smokers

A few things about smokers bug me. They smell. The ciggies smell, the smell gets in their clothes and hair and then they smell. The smoke smells; I now hold my breath as I pass smokers. And I think a smoker is stupid, which as an intellectual snob cuts me off from a lot of potential friends. I suppose. The cancer thing and dying thing does not bother me; it is a calculated risk. But if you take that risk you are, in my opinion, stupid. I scuba dive. It is risky and lots of things can go wrong and I plan for and mitigate that risk. You can't do that with smoking. The first, next, or fiftieth ciggie could be the killer. You just don't know.

I have an idea about how to stop more people from smoking. Instead of adding a few pence or cents in tax to a packet of fags twice a year and making gruesome adverts and plastering YOU WILL DIE labels over the packets - none of which work - make every 1 in 10000 cigarettes a dead certain killer. No mucking about waiting 20years to slowly, agonisingly die of cancer. Nope, every 10000th ciggie produced will kill the smoker straight away, first puff. Cianide os something like that. See how they like that calculated risk.

But the thing that bugs me most is the litter. So many smokers seem to have no problem leaving their detritus behind them in flower beds, on the floor, and today I see a butt stuffed in a grate by a cafe at a hospital. I did not spot the thing until I looked later at a picture I'd taken of said grate. It is high on a wall, about where you stand - as I did - to await your coffee. So the butt did not wash there from somewhere else. It was stuffed in there. By an ignorant fuckwit. I suppose an ignorant fuckwit is an ignorant fuckwit. Those that smole are easier to spot. Shame I was not there to witness the stuffing.

Apologies to considerate, conscientious smokers. I am sure there must be a few.