“SMOKE ! SMOKE! SMOKE ! THAT CIGARETTE” …1947
How many of you “old timers” remember that hit record by “Tex” Williams ? It was written in 1947 by Merle Travis and is a rambling song with many stanzas but the chorus is the part that most people my age remember. It goes like this:
“Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette.
Puff, puff, puff until you smoke yourself to death.
Tell St. Peter at the Golden Gate
That you hate to make him wait,
But you just gotta have another cigarette.”
I was just 14 at the time but I loved that song. I also loved the movies and couldn’t wait to emulate the sophisticated ladies with their long cigarette holders. Ah, the elegance of it all !
By 1955 I was out of college and on my own. Smoking was a “rite of passage” and I joined the crowd. I never did get the long holder but I felt very stylish as I puffed away.
In 1957 I caught the flu bug & was terribly ill for about 5 days. I remember that the first thing I did when I felt better was to light a cigarette. It immediately sent me into paroxysms of coughing and set back my recovery for about 2 more days. As a result I decided to quit smoking and I did. Lucky me !!
It would be approximately 40 years before any real inroads were made regarding a ban on cigarettes. It is incredulous to me when I think that it was actually condoned in the ER where I started working in 1978. Now that same Hospital is 100% smoke-free
Now it is 2011 and I know there are still die-hard (pardon the pun) smokers out there who resent the bans on smoking, but, I, for one, can breathe easier … and I hope you can too !
posted by Ginnie at 4:32 PM
9 Comments:
However, it happened you did well to quit so early on. Incredible as it may seem, smoking still is a rite of passage for some.
I too got caught up in the glamour and my addiction esculated to a three pack a day habit.
It took 21 days of being deathly ill in a hospital to free me.
I shudder to think of what those three packs a day would cost me in money alone these days.
I agree with the smoking bans and really feel for those still addicted.
Well Ginnie, I have quit. It's been about five months now. Although I did slip last night a bit. I've had a lot on my mind but no more. I don't want to get hooked again.
I remember when my two oldest were very young (70's and 80's) their doctor a pediatrician,was a chain smoker and would smoke right in the exam room!! Love Di ♥
It's been 4 years since smoking was banned in public places in the UK ... Here is a post of mine from that day if you would care to take a look ...
http://oldgit.wordpress.com/2007/07/01/smoke-no-longer-gets-in-your-eyes/
How fortunate you were able to break the habit. I am praying my youngest son will stop smoking some day. Such a filthy habitt.
I was fortunate. I tried smoking and it made me sick. Dianne
I have an old copy of a Life magazine, 1939, which shows women how to smoke cigarettes: how to exhaul smoke, hold the cigarette, how to butt it out, how to hold it , etc. This would have been targeted at my parents, who smoked all their lives since they were teenagers.
My mother quit smoking at least forty times, the longest was for two months. My father tried one using Smoke Enders program until we caught him smoking secretly in his own house.
Interestingly, none of their descendent smoke: My brother and sister and their partners, all our children. It is a smiliar story across our extended family.
I think it is time they made cigarettes illegal since they are neither a food or a medicine and are toxic.
Luckily, I tried smoking but found it only made me sick and the smell was quite unpleasant. Another thing that helped me to "see the light" was that my mother discovered a pack in my bedroom. Nothing like a little parental discipline to convince me of the error of my ways.
I didn't take up the habit. I did try cigarettes when I was about 7 years old. My father caught me and made me smoke a cigar which made me green and sick. That cured me. I am grateful.
I'm waiting for the ending of Euro 2012. All spoke with regard to Ukraine - a lie!
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