[ladbroke]

Oh for god's sake Topher, wind your neck in! I was merely pointing out that I make sure they don't get in my smoke! Stop being such a prat!

Agreed. I think this needs to be brought into context. My son sees me smoke, and also he thinks smoking is a disgusting, dirty habit. If anything kids today at school are giving the 'smoking is bad' talk from a very early age, and my son sees me in a negative light for this. I In no way glamorise it, and it just teaches him that sometimes adults make stupid decisions. A very valuable lesson to learn at a young age. As for me, I love smoking. Nothing else quite hits the spot after you've eaten, and until such time as I don't love smoking I'll continue to do so.

[Yudster]

I grew up hating the fact that my parents smoked, it made me feel sick and I'm not exaggerating when I say it came close to completely ruining my childhood because it made me feel so ill. I'm not entirely sure that the fact I've grown up never wanting to smoke is enough of a pay off for that though, because I don't imagine I would have felt any different even if they hadn't smoked or had actually taken any notice of the distress it caused me and not done it in the house and car.

[AndyJ]

My Dad used to smoke when I was a kid, in the same room etc, it didn't bother me or my brother, My mum didn't like it when we came home from his house smelling of it though, but there was nothing she could do about that.
My Aunt and uncle still smoke and I think they are the only people in the family who do now. If we spend a long time at their house and we get in the car to leave I really notice the smell, but its no worse that it used to be when we went out drinking before the smoking ban came in. That didn't bother me either...

[Yudster]

You're lucky! But the positive thing is that only a few years ago almost everyone smoked, or so it seemed - these days its becoming a minority pastime. That can only be good really.

[Boboff]

I am a non smoker, did I mention it ?

[Yudster]

Yes, but I can't work out how to say "well done" without sounding patronising. What is the correct way to acknowledge someones success giving it up?

[MK Chris]

I think smokers should be made to feel like social outcasts. That's why I tell all my friends when they go out for a cigarette that they're disgusting.

But yeah, well done Boboff - you're no longer disgusting! (Well, you may be in other ways, but I have no way of telling that.)

[Andy B]

I hate it when people have a go at me for smoking. I bloody enjoy it. I'm forced to do it outside in the cold and rain currently so it harms no-one but me and other smokers. If one of my friends chastised me for smoking I'd make sure I said loud enough for people to hear that I didn't aprove of their child porn collection and see how far it got em!

It's as bad as bloody religious zealots trying to force their beliefs onto me. Round em up and shoot em I say. Fortunately none of my friends do complain so I don't have that problem.

[Ezza]

Fortunately none of my friends do complain so I don't have that problem.

Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser! Stop smoking loser!

[Ezza]

Ah *. That wasn't meant to happen...

[Boboff]

Fortunately I have no friends to complain so I don't have that problem.

Ahh Poor Smokey smelly skint dying Andy B, got no friends, ah.

[MK Chris]

I hate it when people have a go at me for smoking. I bloody enjoy it.

Good for you. Just don't stand next to me when you do it.

I'm forced to do it outside in the cold and rain currently so it harms no-one but me and other smokers.

Quite right too.

If one of my friends chastised me for smoking I'd make sure I said loud enough for people to hear that I didn't aprove of their child porn collection and see how far it got em!

Why would the people who heard take any more notice of you than we do?

It's as bad as bloody religious zealots trying to force their beliefs onto me. Round em up and shoot em I say. Fortunately none of my friends do complain so I don't have that problem.

No it's not. And I rarely have that problem, even though I know lots of religious people (though probably none who could be described as a 'zealot').

[Andy B]

* you self-righteous boy!


Just cos you've got some level of self control and some pills.

[MK Chris]

Pills? What?

[Andy B]

Actually mine was aimed at Boboff.

