h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The utter & absolute desperation of eying up butts on the street....better to do what most french people seem to do (with absolutely no sense of shame it seems) & wander up to the nearest person smoking on the street & say "can i have a ciggy please?"

Most people (including me) will sigh & say "OK" & hand one over, knowing full well next week it could be them.

There's a debate going on at abbi's space at the moment about smoking, if the anti's see this we are for the firing squad i reckon!

zdt

I only reuse a cigarrette to someone who asks if I've got a 'spare cigarette'. There is, quite obviously, no such thing.

I once heard Delia Smith mention something flash to do with 'those bits of left-over cheese'.

LEFT-OVER CHEESE!!!!!!! Delia, love, if it's not enough for a sanger you just neck it. Sorted.

Nice typoo that "I only re-use a cigarette"

"yeah mate, 'ere, 'ave the butt of this one; only 3 weeks til Giro day eh? Been halfway round town this has."

zdt

Oops.

"Do you have an extra cigarette?" is an oft-heard question heard about the towns, here in Canada.

Must be a cultural thing. Here in Canada, there is no shame felt by the asker and very little distain is expressed by the hander-outer.

The polite response is either "Sorry... I don't smoke" (for those that don't) or "Sorry... I'm all out." (for those that do but don't have any.

The only conundrum is that, if you have been spotted with a pack or cigarettes and someone wanders over and asks for one, and either one is too cheap to give one or one is rationing due to lack of funds, there is an awkward moment or two while the asker waits and the hander-outer ponders what to say.

With cigarettes now averaging $40 (or is it $62? I don't smoke, myself) a case (200 cigarettes), here in Ontario, I think fewer people are asking because they know that asking for a cigarette is like asking someone to pay your cab-fare to Montreal and back....

In Italy the usual form of asking is:
"Do you by any chance have a cigarette?"

My usual answer, depending on the degree of sourness of the day is one of the following...

"Yes" and slowly walk away...

"Yep, but it's not by chance... I went to a store, gave them some money and they gave me cigarettes..."

"Sure, you can keep the pack... Anything else I can do for you?" usually associated with stunning member of opposite sex ...

Not very kind... but since I stopped allowing free-rides "my" smoking went down from 2 to something less than 1 pack per day...

BT

Providence has provided me with the stat which eluded me last week.... The cost of 200 ciggies in Ontario:

"While the $23.45 that Ontarians now pay in provincial sales tax and tobacco tax for a carton of cigarettes is the second lowest in Canada, that combined with the federal excise tax of $15.35 make up more than half of the $65-$75 retail price for a carton of brand-name cigarettes."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060131.wtoba0131/BNStory/National/

In the UK a packet of 20 costs over £5, most of which is duty. The government keep telling us that smokers cost the NHS too much money. Cost too much? We're paying for the bl**dy NHS!

Do they also tax crisps to subsidize the burden on your system caused by the obese?

Here in Japan Im paying 190 yen a pack , thats about 1 pound.