Mancunian Blues
Created | Updated Apr 21, 2005
I Smell
- My coat smells
- My jeans smell
- Lots of my shirts smell
- My jacket smells
- My hair smelt
Why? Open mic nights, that's why.
Or rather open mic nights in pubs, and nights out in general.
Oh, and buses, yep my clothes also smell after being on the bus.
The reason, in case you haven't guessed, smokers.
In the North West there is the highest occurrence of heart disease in the country, much of this must be due to the presence of so many smokers.
I've nothing in theory against smokers smoking in their own homes, it's just everywhere else they cause a nuisance. Also in my experience, smokers cannot be trusted to stick to the rules.
Yes, I know that there are lots of responsible smokers, well as responsible as poisoning yourself and the air around you can be, but there are far too many who aren't and for that reason there should be a ban on all tobacco sales in this country.
Yep, harsh, but let me continue...
When I first arrived in the Rainy City, nearly 7 years ago now, I moved into a non-smoking hall. We quickly discovered that since my flat was at the top of the block, the cleaners had killed off the smoke alarm so that they could have a fag and a chat after tidying. However flat mates, and friends of flatmates, and eventually the whole of the Manchester Cypriot community used to use our flat for a smoking den. Try getting to sleep at 2am in the morning, when you have tobacco smoke coming up under your door (though having them shouting at the top of their voices for hours may have not helped).
Move on a bit. Manchester Arndale Centre; went non-smoking, made a difference? Not really. People come in, walk straight past the no-smoking signs while lighting up.
The buses are generally non smoking, yet the amount of kids/teens who come on the buses, close all the windows and light up is frankly astonishing. And nobody will tackle them. The passengers are afraid of the kids and the driver is most likely smoking as well.
Walking down the street, people casually blow smoke in other people's faces. I'm sorry, but if you were walking along the street and I came over and vomited on you, you'd be upset, so why be surprised if I am? Likewise, busy crowd, stray burning end of the fag, burns my hand, or into the eye of some toddler?
Okay, so far, I've made my cause that smokers are too rude or too stupid to obey the rules and are not aware of other people's offense at their smell. Let's move on, to the public safety, the environmental concerns, the economic reasons and the crime related to fags.
Public safety, this is easy. Fires. Fires at home are obvious. Kids smoking in woods, dropping a fag in the undergrowth - it can smoulder away for a good time before the fire is visible. This is dangerous to any person or animal caught in those woods.
Aside from the fires, the environmental concerns range from littering, to the global effect of all the fuel being burnt off, to the forestry clearance to grow the tobacco crops.
Where I work, people had fairly free reign on fag breaks. It's been cut down a lot now, but look at the numbers. 3 or 4 times a day, each smoker, (lets say 6 of them) loses 10 minutes to feed their addiction. Lets assume that somebody needs to contact them, they also lose 10 minutes. What is 40 minutes a day for 6 people, can easily amount to lost days over the year. It would not be tolerated if I nipped down to the pub for a quick shot every hour, yet it is for them. Think of all the money that is lost by companies throughout the country due to fag breaks. It easily adds up into thousands of millions of pounds.
Black market cigarettes are a big business. Many crime gangs and terrorists, such as the IRA, make a lot of money from illegally importing fags or just robbing shops for them. No smoking, then a massive reduction in their market.
I was walking along the street a year ago and got asked for a fag. I said I didn't have one and got attacked. Forgive me if I have a low impression of smokers, but I can only say what I see. I see 12 year old kids hanging round the bowling arcades smoking, I see young mothers pushing prams with fags in their mouths.
I have no idea how long we have known smoking was bad for you, and how long every school has told its pupils, but frankly it still isn't working.
A child will copy its parents. If it sees a smoking parent it will want to try. And how can you hold the moral authority if you have 20 B&H in your purse? Likewise when the local police school liaison officer came to visit my school to talk about the evils of smoking, he had a highly visible packet of cigarettes in his top pocket. We all knew which teachers smoked. They are meant to be role models but how can they set a good example as get their fix of nicotine?
I see the government want to ban advertising of cigarettes. However, one quick threat from motorsport's Pocket Napoleon and the ban is delayed. And every time I play a gig for your entertainment, after just a few hours out, I have another totally unusable set of clothes, dry skin, sore eyes, worse cough and more tar filling up my lungs.
No cigarettes, no problem.
Till the next time,
Love peace and blues
tjm
