Veronique Greenwood, for BBC Future:

The experience can be overwhelming, akin to having a bright light shown in one’s face while one tries to go about one’s business. “Normally I would refrain from using the word ‘most’,” he relates. “I would never write it. I’d find an alternative. It distracts me, and all I can think of is toast all the time.”

As a fellow synaesthete, I can relate. For me, letters and numbers have colors and sexes, and the weeks and months are positioned spatially around me. Synaesthesia is different for everyone, but it definitely keeps life interesting.