[Shiner]

Originally Posted by toby843

To be fair though, they are only allowed to smoke at the carousel. he doesn't have to sit there whilst they are smoking does he.

Yup I fully understand that and agree that it is the best compromise given the situation and I wouldn't suggest otherwise (as some with an ill conceived "freedom at all costs" agenda would have you believe) but I'll guarantee that you will be able to smell it anywhere in the garden while someone is smoking. Also the smell of stale smoke sticks to a smoker like you wouldn't believe it permeates their clothes, hair, skin and obviously hangs on their breath. As an example of how strong the smell is, when she was pregnant my g/f used to get sick if our neighbours had a fag in their own house. Smokers are probably unaware that while in your car it is possible to smell them smoking in their car in traffic somewhere ahead even if they have their windows up. But what can you do about it when someones smoke affects you indirectly? Nothing because it is their right to smoke, you just have to hope it goes away quickly. Imagine how boring that gets?

To give a bit of background about my stronger feelings on the subject, a couple of years ago my Grannie was administered a lethal injection in her sleep at home by the doctor because she was suffering from a smoking related disease which made it pretty impossible for her to breath unassisted. She didn't want to die but a decision was made by the medical staff that it was less cruel to end her life then than let her suffer any longer (she had been fighting for breath for close to 2 years - imagine that).
I held her hand and stroked her hair as the life slipped away from her.

If I were to play a prank, as we suggested Dave might have done (before all the information came out) and hid fags or whatever, at the forefront of my mind would be that I was helping save their life a wee bit (What is it they say? Every fag is 3 minutes off your life?) more than any sense of causing them to be ratty through lack of nicotine - which incidentally every smoker goes through at some point - it may be that they just ran out of fags and need to nip out to the 24hr garage or they might be quitting or something. It's hardly the end of the world.

When I smoked, I refused to understand just how invasive my bad habit was on others but now I see both sides of the coin and feel pretty stupid about how I inflicted it on non-smokers and worst of all children. Sadly it is a conclusion you can only reach as an ex-smoker.



Phew that got all a bit serious for a forum where the majority of posts rarely rise above "My HM is better than yours" "No they aren't, yours is fake" "Bovahd".

Right then, Dave, what a loon eh?