[ladbroke]

Many people (although not all) have been conditioned that the smell of smoke is a bad thing. The bottom line is that it's just a smell like any other, yet they still insist on waving their arms around like a windmill. Some people dislike the smell of coffee, thats just the way it is (although coffee doesn't give you cancer, well not this week anyway).
What really annoys me is the cost more than anything else. I just came back from Egypt and bought 1000 cigarettes for £90, which is incredibly cheap. The real irony is that they're made in this country, flown to Egypt and are still 70% cheaper over there! The government talks the talk with regard to health, but the reality is that smoking creates more revenue than it costs to treat smoking related illnesses; we all die relatively quickly once the illness takes hold.

[MK Chris]

Many people (although not all) have been conditioned that the smell of smoke is a bad thing.

To me, the smell is a bad thing.. particularly when it's on someone else's breath or my clothes; however, it's not the smell that annoys me as much as the effect of passive smoking on my (and other non-smokers') body.

[Yudster]

The smell, the residual mess, the stinging eyes, the sore throat, the inability to smell anything else because your nasal receptors have been numbed, and that's without even touching on the thorny subject of the health issues - realistically ladbroke, it isn't "just a smell like any other", its an awful lot more than that.

[catherine]

Why are non-smokers so snobby? * off already. You got what you wanted it's banned now please shut up!

[Yudster]

I never supported the ban, why is it what I wanted? It caused me a problem when I was a child - really not since then. I think the current ban is daft.

[Sunny So Cal]

The smell, the residual mess, the stinging eyes, the sore throat, the inability to smell anything else because your nasal receptors have been numbed...

You forgot the pallid, yellow, crepe-paper skin and the pucker wrinkles and deep parentheses that they get around their mouths, too. And, that white paint and white curtains do not remain 'white' in a house with a smoker occupying it. They become a nasty, dingy yellow (like their teeth and fingers). Oh, and has it already been mentioned about the gloriously blackened, cancerous lungs? I'd hate to repeat anything.

Many people (although not all) have been conditioned that the smell of smoke is a bad thing.

To me, the smell is a bad thing.. particularly when it's on someone else's breath or my clothes; however, it's not the smell that annoys me as much as the effect of passive smoking on my (and other non-smokers') body.

My youngest child has a teacher that reeks of stale cigarette smoke so badly that my boy will look down and cover his nose when the teacher approaches for a chat. I hate that smokers bring this train of old, cold smoke along with them, even though they smoked an hour ago, it trails behind them and drapes them in this curtain of rankness. *Urgh*

I am a non smoker, did I mention it ?

I'm proud of you, boboff, did I mention it? I think it's brilliant and your wife and children must be thrilled. xxx

[MK Chris]

Why are non-smokers so snobby? * off already. You got what you wanted it's banned now please shut up!

It is said by a lot of smokers who I know that an ex-smoker is far worse than a non-smoker who has never smoked.

Speaking of which, I thought you gave up?

[Johnny 1989]

In an ideal world people wouldn't smoke, or it wouldn't smell horrible & make you ill. Problem is people do it, I never make them feel guilty for doing it though because in all honesty it is a "legal" thing.

I've never smoked but know quite a few people who do & most of them don't smell. They all said they'd love to give it up but it's hard.

I do hate the whole "outcast" attitude though, although it's a good think that most kids are put off by it.

[MK Chris]

it's a good think that most kids are put off by it.

This is the main reason I disagree with Yudster that it's a silly ban - yes more people are on the streets smoking now because they can't give up just like that, but in years to come, when kids are contemplating taking it up, that will be one of the things that puts them off in my opinion.

[Johnny 1989]

it's a good think that most kids are put off by it.

This is the main reason I disagree with Yudster that it's a silly ban - yes more people are on the streets smoking now because they can't give up just like that, but in years to come, when kids are contemplating taking it up, that will be one of the things that puts them off in my opinion.

Oh I agree that will help the kids, but I think soem of the things were rather silly, like the Smoking Room at Victoria Coach Station, for smokers to smoke in was banned, I mean you'd have to be a moron to go in there if you were a non smoker.

There's also a few other silly thing such as open fronted bus shelters, & British Rail Platforms with no roofs I mean that's just ridiculous