SMOKIN!!

A random second time scanning of the paper yesterday brought me to a rather amusing article on the ban on smoking in scotland and since i could think of nothing else to blog on i shall plaguarise, well not really, great minds do think alike and it is only a coincidence that journalists from The Guardian and i share thematic concerns in our articles!
i come from a circle of friends who smoke , so i write this post in the face of a great deal of threat to my social life , well not really , my school friends , tried and have decided that they cannot do anything about my very 'loser-ish' attitude towards fags, my bombay pals are still trying..
for them and my close pals( u know who you are!) I write.. WHY...
i have for as long as i can rememeber detested smoking , this probably had something to do with the fact that a few moments spent in the presence of smoker ushered me into a week full of gut renching coughs( i had bronchtis) ,but i believe that it had more to do with my revulsion for the smell; its smells of a mixture of scorched hair and something else that i cant quite put my finger on right now ( about the smell of scorched hair .. i know it from bitter experience, but that story is for another time!). the point is it is a horrid smell and one that i am yet to get used to,(it also seems to have an inexplicable affinity towards human hair)
but more seriously, i have a major problem with smoking , this is primarily because, unlike other self destructing habbits such as alcholism or drug abuse, smoking is not just about self destruction , you widen the circle with it , endagering the lives of those around you and whether or not you are a victim of the habbit , if you hang out with a smoker long enough , you might also get to spend some extra time together bonding, in the cancer ward of a hospital in the next couple of years. it is for this reason that i am completely in support of a ban of smoking in public, for the smokers who believe this is an erosion of their civil liberties, all i want to say is ...you forget about the majority of others whose right to fresh air and health is being encroached upon by you, we could do a lot better without the tobbacco infested air we are encountered with everyday!
i am however in support of the creation of small chambers outside restaurants or theatres where these nicotine addicts can squeeze in and take a puff that will help them 'escape' from their load of troubles and help them get through the next hour ; a request, while you're in there please take george bush , scientists with the tobbacco induatry, male travellers of DTC buses, the entire VHP etc in with you (its the easiest way of getting rid of them!)
but more seriously , it is scary that smoking is equated with being cool and that young teens are pushed into a world of nicotine addiction because of peer pressure, it is tragic that families continue to lose members to deaths brought on by avoidable smoking induced diseases and it is horrifying to see the intricate and complex connections that exists between the tobbacco industry and governments across the world...
one only hopes that smokers will now make the smarter choice... that of opting for fresher air to inhale, for the problems that smoking leads to, for them and others are not those that can be puffed away ......