Lonely

She has no-one, no kith or kin,

just these four walls that close her in,

in this little space she once called home.

She is all alone waiting for the ring of silent phone

knowing there is no-one at all to call her.  

She pours out a drink and sips at it,

smoke rolled and lit she draws at it, thinks:

These are the only comforts that I have.

She relives the past of times before in letters read,

old photographs and memento's’ tucked in secret draws. 

This is her each and every day. 

She longs for warmth of company,

of laughs and love and idle chat,

of all things that used to be, before emptiness befell her.

She had the pub of course and once night drew near

she would wander there, buy half-a-pint, pull up a chair

and sit amongst the lost and lonely people gathered there. 

And in that noisy smoke-filled air she would become alive again

and belong and share, fill the emptiness of her days.

But now the pub is long demised,

its door long closed to all that once had gathered there,

its smoke-free air as silent as this life of hers. 

She (demonised) had tried of course to smoke outside,

her frail body shivering in the frigid cold. 

But she to old to brave this storm began to stay at home

and all alone she gradually wilted there.

She pours out a drink and sips at it,

smoke rolled and lit she draws at it, thinks:

These are the only comforts that I have.

Anna :o]

Susan at Toads challenges us to write a new poem in which we address our experience (or thoughts) about smoking tobacco.

I had my first cigarette about the age of thirteen.  In reality it was not a cigarette at all, rather my friend Carole and I tightly rolled up strips of newspaper, lit them on a coal fire, inhaled and coughed our guts out.

I am not entirely sure when I had my first real cigarette, I was either sixteen or early seventeen and I do recall it made me dizzy.  However it was considered cool to smoke and I persevered and a smoker I became.  Apart from ceasing when pregnant, I have smoked ever since, some forty-seven to forty-eight years.

Although smokers are now demonised, I am not a demon.  I consider myself a good person and hopefully I am.

I tend to think smoking was banned on public transport several years before the smoking ban in workplaces & public indoor areas in 2007, but this bothered me not, I had no problem with it.

After 2007 I had no problem not smoking in my workplace or restaurants, and if hospitalised could go without smoking for weeks.  Even before then, if a visitor in someone’s house and they were non-smokers; I would excuse myself and go outside to smoke.  I considered and continue to consider other people.

Where I do miss smoking is on a rare visit to a pub.  I admit it; I am not a social animal rather a happy introvert.  But on the rare occasions I meet chums and we go pubbing, which is a social thing, I do object to being demonised and having to go outside for a welcome puff.  I don’t know what it is, but smokers like to smoke when they drink.  I don’t understand why there cannot be smokers’ rooms in pubs or indeed smokers’ pubs.  But of course this cannot be allowed as smokers’ are horrible people and denied basic rights.

What I do remember of these early days, probably 2007-8, (some) non-smokers felt empowered to abuse those of us who did, and to be tut-tutted or verbally abused by those who passed by was not uncommon as we puffed outside pub doors.  Luckily that is long gone.

Pubs, clubs and other (indoor) places of social gathering have suffered since the smoking ban, thousands of these places (especially pubs) have closed their doors, resulting in the loss of jobs of those who worked there and loss of livelihood of those who owned and ran  them. This has had a knock on effect on those for whom pubs were their only social outlet.

An extract from Freedom2choose (pdf);

“On the other hand, smokers have complained bitterly about the so-called ‘smoking shelters’ allowed, as they have to be 50% open to the elements. This of course means that, being basically useless as shelters, the elderly and the infirm (smokers) cannot visit the pubs/clubs in colder times. 

The smoking ban has led to a dramatic increase in drinking in the home. Obviously it is impossible to arrive at a definite figure but looking at the decline in customer pub usage against the rapidly rising beer sales at supermarkets it would seem that pre-ban concerns were well placed. One northern police force has indicated that this has resulted in a rapid increase in domestic violence cases – yet another unintended consequence of an overly zealous ban.

Whole communities are now denied a focal point for meeting and socialising as village pub after village pub closes down through lack of custom. Many council estate pubs have closed for similar reasons. Thousands of elderly and infirm members of our society have been isolated throughout the winter months due to the ban. In short, the ban has divided communities nationwide.”

And so it is that communities have suffered from this ban and will continue to do so…  But as said, it impacts on me little, and I will continue to smoke as I like it.

My (across the road) neighbour, although a nice man, is not nice when it comes to smoking, he vehemently opposed to it.  Yet he is quite happy (and conscience free) as he drives his diesel car, fully knowing its exhaust is a Group 1 carcinogen…

Further reading (if you are interested):

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/3405482/Pub-trade-suffering-from-smoking-ban.html

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/654184/Scottish-pubs-shut-decade-smoking-ban-drink-limit-crisis

http://velvetgloveironfist.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/pub-closures-and-smoking-ban.html

http://velvetgloveironfist.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/snooker-and-smoking-ban.html

Image:  Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Author:  Keith Edkins