Now, I am absolutely sure that all this talk about the harm of smoking is sheer nonsense.
PublicHouse
Confessions of a
Smoker
T his year is a special year in my life. I am celebrating the 30th anniversary of smoking. A couple of days ago, I told this to an elderly gentleman in a supermarket, who suggested to me I shouldn’ t be buying cigarettes, calling me‘ girl’. When I told him about my 30 years of smoking, he stared for a while open-mouthed, then asked,‘ you are already 30 years old?!’‘ No,’ I replied,‘ I am smoking for 30 years.’
When I was a kid, my parents, teachers and all other adults told me horrible stories about what would happen to me if I ever started smoking. They did it nearly every day at every opportunity and even without it. It was such a pressure that eventually I decided to try. And I liked it!
Now, I am absolutely sure that all this talk about the harm of smoking is sheer nonsense.
However, I believed that it was harmful. I believed it when I was 20. I believed it when I was 30. When I was 40, I started doubting it. When I was 43, once, walking in a park, I sat down on a bench and started smoking. An old woman approached me and said in the same words I heard numerous times, thinking I was a teenager, " oh! Dear kid, what are you doing? If you are smoking, you will give birth to sick children, or even worse! You won ' t be able to give birth at all. And when you will be 30 you will look like me, like you are 70.’
‘ Dear Ma ' am,’ I answered,‘ I will never be 30 again. I am 43 and I have two absolutely healthy kids. They are already adults.’
So, now I am 47 and now I don’ t doubt that smoking is harmful. Now, I am absolutely sure that all this talk about the harm of smoking is sheer nonsense.
Once, the elevator in my house didn’ t work. For me, nothing terrible – I never use it anyway. I am too lazy to stand still inside its cage. So, I prefer the stairs in any case. I was returning from a shop, a 5kg bag in each hand. When I approached the house, my neighbour – just a tiny reticule in her hand – was entering it, while I still had a rather significant distance to reach the door. This neighbour of mine is 8 years younger than me.
She has never smoked and in general leads a so-called healthy lifestyle. I caught up with her on the 3rd floor. She moved very slowly, panting and stopping every now and then. As for me, on the 3rd floor I didn’ t feel any strain, running upstairs even with a 5kg bag in each hand. My breath tends to quicken a little on the 5th floor, but doesn’ t prevent me from continuing to run upstairs till my 7th floor. However, because my brains are always occupied with all sorts of various projects, quite often I miss my 7th floor and continue to run until I reach the door to the attic.
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