First.... I'm here!!
Smoking, a subject in itself that is more complex than people just giving the filthy habit up. I
don't smoke, but my parents certainly did. My father drank too much too. He said that giving up his drink was bad enough and he had his times where he lapsed back to it, but giving up smoking cigarettes was even harder. For a while he was puffing through a carton - 200 cigarettes - in 3 days. That means he was almost non stop smoking. You can imagine the state of the house. After he moved out and I cleaned the house I was shocked at the amount of nicotine 'bleeding' from the bathroom walls when I steamed the room up.
The front of Birmingham New Street Station has become a very 'smelly alley'. Some days it is unbelievably bad. Try having to queue up there for a while waiting for a replacement bus service to get home because for one of a number of reasons your train service isn't going to happen.
My first day in the UK. I had to get a train from London to Edinburgh. A full open fare and on to a blue train. - Didn't realize that it wasn't
just the railway, that chunks of it were run by different companies. Anyway, it was standing room only from London. A great first time experience at a price. There was a smoking carriage but as there were so many standing in the vestibules there was no distinction between smoking and non smoking as all doors were open. A few hours late, standing all the way from London to Edinburgh in a smoky train and I was wheezing well. At the bed and breakfast I was told by the proprietor "We don't allow smoking in our rooms." I was taken aback then realized I probably smelled like an ashtray. It was hard to reassure her I was a non smoker, but I tried to explain. She then offered to wash my clothes for me next day and I was very thankful.
Now, as much as I hate, loathe and detest being subjected to smoke I do understand the need that smokers have for a 'fix' and I know from living with my father how hard it can be to quit. It isn't just the nicotine 'fix' it is also a habit, something associated with say socialising, having a coffee or tea etc. The war period promoted it in a big way with the use of servicemen/women and actors/actresses showing it to be a cool thing to do.
Am of two minds over closed rooms. I have seen them in workplaces. The rooms in themselves smell really bad but when the users open the door some of it wafts out. Some places have a corner outside have containers for the butts but it is amazing how many are stubbed out on the ground.
All very
catch 22. To be able to smoke is seen to be a
right but equally not being subjected to secondhand smoke should be a
right.
Another thought that I do have is that the government makes a small fortune from the tax on cigarettes. They will replace it somewhere and we will all likely finish up paying it.
As for hospitals and scary matrons..................
BRING BACK THE SCARY MATRON!!
They kept standards high and nurses / cleaning staff on their toes. I am not really sure why the standard slipped from not allowing visitors to sit on beds to letting them do so. Restriction of visiting hours to certain times wasn't such a bad thing. I seem to remember visiting hours being either a period after lunch or in the evening and yes, hygiene was indeed at least 75% better. Though, cleaning staff were much more thorough. I don't remember seeing grime on skirting boards and blood splashes on walls. On the morning rounds doctors washed hands again if examining the next patient.
Yes, Matron was a dragon, scary and breathing fire if you weren't up to standard but it was done with the best interests of the patient.
