This is a contentious subject,,,,,,I started smoking when I was about eleven, walking to Diamond hall, With my mates from St Joes, catholic and prods,,,,, eat your heart out biggots. now I am nearly 63, Millie,, lad born and bred, Still got the same pals, though we are miles apart, and alas I still love a good smoke, especially with a drink, and more so after a meal. never used Wacky backy or the likes, thats for other folks, and if they enjoy, well happy days and every one to his own, their lives....thing is though. remember the pub before the game,,,, folks smoked,,,, more folks went to football. and the atmosphere was electric. *** smokers have to go outside ,hence the great banter went outside for a ***, and the threads were lost, but outside, the banter was/still is class. FACT ------ I had a pub very close to SYDS PARK. when it was mooted a no smoking ban was coming, I got out sharpish, and glad I did too, but have you all noticed the decline in our pub culture, sports culture, etc etc, my very good pal Ralph, never smoked in his life, said. take the tobacco, out of pubs and paid for public arenas, watch them die, IMO,,,,,, correct. this is not a debate about for smoking or not smoking. In my pub , non smokers didnt pay any bills.I was self employed, had to let the place go. and the non smokers moved on,they still spent no money mind. bottom line. GERMANY,,,,,,,smoking clubs. print your details ok, smoke all day as I have been. HOLLAND,,,,,,,, JUST CHECK IT OUT. ditto above. UK,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,BIG SMOTHER 1984................G Orwell. as I said not an arguement about the pros, and cons of smoking, just the fact that working or otherwise folks drink and smoke and go to football, but pubs are dying, people who smoke stay at home, watch football on SKY, put the supporter out of the game for whatever reason, and he will go. how many supporters in the early days of Roker Park were smokers?,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,MY GUESS,,,,,,,,,,MOST. Easy for me, put KPN sports 1 on. pour a Baccardi, light up, easy, not quite so for others, who are on a tighter budget than me.......................................end of rant/yarn.
I'm not sure where I stand on smoking in pubs etc., but I think it's a good move not to allow smoking at games. It's potentially a fire hazard, and can give kids second hand smoke or encourage them to start smoking. I think no smoking in general is the way to go, heart risk, lung risks, etc. I don't need to go on.
Although I see your point Jersey, peer pressure will see your kids using wacky backy , cocaine whatever, My kids grew up in a smoking family. neither smoke, aged 38 and 36.
Well, I'm only 16, so I don't have children! But it makes it easier for kids not to smoke when there aren't 40,000 people around smoking, and even if they don't start, they'll inhale second hand smoke.
smoked 30 years and spent far too much time in pubs/bars/saloons/taverns. quit two years ago (about the 20th time) for good. been out of work and have been trying to get the body and lungs back into good shape. the lungs coming around I guess, but taking their time. mad every time i think about all the time i spent smoking and what it may eventually do to me. then again, it may turn out just fine. Bill, agree with all your points, but wouldn't go back to a smoking environment for anything. Now, WINE? never quit that. never. oh, and the wife is 10 years younger (45) and a looker, so i have plenty to live for.
Jersey, facts on the tablle, you have a choice, enter a bar thats smoking allowed, your choice........... me and the likes of me have no choice not allowed, but the taxes paid are fabulous, as I said this Is not a debate about smoking in general, more of an observance, from a smokers point of view, but chuffed you are a non smoker all the same, nice one. and keep up the non puffin.
PAUL, was not about the ***s, just the way it was, as I grew up. can you do me a favour ,, has your missus got an older sister or hard up female mate, pref a smoker, with an off licence, and a lottery win under her belt..... just askin mind. dont mind if she supports Newcastle, as long as she is mute. and a nymphomaniac, .............................AH WELL Paul back to the tabs thing,,,,,,,,,,,,best I dream on.,,,,,,,,, Nice feedback though. all are important.
What I forgot to say was, anyone who smokes is a mug, and I am a MUG, glad you binned it and more power to you,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,RESPECT,,,,,,,,,,,,LOTS OF.
Good post Bill. There's nout like a good smoke! I get absolutely fed up being preached to about smoking being bad for you, and being fit and healthy is the B all and end all.......and as for passive smoking....grrrrr.....don't get me started! Dr Michael Crighton described passive smoking as "the biggest lie of the 21st century!" For a more balanced view on smoking, I would strongly reccomend the brilliant article by James Delingpole of the independent http://www.independent.co.uk/opinio...d-for-you-but-is-it-really-so-bad-454412.html
Can't see your point about smoking and banter mate, i used to smoke or should i say buy 60 a day (they were cheap cos i worked overseas) but used to get through about 40 myself, easily. Packed in after getting caught off customs several times but i can't honestly say that it changed the banter. I still go to pubs with my mates and whether it's a match day or not, the banter is always great, more so on match days mind, but i can't see any difference between the none smoking in pubs days and present day. Must say that when i chucked the tabs i began to drink like a fish.
Lot a pubs gone, check Sunderland out, how many pubs do you remember, where fans started from. then going to the match......check it out. at least 10,000 part time jobs lost in the north east alone, but this is not about tabs, about what used to be.
