Four fags, fears and human kindness

I remember years n years ago, my dentist wi a fag in his mooth, ash aw over the instruments of torture. I haven't smoked for 20 years, but if you like/need it, then go get em. Not the answer to the question, but you took me back .. Dx

The contemplation is free but the smirking certainly isn't - so I suspect that the contemplation may last a little longer than the smirking.

Stan .. It's like peelin an onion, findin out about you !! Dx

Noooo .. l mean, all the layers that is Stan the man xx

"Does anyone else find that smoking and contemplation are harmless and ancient ways of pleasuring oneself" I'm sure I read somewhere that contemplation gives you cancer.

never smoke in bed but I do enjoy a good think and a smoke - come to think of it I am not sure whether I think while i am smoking. I don't think I do- think that is- I am always doing something else. Contemplating - when is the coffee ready, am I going to have breakfast yet, what do I have to do today to feel good. Then I reach for another smoke- have to roll it first and get lost in tobacco mists and am drugged by the nicotin. At some stage I will begin to think though- not right now though.

Coffee and cigarettes highhat, that's like taking your heroin in a cocaine bap.

Yeps and I enjoy it..well sort of a habit i guess- he he I'm very healthy otherwise

Stephen King described smoking as the greatest of all synapse boosters, and for years he chain smoked (as well as getting high and drinking heavily) while he was writing - he claims that he can barely recall writing Cujo. One day his missus cleared his study out while he was out of the house and dumped half a dozen bin liners full of crap in front of him upon his return - literally hundreds of beer cans and whisky bottles, a ton of fag ends, cocaine spoons, bloody tissues, syringes - and said that it all had to stop or she would leave him. If I remember correctly he gave up the drink and drugs without suffering quite as much as he expected, but he found it much harder to ditch the cigarettes. I was a very heavy smoker until I packed it in in 2001 or 2002. My wife's relentless moaning about me stinking and wasting money cut no ice whatsoever, I couldn't stop, I insisted. I struggled like a beached fish, but eventually I did stop, and I guess I only made it because I really wanted to. Since then I always ask someone for a cigarette if I get drunk, which is only once in a blue moon. Sometimes when I've been really down I've bought ten fags, gone for a very long walk with the dog and guiltily smoked them all. I guess I miss the pleasure of smoking, but in my opinion it's not worth the health risks, and there are plenty of other pleasures to make up for a former smoker's terrible loss in this variegated world (I guess stuffing my face is my current favourite). Since I stopped I feel a lot better than the coughing, gasping, out of breath wreck I was when I was a regular smoker.

Wonderful video Stan. About the straightjacket- it is inhuman- there are other ways to prevent someone from harming themselves or others.

He's also handsome seen from a woman's angle but God was he sauced. I thought about the tongue in cheek Stan but you never know with Tan ;D Last time I gave up smoking I acted very strangely- I even suffered from a depression and then there was only one solution- to start again. It helped. But yes giving up the booze is said to be much more difficult than quitting cigarettes.

I gave up the fags (but not the booze) about 4 or 5 years ago (can't remember exactly when). Not for any particular reason, I enjoyed smoking, but I just set myself a challenge, to see if I could. Cold turkey (not even patches, they fell off). Anyway, health's gone to shit ever since. I reckon it was only the tar wot held me together... By the way, ain't you a lady, Tan? http://www.ukauthors.com

Smoking is a sort of two-sided coin. For me. I enjoy smoking yet at the same time I know that it is unhealthy. I have smoked all my life, I drank for a while too, I smoked hash and marijuana, took a trip when I was young. The only thing left now is the tobacco. I hate myself for smoking- with almost every cigarette I hit myself on the head. I am surrounded by non-smokers but I am not willing to give it up. I keep hoping (as I am not ready to die yet) that I will be one of those who live long despite the cigarettes. You do hear about them often. here we are constantly reminded of the fact that smokers, obese and alcholoics add to the cost of the welfare state and that we are costing the taxpayers billions. That makes me feel guilty though I am never in contact with the health system- rarely. Not yet anyway. I think I am living fast and dangerously but I have got this far(57) without suffering from other than my mental illness so I think I will just keep on smoking until I drop. But the message has been pounded home so many times that I think seeing someone smoking, especially young people- well it looks ugly. I gave up smoking when I was pregnant and breast feeding and I think it is ugly watching young Mums with their kids in strollers and a fag in their hand.

