The Die is Cast.

[austinlegro]

I started work at sixteen in a design office in Liverpool.

In those days a lot of people smoked. Smoking was allowed at work, on the bus, top deck only of course, in pubs, clubs, cafes, restaurants and maybe even doctor’s waiting rooms for all I know. My mother smoked and one of my brothers smoked.

I didn’t think much about smoking at the time but now when I cast my mind back I can recall that some did it, some didn’t but I was simply too busy with spots, guitars and Airfix kits to pay it much attention.

The Engineer I worked for had the weirdest habit of completely eating an apple. He didn’t reach the core and stop, he just carried on until there was nothing left but a vague apple smell and juicy fingers. It was almost like he was concealing the evidence.

The other habit he had was smoking. He used to smoke like a condemned man and suck on his cigarettes as though the hole was too small to get the smoke out and gave a fair impression of someone enjoying a thick milk-shake. You could see the suction in his cheeks and get the disturbing feeling that if he didn’t keep a firm hold on that Embassy it was going to rapidly follow the apple.

Being sixteen and pretty naïve I didn’t really understand the ups and downs of smoking but as a role model this chap was perfect. He was a cigarette advertisers dream. Every smoke seemed to reward him with so much satisfaction. At the time I was pretty naïve, in the practical sense, about human reproduction but if I’d been asked to paint a picture of an orgasm it would have closely resembled my boss having a smoke.

This was something I just had to be a part of.

Well it wasn’t long before the youngsters who had started their new jobs along with me and worked in other parts of the building had found their own similar mentors and had joined the smoking club and inevitably I too applied for membership and was instantly welcomed with smoky, slightly stinky, open arms.

Now if I could just sort out this coughing, spluttering, gagging and retching business I was going to look so cool and maybe, if I was lucky, a little older and sophisticated. You never know, I might even find a nice girlfriend too.

Well it didn’t take long to master the art of smoking in fact it was a doddle, you could say I was a natural and by the time I went to University I was a master. I could do smoke rings that were actually circular and that funny thing where the trailing smoke from the drag on the cigarette is simultaneously drawn into the mouth and the nostrils and looks simply fabulous. I was pretty confident that if there’s been an O level for smoking I’d have got a good mark in that one too.

I even started completely eating apples for a while but never really felt comfortable eating the pips.

[nsd_user663_10532]

Brilliant use of words, i visualised your whole story. Love it

[nsd_user663_1658]

you know what austin you should write a book! im already wanting to know what happens next?

[nsd_user663_10532]

Me too KK lol, I would buy the book

[nsd_user663_24115]

Aww What a lovely story. i was an apprentice joiner and my mentor smoked woodbines . i loved him like a dad. he couldnt eat apples, smoking rotted his teeth and gums and he had them removed. he was mortified and suddenly i was the dad helping him to come out as a 50 yr old with false nashers. Thanks for the memories Austin.

Mx

[nsd_user663_42145]

It is really good descriptive writing Austin!

[nonico 7 Years Smoke Free]

I started work at sixteen in a design office in Liverpool.

Now if I could just sort out this coughing, spluttering, gagging and retching business I was going to look so cool and maybe, if I was lucky, a little older and sophisticated. You never know, I might even find a nice girlfriend too.

Found this e-book on the net & had to smile. Looks like evolution was spurring you on Austinlegro

Smoking as a death-defying feat: Displaying metabolic and sexual viability.

Young people are susceptible to the lures of smoking for other reasons as well. Inhaling toxic smoke or imbibing other toxic substances is ritualistically performed by many cultures as a right of passage into sexual maturity.

The purpose, implied in most cases rather than stated, is to demonstrate biological fitness and sexual viability as a desirable mate. In many cultures, various "death-defying" acts are performed, usually, but not always, by young men. Ingesting foul substances that must be metabolized or eliminated is a fair demonstration of the candidate's health (liver, kidneys, and immune system especially) and hardiness.

"Showing off" includes other dangerous, more motoric activities, such as sports, arts, and dancing, but they all have the same objective, which is simply to demonstrate to any potential mate that all biological systems are working and working well. Alcoholic drinking contests are common in teenagers, and usually are combined with motor (excuse the pun) demonstrations of how little affected the youth is by the alcohol, such as driving or other feats of daring-do.

[nsd_user663_20978]

another shocking fact there were smoking rooms on the maternity wards when i had my boys 20 and 18 years ago

is absolutely unbelievable when i think back but at the time perfectly acceptable

[nsd_user663_18145]

:eek: when i had my oldest you were allowed to smoke in the actual wards

i remember my sister coming into see her and having a ciggie :eek:

i was made to stay in for 10 whole days back then

she didnt smoke over her though just sat by the bed smoking

[nsd_user663_20978]

:eek: when i had my oldest you were allowed to smoke in the actual wards

i remember my sister coming into see her and having a ciggie :eek:

i was made to stay in for 10 whole days back then

she didnt smoke over her though just sat by the bed smoking

omg smoked in the ward mind you in the carry on films i remeber they smoked in the hospital bed

its totally shocking on some photos of me and baby in hospital in the back ground there on 60 fags on the side i remember people bought them as prezzies [what the hell] oh lets buy the new mum with her new baby 20 fags just uncomprehendable now i think we have been brainwashed to a degree that its not acceptable but also after you quit you see smoking for wat it is so makes it 100% not acceptable

boo

[nsd_user663_18145]

back in the day it was made out to be good for you to smoke they had famous people being paid to smoke in adverts and alot of the ciggie companies invested in films so the leads were smoking hence why the cool look:eek: came about as one of an iconic heros back then was James Dean and in a very famous pic he is smoking so to be able to look cool you had to smoke

[nsd_user663_42755]

omg smoked in the ward mind you in the carry on films i remeber they smoked in the hospital bed

its totally shocking on some photos of me and baby in hospital in the back ground there on 60 fags on the side i remember people bought them as prezzies [what the hell] oh lets buy the new mum with her new baby 20 fags just uncomprehendable now i think we have been brainwashed to a degree that its not acceptable but also after you quit you see smoking for wat it is so makes it 100% not acceptable

boo

This is all true. Shows just how much attitudes have changed over the years. We used to smoke everywhere - including, shamefully, all over our children..... :mad: It's unbelievable now, but at the time, no-one ever questioned it.

[nsd_user663_32615]

Sad but true.

I suppose that each generation learns a little, and tries to do a little bit better.

I literally learned to smoke on my Dad's knee. First lesson aged 8. It became a bit of a party piece. :rolleyes:

I really regret smoking in front of my kids, and I am so relieved that they didn't become smokers themselves.