Colin - I've never remotely demanded anyone give up smoking! I have ashtrays in my flat for those who want to light up, as well as matches and the odd stray lighter. I EVEN USED TO KEEP CIGARETTES HANDY, for those who had run out and became demented without them. I stopped when whatever brand I had 'wasn't theirs'. I never make people 'go outside', like my cousin does, if they want to smoke in her home. Bloody hell - aren't people really judgmental, without knowing the facts, about people on here? I'm a liar, and I'm a despot for demanding smokers give up their chosen habit. No, I'm not, gentlemen, either of those. I REMOVE MYSELF from wherever gets too much for me - I don't ask smokers to bugger off.
DIVER, you were in places where smoking is endemic. My mother's smoked all her life and of course, she's never had a sore throat, irritated nose, or runny eyes from the habit. Smokers don't suffer these minor irritations, as their systems have had muck poured into them for decades. What she DOES have is lousy circulation and emphysema, but unlike her brothers who died of smoking-related throat cancer and a decade of crippling emphysema (leading to a final heart attack), she's outlived them by some 30 years. Her nurses have also said that her near-blindness could be due to having continued to smoke for so long, as we all know that the habit closes down small blood vessels. I have NO idea if this is true, but I know that smoking has damaged her health, and - naturally - has affected my life, as a result.
To me, I couldn't care less if people smoke, take drugs, drink too much or drive too fast. What is distressing about these addictive traits is the effect on their families, to which smokers are blind, and uncaring. My cousin watched her father hoik his guts up every morning for years, spewing up muck, before throat cancer killed him when she was just 13. She dreadfully missed his presence through her teens, getting married without a Dad at her side, and presenting him with grandchildren. My other uncle imprisoned both himself and his non-smoking wife, as his carer, in their flat, thanks to his decade of emphysema. He spent the last couple of years with an oxygen tank next to his bed, unable to walk from the bedroom to the sitting-room next door. They enjoyed their fags, they loved their habit, and it spoiled the lives of the people who loved them. That's what I find trashy about smoking.
