El Bandito

Bob. Wow. Congratulations! That really helps!

By the way, Jonny. What a fantastic idea for a thread. Brilliant work.

RWW! Fantastic work. I'm sure you are catching me up! Congratulations

Well my Porky friend, the Kilt, whilst a wondrous thing, does chafe a little... I must look into silk....

Good lord! Memories! I travel a lot and as the laws began changing I remember chasing the airlines that were slowest to change Brussels to Prague..does Air India go that way? LOL! So much easier now!

As a kid, I always whined..."please don't smoking in the car...yeuch..". "Smoking is horrible". Back then, parents didn't know! Even if the 'talk' had started on TV...everybody knew "Auntie Kate, smoked a pack a day and had 5 perfect children" Like every other smoker I have ever spoken too, if they could turn the clock back, they would not have started. We can't do time travel, but we CAN quit...even us proper smokers!

100 it is....get liking!

Morning! Nope from me

Bad day on the golf course is a lot better than a good day at the office!

Darryl and Michonne?? Not names that would have been high on my list of character names. Believe it or not, I'm still working my way through the West Wing. Never even heard of this one! I need to take a year off work to get with the program!

And that... Is why the board is important.

Stu. Really? A touch of the drama queens have we? Ok. Back to basics. Deep breaths, sip some water. You don't smoke, muppet! Now go do something else and stopping being a plonker.

Always a choice... To borrow from Trainspotting (cracking movie) - "We Chose Life"

Will be in the audience :D

Yeah just started that bit - lost interest quite quickly!

How do you do it?

Doreen I just find myself drawn back to this post. I really admire your courage and good humour!

Our ability to rationalise is endless isn't it? "Only a mild one" - That's the type of stuff we say. The words Heart Attack should terrify us. They certainly terrify non-smokers. But us hard-men smokers - we laughed in the face of those words - "only a mild one" we say! Madness! My Smoking Addiction - Liar

Public Information Announcement No Bandits were harmed in the making of this thread B)

I see a couple of threads here.. You and La Bandita on "The Change" Me and Mr66 on "Midlife Crisis - Sportscar choices" Quick - lets set up a website! :ph34r:

Joe - Powerful story. Thank you for sharing it. I was just starting a thread about quitting as you were posting this. Great minds think alike..... :) Or Fools seldom differ :( One of the two!

I have smoked for 30 years, Man and Boy. I started at 13 years old. Usual stuff - I wanted to be cool, grown up. I quickly got into my stride - comfortably putting away 2, 3 packs a day throughout my twenties and thirties. I had a couple of goes at quitting - the usual stuff - girlfriends nagging, a health scare or two. A couple of times I was quit for months at a time. Then, change of girlfriend or emotional trauma and I was back to a pack a day and more. In the back of my mind, I knew that I was a smoker for ever. My family all smoked. Some people are non-smokers who smoke - and some are proper smokers. I am a proper smoker. A cigarette looks great in my hand. It suits me. Bad cold? I can smoke through it. Freezing outside - I can go out in a tee shirt - a man has got to smoke. As I moved into my 40s, it was getting harder to be a smoker. Bans everywhere. Hell, I didn't even smoke in my house! But quit? Nah - it's too late for me. I'm a proper smoker. I have a stressful job - and need to have a smoke. ...... UTTER UTTER NONSENSE Nobody is a proper smoker. Nobody looks good with a cigarette. They just look addicted. Nobody suits a cigarette. Cigarettes cause stress - not relieve it. There are many many way ways to quit smoking. Information on pretty much all of those ways can be found around here. Here you will also find people just like you - people who quit years ago, months ago, weeks ago, yesterday. We help each other. It's what we do. So - if you are here for the first time, are just having a browse, or believe that you can't quit - because you are a 'proper smoker' - do yourself a favour read some more. Two final things. 1. Every successful quit starts just like yours. Decide to quit. Believe - And you will 2. I'm a proper non-smoker. Check my signature below... Anyone can quit. Why not do it?

Jackie! Brilliant. The barrier is this: 1. We know that nicotine is long gone - it is not that causing the crave. 2. It is our mind. 3. Do you want to smoke? - No. It is therefore illogical to crave for something you don't want. Simples! You are the boss Jackie.