The addictive personality isn't as straightforward as it's painted. I smoked cannabis when I was a youngster, but I gave that up easily. I was a major piss-artist too - I was drunk at least six nights a week for a good ten years of my life, but I packed that in without any trouble at all when I decided I'd had enough of the booze and the crazy lifestyle that surrounds it. Shit, I could tell a few stories about my antics..... The fags, though, had a strong hold on me, so I guess nicotine was my primary demon. I too had a lot of health problems after I quit, but I reckon they were psychosomatic and eventually I started to feel better - and I don't miss smoking much any more. Does anyone remember the old quit smoking ad with Superman - "Not so fast, Nick O Tine."

Stan .. what do you look like ?? Dx

Just wondered. You always say bad stuff about yourself. But you are bright and etc. Hope you don't mind .. Dx

Yup, Stan, I remember that song well. If we go out for a family meal I can have a couple of beers, no probs, and not really crave any more, but if I go out with the silly idea of having 'a few quiet beers' with the lads I quickly lose control and get ratarsed, so alcohol still has a strong hold on me. I feel terribly guilty in the aftermath of making a bloody fool of myself, which is why I try to avoid drinking nowadays. I guess I used to drink in a feeble attempt to drown my sorrows, but as any drinker will tell you, the bastards can swim..... Luckily I can't afford to be an alcoholic any more, so it's not likely to be a problem.

You two might think I'm being cheeky or inappropriate or just plain daft, but I always speak my mind and when I have a feeling that won't leave me alone it's usually there for a bloody good reason. I have a feeling that you, Stan, and denni might work well together, you might keep each other out of trouble and so on and so forth. If you're both single and willing to give it a try, of course, and the distance between you isn't too great..... Tell me I'm a twat if that's what you think, I don't mind.

I like you as uncommitted Stan- you'll never be anyone else- sorry for butting in- Maybe Walrus is an old romantic- he'll be marrying us all off in time. Who've you got for me Walrus? Just so I can say No..By the Way Walrus sometime back there actually was an Abcromance site- I don't know whether it still exists or if it is a success? Started earlier this year some time I think.

Welcome to Walrus Introductions Ltd. I can't say who I have in mind for you, Highhat, or it would spoil the surprise. Sufficient to say he's on his way round your place right now, and hopefully he'll still be wearing his dicky bow and a swiftly removable suit held together by bits of Velcro, because he's a male model, part time stripper and to tell the truth a bit of a party boy..... http://youtu.be/e7sFZQiEHJ4

He he Walrus- thanks! All the old ladies in my street with their zimmerframes will detain him for sure..

Naah, Highhat, he'll push them all over, because I've programmed him only to have eyes for you. I too, Stan, am almost impossible to live with, because though I give a lot (a lot in my eyes, anyway) when I'm feeling hunky dory at times I'm very down, very grumpy and impossibly selfish - like I guess a lot of creative folk are. When I'm feeling too irritable and self-absorbed to give even part of my all I watch this clip, and sometimes but by no means always it puts me back on the right track. http://youtu.be/4QFGqTfcG4g It's not a brilliant recording, but it's the only clip I could find on the spur of the moment of Andrew Strong when he was young. I love his passion and the faces he pulls when he's singing.

Oi .. you lot. I AM here, you know !!

My 'sister' used to live in Gillingham, so, aye. Av bin there, often. Next question ..

There is of course a not at all extortionate fee payable in huge instalments at Walrus.co.uk if you two cop off..... Has party boy got there yet, Highhat?

'No answer is a loud reply' .. am away to ma bed. Got a busy day ramora. Nite everyone xx

Talking about Walrus Introductions Ltd, what happened to the ABCTales Love-of-your-life-meet-the-mate-of-your-dreams-for-a-mere-pittance thingy? http://www.ukauthors.com

Yawn! Can't sleep and its 0413 already. Started smoking at 8 yrs. Won the school 1500mtrs at 16 and sat down and lit up. Delivered milk running miles each morning with an ex-Tottenham Hotspur chain-smoking milkman (don't get many of them). Stopped - started - stopped. Met girlfriend - told to stop. Started again last year after 10 years off them. Cigars at first. Then MLs. Now rollies. I only have the odd one. Stress and lack of sleep will kill me first. Just had a really good run today 34 years after winning the 1500. Good for the soul, is the odd fag. End binary thinking now! Someone's gonna say I'm irresponsible. F**trot Oscar.

I've gone into hiding Walrus...

Highhat, come out come out wherever you are - party boy wants to say hello.

Good man. He probably pictures himself cycling to the paper shop for a packet when he's on the mountain. Got to get there before they shut!