Smokin’ In The Boys’ Room

But, as Brownsville Station told us, “everybody knows that smokin’ ain’t allowed in school”. The weird thing about that group and that particular song – Smokin’ In The Boys’ Room – was that the group were probably all in their thirties so why on earth were they worried about what nasty old teacher was going to do if they got caught smoking – sorry, smokin’ – in the toilets?

Anyway, I digress. My musings on smoking arose from a recent pub session in Barnstaple. Because the early evening was pleasant we went on to the roof terrace (how grand), which, because it is outside, is also the smoking area for this bar. The only trouble is that in our group only one person smoked and she considerately moved away from the group when she lit up. The area where we were sitting also had those overhead heaters which have become so popular with pubs since the smoking ban was introduced and which we needed as the evening wore on and temperatures fell.

And now, getting to the point, perhaps all this explains the hostile looks our group got from a quartet of middle-aged ladies who emerged on to the roof terrace with their fag packets in hand only to see that their prime smoking spot under the heaters had been taken by a group of about ten people, only one of whom smoked. I have to admit that none of this dawned on me until I was half-way home on the bus, and then I wondered if we had been unfair to the smoking fraternity. And then I realised I didn’t care, life is too short, which is definitely the case for some smokers.