Unimaginative Observations

We might not have the ungainly sight of a thousand chimney stacks pumping dirty, lung destroying smoke onto the streets of England any more, but something just as nauseating has reared its head of late.

I was so pleased that all throughout the country those smokers have been turfed out on the street to partake in their nasty habit and leave those of us who like the taste of fresh air, food and drink to breathe in peace. But I’m somewhat disgusted by a nasty side effect that it has created, one we really should have seen coming a mile off.

There are cigarette stubs everywhere, and if there’s one thing that really makes me feel sick it’s the sight of a pile of dirty, stinking cigarette stubs. I don’t know which particular phenomenon disgusts me more, is it attempting to walk into a pub and having to battle my way though a cloud of toxic gas while trying not to slip on the carpet of discarded cigarette ends on the pavement beneath me, or walking past a street-side waste bin on which a thousand cigarettes have been extinguished in a continuously growing mountain of stubs- why can’t they just throw them into the bin once they’ve put them out instead of leaving them on top like that? I think they’re doing it on purpose, some kind of rebellion to make a misery the lives of those who have chosen not to inhale carcinogenic fumes into their lungs if they can avoid it. That, or they’re just dirty, lazy buggers with no respect for their surroundings or the people around them whatsoever.

I’ve never been a smoker, never will be, so it’s practically impossible for me to empathise with the position many of them are presenting in response to the ban, that they’re being discriminated against, oppressed and almost laughably, are victim of human rights violations. It’s ignorant, more than anything. No one has taken away their right to smoke, but now they can’t do it in an environment where it is harmful to other persons, which just so happens to be any public enclosed space in the country. Ah well, there’s plenty of room outdoors, now we just need to teach them how to use the bin!