To smoke in my garden?

[whoopsididit]

I smoke, wish I didn't and intending to really try and stop soon. But I smoke.

Moved into a new house two weeks ago.

I smoke in the garden. About 3 or 4 a night.

A few times I've been out there and the Window next door has been abruptly and loudly slammed shut.

They obviously can't stand the smell when I'm smoking, which I suppose is fair enough as it is a disgusting habit.

I feel it really hasn't got us off to a good neighbourly start.

I try and stand well away from their windows but I'm thinking AIBU to smoke outside in my own garden ?

People can smoke if they want to.

Of course, hence the

But then they can't be offended that the stench it makes pisses people off.

She isn't offended, she's worried about offending other people. But she shouldn't. No one else gives a fuck what they go round doing so she shouldn't either. It's a bloody fag for Christs sake

WorraLiberty It's extremely similar to driving a car, especially given how many unnecessary journeys people make in their cars every single day.

But many of those people will convince themselves those journeys are necessary because it's raining/it's 20 whole minutes on foot/I don't like the bus/the kids don't like walking/it's dark in the winter etc....

In the same way many smokers will convince themselves that smoking has redeeming qualities...I'll gain weight if I stop/it calms me down/I get too stressed without my fags etc....

Meanwhile we're all breathing in shit while people point fingers and blame each other, but never themselves.

*I disagree. I think we'll have to look at properly conducted studies to decide whether smoking and car driving are comparable in terms of health consequences but in terms of the nuisance factor there is no comparison for me.

I am almost exclusively a pedestrian. I never get lifts and rarely take taxis and trains. I don't find cars to be noxious at all (except when some come close to splashing me after heavy rain). If I was stuck behind a car exhaust for long periods of time I probably would, but cars tend to move, as do pedestrians.

Secondhand smoke makes me nauseous and just generally feel unwell. Unless a person has to regularly stand (perhaps at a bus stop) at a place where the traffic is always very bad I don't think the impact can be anything as similar. In any case, no-one would object to the stander doing something to make the nuisance more bearable.*

I'd be angry in your neighbour's position. I don't think they've been unreasonable slamming the window. Better than shrieking/swearing out the window at you or something.

But seriously find a way to give up. It is a very antisocial thing to do. Although it's your right to smoke in your garden, it's a filthy thing to be subjected to. You know this because you won't smoke in your own house, yet your smoke is going into someone else's. They will hate you for it and it could be the start of neighbours from tell type scenario. It always starts over something small and turns into a battle.

I'm talking about how it affects our health though, not how annoying we find car fumes from unnecessary journeys.

Air pollution is a massive problem in the UK. There are thousands of properly conducted studies that indicate this.

Cars are a far bigger cause of air pollution than people smoking cigarettes.

WorraLiberty I'm talking about how it affects our health though, not how annoying we find car fumes from unnecessary journeys.

The poster you quoted didn't restrict herself to the issue of health consequences.

*Air pollution is a massive problem in the UK. There are thousands of properly conducted studies that indicate this.

Cars are a far bigger cause of air pollution than people smoking cigarettes.*

But it doesn't necessarily follow that car pollution has a greater negative impact on respiratory health than smoking. And with smoking it's not just the respiratory effects (including lung cancer), there's also the heavy burden of cardiovascular illness.

The only 'good' thing about smoking compared to car driving is that nowadays you are more likely to harm yourself and your loved ones than strangers.

While it's perfectly legal, it's a shitty thing to do, OP. And don't think that you're not harming your children, you are, ask your GP, or google it, there's lots of evidence out there, e.g. here

A 'shitty thing' to do?

Bashing smokers is really quite the thing these days isnt it?!

I think we're talking at crossed purposes now.

A previous poster asked if we could stop comparing cars to smoking and claimed they weren't comparable.

I think they are and my lungs would agree.

Pollution is pollution and people will argue that their pollution is necessary and therefore somehow OK, when often it's not necessary at all.

I should probably add that I don't smoke or drive a car.

Perhaps that's why I can sometimes see the hypocrisy, when some people I know would never dream of walking 20 minutes to the shop, but they'll moan if they catch a bit of cigarette smoke on the breeze.

Or get a long piece of plastic pipe which you could attach to the side of the house and blow the smoke into that. Just to get it in a different direction

Yeah do that man

It bemused me how much people dismiss the car thing. There are pregnant ladies being carbon monoxide tested and are shocked at high their levels are. There are precious little snowflakes being pushed in prams at exhaust height so their levels are being pushed up while their mother meeps on about third hand smoke and 'risks'.

Its funny.

No one else gives a fuck what they go round doing so she shouldn't either

Not true. Most people are reasonably considerate. Why go round assuming your wishes trump everyone else's, even when with minimal effort you can avoid making life difficult for them?

Cars are a far bigger cause of air pollution than people smoking cigarettes

But it's irrelevant, isn't it? Basically it's a "Look over there" argument. The fact that one source of pollution exists doesn't justify adding another unnecessarily.

And I'm sure the neighbour would be pissed off if the OP was sat in the garden revving her car under the window.

I'm not dismissing the effects of car emissions but that doesn't take away the fact that cigarette smoke stinks and it is not nice to have someone else's smoke being blown into the house.

I love a good smoking thread

"If my neighbours smoked I'd move house"

"Just quit, if I can do it you can do it"

I've fucking heard it all now though

Op YANBU, it's your house, if you want to smoke in the garden then smoke in the garden.

Me, too, MissJM1. 'Death to all smokers!' Just read Allan Carr. What will they use for pearl clutching once smoking goes the way of the dodo bird. I know! Vape sticks. There have been threads on here about how offensive those are, too.

Some people lead very sheltered lives.

I

OP I think its nice that you want to put things right with your neighbour. I reckon they deliberately slammed the window as a way of telling you the smoke was effecting them.

As other posters have suggested maybe take a short walk whilst you smoke, you don't have to go far or use this as a chance to give up!!

Am I being thick or what difference would smoking at the front of the house make? Someone up thread said 'it wouldn't go in bedroom windows then'. My bedroom window is at the front!

Also 'smoke inside'. Lots of rental agreements don't allow this.

Well presumably they're slamming windows because they're sitting at the back of the house. So if she smokes at the front they're less likely to notice any smoke.

But it would still go in any open windows at the front.

Well that's the chance you take when you leave every window open I'm afraid.