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

I am a non smoker and an asthmatic.

So I guess you think you know what I am going to say.



Well, think what you want. I'm not going to say whether I approve or not.

I'm just going to tell you a few things.

Ciggarette smoke does trigger my asthma, fortuanately for me it no longer puts me in hospital, it just makes me cough and possiobly rumage for my inhaler, especially if I am already suffering that day from a cold or chest complaint. In Cambridge this is only really a problem at Drummer Street Bus Station. Because of it's utterly stupid design (you have to stand there for half an hour to appreciate just how stupid it is, preferably with a small kid who needs the loo)
it acts like a big funnel and channels the polluted air from ciggaretts straight into the but where most people wait. It is bad enough that you cant smell the fumes from the bus exhausts until you get nearly onto the bus.

Sulphur fumes trigger my asthma. This is a shame because it meant that during labs at school the only experiments we ever did seemed to involve burning sulphur. This would make me cough for the rest of the day and feel like my lungs had been scrubbed with a wire brush.

Sulphur based preservatives also trigger my asthma. I cant drink squash, and many fizzy drinks use it because it is cheap. These seem to be the ones without the famous brand names.





In general smoking is the one of these things i find hardest to avoid, but the situation is a lot better than when i was little. Restaurants vary greatly, sometimes, especially on a day trip, we go into a restaurant at lunch time but dont stay and eat because there is too much smoke for me. Evening type restaurants seem to be better.
There is still a distinct smell of smoke but it doesnt choke me as the dilution caused ny half the restaurant being non smoking helps reduce the fumes to a bareable level.




The worst experience I ever had was when I ewent on a compulsorary exchnage trip to Germany. I tried very hard to explain, both in English and german to my host family what my situation was with smoking but they 'didn't' understand. They kept trying to mke me go to the pub and all sorts of places. They tk me ice skating on one occasion. The place was filled with smoke and I had to take my inhaler loads and then for the next few days I was coughing constantly. They still didn't care. The girl I stayed with just played dumb and treated me like I was trying to spoil all her fun. I kept telling her that if she wanted to go out with her friends that ws fine with me but that if they were going to a pub or somewhere else smoky then I would have to decline the invition, very sorry. Didn;t help. She hated me. God knows why she signed up for the exchange, she wasnt any better in England, she had been to cambridge loads before and all she real;ly wanted to do was go gallavanting across the country with her friends, even if i wanted to io copuldnt hve gone with them simply from a financial point of view. To conclude that little rant: Germany was full of smoke and smokers, but there is no litter. The two things do not go hand in hand. It's jusst because the English are slobs that we have butts all over the place. Or maybe because the English dont have enough suitable litter bins.


concluding the whole pointless post:
thank you to the people who try to be sociable and don't light up at drummer street.
to the publand lords who will never get anyof my money because their opubs are particularly heavy on the smoking front. Many pubs these days are well ventilated enough that I can cope but not all.
to all those people who make themselves ill smoking 60 a day and then take up communal resources to get treated. yes yes yes I know lung cancer (for example) is not cause entirely by smoking but it certainly increases the risk massively.
to people who have gone to far in this talking point and been rude. We all agree it's a very emotive issue but there's no spitting on this site and there are a few people who could do with remembering that.



I saw a great line on a fanfic last night which i feel i must steel for the end of this post. The story was posted by Pinkdragon (or something like that). She/He said: I dont need flames, I am a dragon.

Well, I'm not a dragon, but leave out the flames anyway huh? If you disagree just say so nicely. Amd be honest, have I actually said anything in this post? no, i just spent 1/2 hour wastin time because I am bored.



FABT

is that one right?

FABT

I care and I agree, don't know what else to say, except lets all hope one day it is made illegal

I Dont know I regularly drive past a large government building at lunchtime and it amuses the hell out of me to watch all the smokers running out in all weathers to have a fag with the amount of exercise they get these days smokers will soon be healthier than nonsmokers.

I dont think it should be made illegal. I just think people should be more tollerant of those that do and those that don't.

Having bad asthma which reacts to ciggy smoke is a real bummer. but you just have to get on with the things you can get on with. i am lucky, my friends are very understanding so i dont have anyproblems now. it was different when i ws younger. there is someting to be said for growing up!

one pet peeve of mine

people who smoke when they have a baby or small child with them. Maybe they only do it outdoors, maybe they do it at home too. but it's not fair on the kid and although people try to defend their personal choices on this issue, I really think this is something that is not fair on the kid.

FABT

Hi FABT I've just enjoyed your little rant, really I mean it. I have smoked for thirty years. Have given up half a dozen times, not for very long, and gone back to it, but I have been successfully re-socialised, and would not dream of smoking outside my home or in the car, which is foul, both home and car and I loathe smell. I hate to see people smoking in crowded streets. Mostly men do this, they keep the lit fag in their hand and there's little kids all round who could so easily get them in their faces. Even though a smoker I hate to walk past someone and get a full-on slosh across the face with their smoke.

thanks kelly

that's one person i haven't ofended (yet) today!

FABT

does any one else think it's strange that the majority of people who come up to you on the street and ask for money (spare change? whats that when it's at home?) smell very stringly of ciggarrete smoke. I don;t doubt that in many cases it's because of the places they hang out in the keep warm, but it is not unusual to see them smokeing. I don;t mean to say everyone who begs for moeny spends it on ciggarstts, but I do get a bit cross that the ask me for moeny when I wouldnt be able to afford to smoke even if I wanted to when I am working 6 days a week!

FABT

When a tramp begs for cigarettes or money to buy them, I tell them to f**k off, I won't support their disgusting habit. If they say they want the price of a drink, I'll usually give them whatever change I have on me. That's an example of me imposing my personal preferences on others in the same way that smokers in the street do. Bad, bad me...

Oh, and if a tramp hassles me for money to buy food, I offer to pop into the shop and get them a sandwich. That's almost always enough to make them instantly lose interest in me and move on to the next likely "target"...