Yeah and whale oil was used to lubricate transmissions in the last century. So what? Ok bad for the whales. 100% true. But....so what.

One is a food and the other is a necessity/luxury depending on ones situation.

What is this reverse psychology or something? What have I missed here?

What I love to see, is all those desperate addicts, dying for their fix, who have just lit up, knowing their train will along in one minute, and then continually 'drag, suck, blow' until they end up with a 1cm red-hot poker on the end of their fag.
Still doing so, with their foot on the train step and then throwing half it, unsmoked back on the platform, to set fire to some peasant, wearing synthetic material clothing.

We were much more cool in my day - simply remove the burning end quickly and gently between forefinger and thumb, tap the end to ensure no burning residue is present and place remaining half behind ear for later.
Did get a bit pongy, after a while, with the ear being relatively close to the nose, though - but did mask the smell of sweaty-Bettys.

There is another angle on this that for me is very important. I was in Luzern HB the other day and right in the middle of the station where passengers get on and off their trains and buy tickets from the machines were a group of 14-16 year olds all puffing on their fags with a bit of a swagger, out of about 8 of them every one was smoking at the same time. I felt very sad...

...whatever the argument about smoking in public there can be no doubt in my mind that they thought it was cool and they were even showing it off.
That is what is sad because if you are older (even cool) and visibly smoking in public you are (whether you like it or not) an endorsement to the younger generation who see smoking as being 'older'... and possibly even cool.

If you are a smoker and can't see that and would not give up smoking in public places for that reason then you have nothing to be proud about.

On the contrary, I think young people nowadays are more prone not to start smoking. They are more into sport and healthy living than me and my friends were at their age.

My generation thought it was cool to smoke, most of us have stopped, except me!! And a few others.

It goes into a tank which is emptied when the plane lands. Any "blue ice" is caused by leaks.

I always thought those marks on the runway were skidmarks. Now I perceive they might be "skidmarks" of a different kind.

Black

That will be the Dublin flight

I was just sitting on our local station platform when an old bugger, in his eighties or nineties, ambled over, sat down on the bench next to me and lit up. He sighed deeply, sat back and slowly drew on his cigarette while enjoying the cool morning air and a spectacular view of the Glaernisch massif. We nodded to each other, then returned to our individual reveries.

I couldn't help but think of this thread, and the torrent of self-righteous, intolerant, judgemental tripe that festers throughout. Which of you could, with a clear conscience, deny this poor old sod his few moments of peace and quiet? Which of you could demand he put his cigarette out for the sake of your own selfish comfort? Isn't there enough fresh Alpine air to go round? What harm is a couple of puffs of smoke compared to the happiness of some old codger who probably hasn't got much time left anyway?

The contrast between that delicious moment of peace and silent companionship and the miserable harping on this thread couldn't have been starker.

I wouldn't have said or done anything either.

But, if you had actually bothered to read the thread instead of sitting on your (very) high horse, you would have read that the only time I ever complained to anyone on a railway platform was when I sat on a bench right at the end of the platform - away from anyone - and with my two week year old son, and a twenty-something man sat next right next to us and lit up.
He's response to me when I complained (I had already moved twice) was to say that it was his right to smoke and he carried on.

That's a far cry from the scenario you have described.

The contrast between the two couldn't have been starker.

He wasn't wrong, was he?

That poor old sod is not on his own private property. There is nothing in the world that makes me feel sorry when people like him sit next to me and make me nauseously shudder and hold back the feeling of throwing up on the spot.

Smoking is disgusting and forcing others to feel terrible because you want relief for a self-inflicted addiction is incredibly selfish.

You’re also mistaken in that YOU are the one being self righteous. I’m trying not to smell like BO, perfume or anything worse that might make you want to vomit. You believe you have the right to smell awful enough in front of me and that I should just bear it, for your benefit, so you can feel the nicotine and tar in your lungs.

Honestly, I hope old men like this and people like you get cancer soon and relish in the misery of your revolting health choices.

What I would love would be to sit with a view like that and enjoy the elusive “fresh Swiss air” that doesn’t actually seem to exist anywhere in this country, even in the Alps.

And further, NO there is not enough fresh Alpine air to go around. This country has many positives, but unless I stay inside my house (and sometimes not even then), there is not a day that goes by when I am in this country that I do not have to smell smoke.

It hits me as soon as I leave the house, sometimes it comes in my house when someone decides to smoke in front of the forced air vent in the building and even in the Alps on a hike, someone can be 200m in front of me with an extraordinary smoke trail lingering behind them.

Surely you can understand that as much as you might love to smoke every day, some of us would love to have even ONE day here without having to smell something that makes us want to puke.

Gosh! Who's the loathsome bastard here, then?

I neither smoke nor drink, sweetheart. Do I really deserve cancer just because I think tolerance is a virtue?

Sorry, you don't smoke then. But you enjoy the smell enough to tolerate it. You still think people who feel nauseated and sick from smoke should have to tolerate it too?

Yes. Do I still deserve cancer?

What other opinions deserve cancer? I'd be grateful if you could make a list.

I get it. You have no moral or decency compass and need written laws to tell you what is right and wrong?

Huh? It wasn't me smoking next to you on the platform.

You seem to struggle a bit with this reality business, don't you, Tom?

I'm sorry but when you wrote "He", I assumed you were righting on behalf of "Him".

Perhaps the old man you described thought it was perfectly reasonable to smoke next to some middle-aged man such as yourself on his own but may not have done so if it had been a parent with young children in your place?

You're starting to ramble, Tom.

Let me put it simply for you:

I do not smoke. Therefore, I would never smoke next to a middle aged person, or a baby, or anyone else. That's because I do not smoke.

I do not have a problem with other people smoking. It is their legal entitlement except in certain places where it is forbidden. At the moment, smoking on open platforms at railway stations is permitted.

I do, however, have a problem with intolerant dickwads who are unwilling to acknowledge the legal rights of others to enjoy themselves as they please. Today they have smokers in their sights, but who will it be tomorrow? Puritans are never happy until everybody acts - and, more importantly, thinks - exactly as they do.

My feelings towards the old gentleman this morning were largely positive - we were sharing a pleasant, quiet moment in the cool air of an Alpine morning. My feelings towards those who would deny him his small pleasures are entirely negative, because they are intolerant, miserable dickwads.

Is that a little bit easier to understand, Tom?

I do hope so.