Firstly, Before I begin I would like to state that I hold nothing against a particular friend of mine who does smoke and hope this blog does not offend her because she has always been considerate when she does it usually doing it away from the children and myself or making sure that the smoke is blowing in the opposite direction to us, she thoughtfully asks if it bothers me and I appreciate her consideration greatly. she is a wonderful friend and as I said I hold nothing against her.
Now, Yesterday as you may remember it was a very wet day. I got the kids in their puddle suits and put the little one in the back pack and started walking to the bus stop. I don't like the one on the corner because I am so paranoid about the bus zooming past without seeing us so I walked to the one at barrs cottage. I thought of walking all the way to church but when I reached barrs cottage and checked the time, there was only 25 minutes to get there which I felt would not be enough time to walk at the speed my children travel.
I stepped into the bus shelter and the children followed behind. No, sooner were we enjoying the dry shelter than a woman lit a cigarette. If I was more of a bold person I'd have said to her 'look here you, theres children here, have you no consideration?' unfortunately, I'm not bold so I just took the little one in the backpack out into the rain and the other 2 followed. the children were quite happy jumping in the muddy puddles while we waited for the bus, but as time passed, another woman arrived at the bus shelter and also lit up, it was a long 15 minutes waiting in the rain for the bus to arrive.
Later, after church I went to my father in laws as we do every sunday. I enjoy the social interaction, catching up with family, but when everyone starts lighting up it's either a case of sit and breathe in the poison or leave the room. It's a lonely business being a non-smoker. I find myself spending more time chatting with my 12 year old niece every week than the rest of the family. and yet, as much as I try to keep away from the smokers when they light-up by the time I get home I can smell it on my clothes, in my hair, on my skin, it makes me nauseas. It felt like an eternity getting the children to bed last night, especially since they wanted to stay up and watch 'dancing on ice'! As soon as they were in their beds, I jumped in a bath and scrubbed the smell away!
Unfortunately, this is an issue I can rant about as much as I like, It will never go away. I can't just not visit family and they aren't going to leave their own home to smoke, My very own Gran is another heavy smoker that bothers me. Even when the children climb up on her knee, she will still sit there with a cigarette in her hand. I watch as the smoke spirals around their faces, their clothes and hair and skin smells of it all day, it makes me sick, but it would be wrong to deny them visiting their great gran wouldn't it? and let's face it, nobody ever visits us because they don't want to be in a place they aren't allowed to do what they want.
and so, I reach out to you, my readers, what do I do? I am a minority in just about everything I do, and I certainly feel like a minority as a non-smoker as well. Some people feel that I am the problem and not the smokers, is that possible? do I need to 'lighten up?'
your opinions will be greatly appreciated, please comment.
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