I am a smoker, but I refuse to smoke!

[LARF]

10 days now and I'm starting to feel the benefits:

I can now taste mild cheese, such as emmental whilst Salt and Vinegar crisps burn my mouth and now taste vile.

I can breath

Apparently I hardly snore now even though I didn't know i snored in the first place.

I have more energy which means I can stay up later, watch Shameless - rather than Sky+ it and keep the hard disk free for other things that are on even later!

I have exotic dreams

I can smell people who smoke and have the blessed knowledge that I now do NOT smell like that - thank god

I can afford to buy drinks at Bristol

I can afford to buy more comics at Bristol

I can afford to maybe buy original artwork at Bristol but would have to sneak it into the house under a blanket or something, or lie and say its artwork by a really shit artist and they were giving it away.

I have had flu, a dry cough, headaches, nausia, pustles on the palms of my hands, conjunctivitis, sore throat, itching etc. etc... Apart from losing a limb I've had virtually every nasty symptom of giving up smoking and pulled through. The way I see it is if that's bad, what the fuck must lung cancer feel like then - don't want to find out

My dogs smell fresher

I don't feel a contradictory fool when I tell the kids that I will put them in the microwave on defrost for four hours if i ever catch them smoking. In fact now I feel even better when i say that to them

Overall I feel alive and can honestly say that I will NEVER smoke another fag again!

[Trout]

Well done that man! Keep a note of this thread and when - not if - the cravings come back, take a glance at your post to remind yourself of why you've given up.

Hang in there!

- Non-smoked Trout

[Roger Godpleton]

Also smokers, remember this:

You Killed Roy Castle.

[Bolt-01]

Well done Larf!

Bolt-01

[LARF]

Target Audience Reference Number RC/197867927825rip

Link: http://tv.cream.org/specialassignments/presenters/c.htm" target="_blank">I quite liked Roy really

http://www.davidstjohn.co.uk/roycastle.JPG">

[TordelBack]

The way I see it is if that's bad, what the fuck must lung cancer feel like then - don't want to find out

Cleverest thing I've ever seen written in connection with quitting.  My grandfather died of emphysema, my uncle of lung cancer - nobody wants to play those games.  Give me a cholesterol-induced heart-attack any day (other grandfather, another two uncles - much, much nicer for all concerned).

Well done, that Larf.  Keep it up.

[TordelBack]

...and freeforming in the closing music that was later murdered by 911..

Someone explain please?  Is this a Helterskelter-type thing I'm missing?  Does Bin Laden tap dance, play the tumpet?

[Satanist]

I quit for 7 months there and stupidly started again. Not making excuses but I will try again in a few weeks as I'm incredibly stressed at the moment.

Wife, 3 year old son and 2 week old baby and the bank fucked up my mortgage so my family and furniture may just end up homeless this Friday.

Hang in there as the good feeling of quitting just gets better.

[TordelBack]

That is a seriously, seriously crap situation, Satanist, I don;'t think anyone would blame you for taking far more serious drugs than nicotine to get through that much stress...  

StilI, hearty congratulations are in order - I had been wondering how your imminent new arrival was getting on, but it's the sort of thing one doesn't like to ask.  Boy/girl/bit of both?  

[House of Usher]

Well done, Larf. Good to see the benefits are so quickly apparent!

- - - - -

Smoking-related death in the family warning:

My grandmother died last November aged 77, from a brain tumour, a direct result of undiagnosed lung cancer from a lifetime of smoking.

[Satanist]

Cheers! tis another boy - Jack. Not to derail the thread I was going to post pics when I moved as I'll finally have a home PC hooked up, but now thats went tits up.

Fingers crossed things will work out unless the bank decide to give my application to the teaboy again.

[TordelBack]

Heh, my own little fella is a Jack too, named for Jack-Jack in The Incredibles - it's a surprisingly fun name.  Congrats to you and Ms. The Satanist and the little The Satanistas.  And try not to worry too much.

[LARF]

Shouldn't that be 'Little Devils' when refering to kids :-)

Satanist - I quit through the NHS and I'm currently taking Champix tablets and they are amazing. They are supposed to close down the receptors in your brain, you just don't think about fags at all. There are some side effects, but none as bad as the weed.

Ush - really sorry to hear about your Gran mate :-(, where you close? One of my sad fag memories was you tut tutting at Bristol last year when I kept sparking up and me feeling really concious on where I put my fag - looking back it is a daft habit sticking a smoking twig in your mouth.

[satchmo]

Good work Larf!

Smoke free Bristol this year! The bar at the Ramada will be quite different, that little garden bit outside may be quite popular :)

I quit in the autumn, I started again about a year ago after having packed in for nearly 2 years. It was a hell of a lot harder to pack in the second time round, so don't start again kids!

You really do notice improvements in your health and environment after a short period of time.

[House of Usher]

Thanks for asking, Larf. Yes, we were very close. She used to have my 2000ad delivered to her house every Saturday. She was always the first person I'd phone whenever I had any news, and I still impulsively reach for the phone now and then when I'm working at home, and put it back down again because everybody I know will be out at work.

She was a very contented woman and bore it with great dignity. She had outlived my grandfather by 12 years, and always treated every day after he died as a bonus rather than an entitlement. The cancer itself didn't cause her any pain, but she made it clear she would rather have got a lot more suddenly than she did.

 - - - - -

I feel bad now for disapproving of your smoking at Bristol. I hope I at least made an attempt at comedy out of it! Thanks for being self-conscious about where you were holding your smokes. I wish all smokers were. Especially the mums who stand around chatting outside the community centre, holding a lit fag at their the height their kids are breathing at!