Bessie and I went to Bournemouth on Saturday, no one was drownded, so we went for a swim. We spent an hour cleaning oil off the seagulls.......I don't think we'll be going again
Well, another week has flown by in a flurry of this, that and the other. These posts are becoming tardy aren't they? Do you know why? Well I'll tell you: THAT MISSIN' 'O' KEY!!!It's driving me mad - believe me. The joy I feel writing a sentence, like the last one, with no 'o's in it, is palpable. Deeply frabjous and joyful.
So I've been spending time with Doris, my Yamaha Classical, Nylon-Strung Guitar. Caressing and nuzzling up to it. Trying to play the bugger like Earl Klugh, Pat Metheny and Mark Knopfler play theirs. But not quite making it. Ah well.
This evening, after a particularly traumatic day - healthwise - for Dearest (again), we went for a
And what did we experience? Skriking, yarling, snotty kids in conjunction with everybody's perfect match, the feckless, "fat-as-fuck-but-I've-not-had-a-double-burger-and-chips-etc-with-a-large-diet-coke -in-case-I-get-really-fat-for -a-day-at-least" parents. Sat at the next table, the table behind us, a couple of tables to the left - and generally dotted about the entire entirity of the entire friggin' place. Like Pot plants, but noisier. Running around like feral wildcats the kids were. Knocking over tables, drinks and pensioners wherever you looked. Wonderful.
So, after we had eaten the indolent fare presented, we buggered off and walked up to the next pub in the local, twee village of - well - let's call it Legohouses. Empty it was: the pub that is - bliss. A pint and whatever Dearest's latest drink-du-jour is and all is well. Nice chairs, decent-ish beer and peace. Bliss. After ten minutes though, a couple come and sit next to us. He lights up, which I don't have a problem with - it's a pub after all - but, like ALL smokers do, he holds his cigarette well away from his face when he's not actually smoking, and where does his smoke end up? Yeah, that's right, my face.
Now I'm one of those ex-smokers who is quite understanding of smoking etiquette in public places. I don't really mind. I had to put up with Dearest smoking in our house for 6 months AFTER I gave up. So I'm quite used to putting up with other people's smoke. However, regardless of the fact that I gave up a long time ago, and have got used to the fact that, in the past, most people in a pub smoked, I have found that that is no longer the case. Certainly where I live, in pubs, smokers are definitely in the minority. So why the fuck are breweries and all the rest still frightened of taking them on? Why do we still get the old 'freedom to do what the fuck you want and, apparently, bollocks to everyone else' argument still being trundled out?
For two years now I have been attending Manchester City's new ground which, while watching the match, is completely non-smoking. A football ground. A FOOTBALL GROUND. FFS! But not a pub? Tonight I was subjected to that much inconsiderate second hand smoke, we left the pub. It was intimidating. Why should the VAST MAJORITY of people who inhabit pubs on a regular basis be held to ransom by inconsiderate arseholes who couldn't give a fuck about anyone but themselves? And I do mean vast majority. I don't know what it's like in the pubs you go in, but the ones I do - even the 'rough ones in Manchester' - always seem to have more non-smokers.
Or is it just me? I don't think so.
Smoke by all means. Smoke in pubs if you want. But hold the fuckin' cigarette in your own (or a close relative's) face when it's not actually between your lips.
I made the hard decision to go through the cold turkey and I know how hard it is, but, FFS, I've done it once and I don't want to do it again.
To rub my smoke-riddled face in it when I got home, I watched a truly uninspired Manchester United knock a less-than-expected-no-matter-what-the-tossers-on-the-tv-tell-you,-3-against-the- lowly-opposition's-0. I felt as sad as a sad thing on St Sad's day - the year it fell on a Monday.
Still, there's always the next round.
2 comments:
i like a pub full of kids, me. it's like playing skittles - we have competitions to see who can trip/elbow the most.
i very rarely take my own Small Person for pub meals for this very reason - learned behaviour and all that....
I went to Lincoln City the other week. They had introduced a voluntary smoking ban.So as you can imagine how much notice the 'considerate' smokers took of that.You are spot on with where they hold the bloody things!
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