1954 - 2004 RIP Fag Ash Lil (Smoking in general)

Member Name: aefra

Product:	Smoking in general
Date:	09/05/05 (1119 review reads)
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This is not about my past addiction, rather how it feels to be free after 50 years. I won't dwell on my several attempts to quit (with the aid of patches) as that has been well covered by others. I hope to encourage those who, like me, are life long smokers who actually like the habit and may well have lived in a culture which encouraged smoking as a social and normal part of life.

During tea break some time in august 1954, John Ridley offered me my first woodbine. We sat with other students working the summer break from school on the second floor of Lyons Tea Shop and I was probably the only one who hadn't smoked until then. I still remember the laughter as I coughed and spluttered then settled happily into a habit which was to last for another 50 years. If you are reading this, John, thanks a bundle!

Most of you will not have experienced a time when smoking was the social thing to do. You could not begin to imagine the "Man from the Pru" settling into a customer's armchair and offering her a cigarette. She would probably have accepted and pushed a table lighter towards him. Romantic novels spoke of our heroine weakened at the knees by the masculine smell of tweed and tobacco as she nestled against our hero's shoulder. Cinemas had little ash trays attached to the backs of seats for the use of those in the row behind.

Then came the news that cigarettes were bad for us and all that began to change. Nice people found that they were looked upon as lepers by the new non smokers and were herded into dark corners or outside. I happen to agree that it is a good thing that the amount of people smoking in the UK has dropped by 80%. The fact that asthma and deaths by "smoking related diseases" have risen commensurately as smoking lessened I have yet to work out. No, it was not a health issue which made me decide to kick the habit. After half a century of puffing 40 plus a day I will admit that my voice had deepened and I could not blow up a balloon, but I was ok. However, over £240 per month was something else again and after several months of mental preparation I quit and the effect was immediate.

At first it was small things. The stableyard and farm which is home to my horse is of a size which covers a couple of miles round the perimeter and undulates enough for it to be the Essex equivalent of hill walking. Within a week of quitting smoking and whilst still on the nicotine patches I found that rather than the unconcious "facing" of the slopes, I was up and over the top before I realised. I returned from a walk around the farm with my dog to find a reception committee. Apparently someone had asked who that was in the distance to receive the reply, "Good God! It's Val!". I strode around the fields and up and down the slopes with an ease which I hadn't realised wasn't there a short while before. It felt so good not to be short of breath and was probably the moment when I knew I would not light another cigarette.

Needless to say the chocs, popcorn and peanuts which replaced the ciggy habit soon resulted in a couple of extra stones. Not too much of a problem on my 6' frame, but needed to be addressed. Soon I was attending a local fitness suite and working out until I had disposed of at least 300 calories daily. With this came an expected feeling of well-being and I almost had a spring in my step. A lifetime of being thrown off horses means that I shall never again be exactly light on my feet, but I find that leaving my car in for a day for its MOT and service is no longer something to be feared. I just walk where I want to go. Another side effect is that I feel more relaxed and my blood pressure checked out bang on; although it always has been.

Of course it is not all rosy. Since regaining my sense of smell, both the kebab shop and fish and chip restaurant in the village offend and disgust my poor vegetarian nose mightily and standing behind a smoker at a supermarket checkout makes me ask myself, "Did I really smell like that?". The pleasant side of this particular coin is that I can smell herbs and roses in my garden with ease and the taste of food has improved so much that I have started cooking properly for myself rather than picking takeaways or ready meals. Another improvement in my health, methinks.

It took quite a while to steam away the smell of nicotine in my home and I had to wash and clean all the clothes in my wardrobe when I realised that they and the cupboards themselves smelt unpleasant. All in all a huge change in awareness of the knockoff effects of a habit I had happily indulged in for so many decades.

Perhaps the best result was when I carefully asked my best friend if she had thought of giving up cigarettes. She then told me that she had aleady tried to do so and the end result is that she has now not smoked for 7 months. Result!!

I like to think that I am not a non-smoking fanatic, as so many new quitters seem to be, and would produce an ash tray at home if asked. I do so hope, though, that a visitor wouldn't ask. Above all is the wonderful feeling that I have freed myself from an addiction which for so many years made me think that I could not compute, drive, watch tv or just relax without a pack of cigarettes and an ash tray beside my chair. It is so nice not to have ash within and smeared across my keyboard.

One item worth noting is the answer given by the nurse at my GP's surgery when I grumbled that I had coughed since I quit smoking. She assured me that cigarettes contained an ingredient which opened the bronchial tubes and that my occasional cough would disappear fairly soon.

Finally thanks to those on Chatterweb (now Opinionators) who gave me so much encouragement when I made the big announcement. Angus (angusreid) said that he would NU all my reviews if I slipped. :-)

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