Bill, I was a smoker for years and gave up about 15 years back. You raise some bloody good points mate; I have only ever seen the smoking ban from my own selfish point of view...... It’s easy when the lack of choice comes down on the side of your personal point of view. I'm glad I gave up smoking; prefer a smoke free environment but that doesn’t mean that smokers should have to stand in the cold to partake in their chosen pleasure....... not in every pub. It’s a question about choice.
my perspective was about my grandads years, if you like, was not about pros and cons of smoking, but I am truly glad you binned the habit, and I know sometimes, you will think, would love a *** right now, well dont........ debate is....... freedom of choice,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ***s were in, pubs were full so were football clubs,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, not the answer I know,,,,,,,,,,,,, but glad you jacked it anyway,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Me a lost soul mabe.
I've always been a firm believer that people have the right to do whatever they want to their own bodies however dangerous or unhealthy! Hell i ride motorbikes, bungy jump and and have sampled the narcotic in amsterdam. My problem with smoking is that it is not exclusive to the smoker and is shared with everyone in the vacinity. Can i ask a genuine question to the smokers out there? You hear people say that pubs have shut since the smoking ban due to less customers. Since the ban have any of you not gone out for a drink solely for the reason that you cant smoke inside the pub? If say alcohol was banned, i couldnt see myself not going out still to socialise albeit over a can of irn bru! cheers
yeah, has a sister but been married three times. presently single. lives outside boston, half japanese, half english in blood background. not quite as pretty, but it gets worse, she's BROKE.
Lived on the London road, above the old coach house, next to The Ship Inn, if its still there, between 1971-1975, was stationed at RAF CONINGSBY. actually saw some great bands there,,, T-REX ETC, ,,,, gliderdrome an all that. happy days .my kids love the place, one concieved there, born Sunderland, the other Newark, another grand place dont want to go back, as I dare say I will be dissapointed, ,,,,, if you remember,,, the sun always shines,,,, when you are younger.
The smoking ban is just another example of the nanny culture that Blair and his cronies inflicted upon us, there are a few more that I COULD go on about, but this is neither the time or the place. My local has got a hell of a lot quieter since it's introduction. Lads who were regulars only come out a couple of times a week - who wants to stand outside in bitter weather when you can sit at home with CHEAP booze, watching the footy on TV AND light up at the same time? It's simple economics that if you reduce a pubs income by say.... 15%?, then the effect is disproportionate on the bottom line as that 15% reduction in income is not matched by a 15% reduction in fixed costs - heat, lighting, power, rent, rates etc. It can be partially offset by a reduction in staff (which has happened) but we are seeing increasing numbers of pubs shutting their doors. Some of the best craic is outside with the smokers as larger numbers of people get together. How hard would it be to have smoking and non-smoking pubs to give people choice??
i haven't been to a pub since midnight, June 30th., 2007 (the moment of the ban) and will not return for the rest of my life. So far as I'm concerned, non-smokers can either go often enough to finance THEIR pubs or close THEIR pubs. It has nothing to do with me. I do agree that non-smokers (who are now in the majority) have the right not to breathe my smoke. I'm 100% behind them on that. But that isn't the issue here, is it? Up until about 1970, every pub had a Smoke Room, and in 2007, many landlords were happy to change back to that. But control of their own businesses was taken out of their hands. If any other business involved the use of dangerous materials, they would be confined to a certain area and notices placed on the entrance to that area. But not cigarettes. Oh no, that would mean the foot-stamping, bossy little brats at ASH wouldn't get all their own way. And THAT is the real issue involved here. ASH, and their prissy, politically correct, Europhile pals, the Blairs, went to quite extraordinary lengths to get all their own way, too. They even claimed a building with a 100 x 70 yard hole in the roof was an enclosed public place! It was preposterous - how big does a hole in the roof have to get? If you take your kids to a ruined abbey or castle, you'll see that many of them are smaller than the SOL. But the building with the 100 yard hole in the roof is "enclosed" while the building with a 70 yard hole in the roof is not. Why? - Well, English Heritage and the National Trust involve GOVERNMENT FUNDING!!!!! ASH knew the Blairs wouldn't swallow a loss like that so they didn't ask it. No, let's leave it to poor buggers like Niall Quinn to take the hit instead, eh? I repeat what I said at the top. I was 100% behind some change to make life better for non-smokers. I still am. But the legislation of 2007 took away landlords' civil liberties, and the sports arenas were handed to ASH on the basis of an outright blatant lie. That legislation was entirely corrupt. The timing of it says it all. The legislation was pushed through during Blair's time as PM. But just a few weeks before it was implemented, Gordon Brown was handed the job so he could take the backlash. Yes, screw landlords' civil liberties, screw Brown and the future of the Labour Party, screw everything and everybody - just so long as the Blairs and their prissy little pals were o.k. The whole thing stank to high heaven. Stuff it.
STILL STINKS, MORE THAN,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, TROOPS KILLED ON SOIL THAT IS NOT OURS SPRINGS TO MIND,,,, and I am more patriotic than most, and living partially on a military pension. but nice one,,,,, hard to read, but well worth the effort, when worked out...............nice one
On an aside, do any of you Millie lads remember smokers back lane, next time Im home, will be going there,,,,,,,,,,,,,get the street names in my head . my last walk up there, will publish something, I dont know yet. but hope it will jog a memorie or two,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I hope.
