Anniversary (clichéd viewpoints ahead warning)
I missed an important milestone on Sunday. It was actually two anniversaries rolled into one because I very much doubt one would exist without the other. 3 years ago on Sunday Sharon re-emerged from an extended stay in hospital following a horribly life-threatening episode involving the removal of her small intestine and a large chunk of her large one. Some inspired emergency surgery had saved her life but it also altered the rest of it completely.
While she was languishing in her hospital bed I had earmarked the day of her return to civilisation as the one on which I would give up smoking. I was true to my word and stubbed out the last one with a small celebratory flourish in the early afternoon. I had had a good career as a smoker and bar a 5 day break in the early 80s and a 363 day one a few years back, I'd managed the controlled destruction of my body for roughly 26 years. That would have meant breathing in the fumes from something approaching a quarter of a million fags in that time.
Did I enjoy it? Yes; I loved smoking, it was immense fun. What I hated though was the fact that I became progressively less fit and that my muscles would throb with pain after exertion as my blood was attempting to course through increasingly sclerotic vessels. This is what did for Sharon's guts as her superior mesenteric artery suffered a spectacular blockage causing her insides to die and rot. Believe me when I say that childbirth is a breeze compared to the pain of your guts turning gangrenous. Having to feed intravenously every day isn't a life-enhancing experience either.
I am justifiably proud and not a little smug about having given up for 3 years and it angers me immensely when folk whinge on about their rights being eroded by a nannying government. One of the more noticeable benefits of giving up is a heightened sense of smell. This is a pleasant sensation when it involves rediscovering the scent of flowers, baby skin or summer rain on a hot pavement but it's a distinctly unpleasant experience to be in the vicinity of someone who has just smoked a Marlboro Light. These are quite possibly the most revolting smelling tobacco product ever devised and make one's breath smell of dogshit. I'm not kidding.
I needn't go on, so I won't.
While she was languishing in her hospital bed I had earmarked the day of her return to civilisation as the one on which I would give up smoking. I was true to my word and stubbed out the last one with a small celebratory flourish in the early afternoon. I had had a good career as a smoker and bar a 5 day break in the early 80s and a 363 day one a few years back, I'd managed the controlled destruction of my body for roughly 26 years. That would have meant breathing in the fumes from something approaching a quarter of a million fags in that time.
Did I enjoy it? Yes; I loved smoking, it was immense fun. What I hated though was the fact that I became progressively less fit and that my muscles would throb with pain after exertion as my blood was attempting to course through increasingly sclerotic vessels. This is what did for Sharon's guts as her superior mesenteric artery suffered a spectacular blockage causing her insides to die and rot. Believe me when I say that childbirth is a breeze compared to the pain of your guts turning gangrenous. Having to feed intravenously every day isn't a life-enhancing experience either.
I am justifiably proud and not a little smug about having given up for 3 years and it angers me immensely when folk whinge on about their rights being eroded by a nannying government. One of the more noticeable benefits of giving up is a heightened sense of smell. This is a pleasant sensation when it involves rediscovering the scent of flowers, baby skin or summer rain on a hot pavement but it's a distinctly unpleasant experience to be in the vicinity of someone who has just smoked a Marlboro Light. These are quite possibly the most revolting smelling tobacco product ever devised and make one's breath smell of dogshit. I'm not kidding.
I needn't go on, so I won't.
posted by Richard at 11:43 pm
4 Vegetable peelings:
So just the heroin, crack, mainlining brandy and lemonaid, and snorting brillo pads to go, then.
I ditched the brillo pads. All that ridiculous palaver with the ritual preparation and that stupid terminology everybody has to use is so bloody tedious. Plus there was always that red soap dribbling down into my mouth, which is quite foul.
Congratulations for giving up the smokes. It's not an easything to do but the benefits are immense.
On the contrary Pam, I found it very easy indeed. As addictions go I would imagine it's one of the easiest to kick, as long as you want to give up. If you don't, you won't.
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