. My whole house was just covered in ashtrays everywhere. Like every flat surface had a filled ashtray on it. Our homes must have smelled. But I suppose we were also used to the smell of fags that it just blended in.