Re:smoking on the beach

[kansasmum]

At the beach today with ds. It's fairly busy, lots of kids running around.
I am surrounded by people smoking. 2 people behind me are smoking and a woman in front of me. Plus a group of people just down the beach a bit who are all Smoking. It stinks.
I know it's an open space so they are entitled I suppose but it's horrible and there are kids running around etc. You can't help but smell it etc!
Just wish beaches were smoke free zones. Plus all of them are putting the cigarette ends in the sand!
Aibu to be annoyed?!!

[LikeIGiveAFrock]

I was on the beach today
There were smokers and non smokers
Lots of children running around and playing on rocks shrieking and laughing
People had their dogs with them
Some people were playing ball games
T'was lovely
Seriously, just sweat the big stuff

[WaitrosePigeon]

You haven't got a leg to stand on, I'm afraid.

[DerelictMyBalls]

Trod on a lit fag-end on the beach last Summer. YANBU.

[StiffLittleFinger]

No smoker ever has stubbed out their cigarette in the sand and put the dog end in their pocket

Rubbish! I know plenty of smokers who'll use an empty can or juice bottle, or hold onto the stub till they reach a bin. One of my friends has a wee tin with a flip lid he uses as an ashtray, not everyone who smokes is inconsiderate enough to litter the place with fag-ends.

[exLtEveDallas]

Don't EVER go to Egypt OP. We've just come back. Smoking was allowed EVERYWHERE - even our taxi driver had a fag on the way from the airport. I'm an ex smoker, very sensitive to the smell now, but you know what, I hardly noticed it. The driver was pretty obvious and the stale smelling bars not so great, but in the open? Not a problem.

[Doggity]

There's a man near me who is a skilled cyclist. He has a fag while riding. I once saw him on his phone while cycling, although he wasn't smoking at the same time as that.

[Iambubbles86]

open me actually I was at the beach last Saturday, I had 4 cigarettes (I made sure I moved away from everyone and that the wind wasn't blowing smoke in their direction and after I stubbed out I put the dog end in my bag to throw in the bin when i got home, so yes-at least one smoker has!

[wigglesrock]

Well now, are the proposed smoking, dog toting beach going cyclists wearing helmets?

[PurpleTango]

I took my two dogs for a walk along the beach this morning (It is a dog friendly beach - just to clear that up). I passed lots of litter, half eaten sandwiches and other food, small bundles of tin foil and cling film, dirty nappies, mounds of dog shit, beer/lager cans, smashed bottles, deflated rubber dinghys and rubber rings (probably burst and not worth adults taking them home to dispose of) kids with no clothes on - screeching and wailing....... I can't say I noticed anyone smoking or fag ends in the sand.

[Iliveinalighthousewiththeghost]

I'm with you op. Yes while a beach is an open space. It's also a public space.
Love dogs as do I don't agree with them on the beach either. Shitting everywhere. I remember me my mum and my sister being on the beach and this stupid cow just let her dig lay it's log on the sand. Now I'm sorry but that just isn't done. Well my mum went absolutely postal. We hawked off the beach.

[gillybeanz]

How on earth many of you would have coped before the ban in public spaces I have no idea.

I have visions of the anti smokers doing the arm flap that Lilly Savage used to joke about.
Doing an impression of Vivien Leigh in The Birds

[Weddingsahoy]

I think it's a question of having consideration for others. As pps have said, there are some things which are just antisocial and smoking on a crowded beach, particularly around children, is one of them. It smells, inquisitive children will pick up fag butts if they find one in the sand and exposure can trigger asthma attacks, for example. If people want to smoke in a designated area or the privacy of their homes then fine. I wouldn't sit in a crowded public area playing loud music, smoking, swearing, shouting or dropping litter because all of those things make it unpleasant for others around me so when other people do those things it does irritate me a bit! I wouldn't say anything but I do think it's just common courtesy to be polite to others and to me that includes not forcing people to smell your cigarette smoke.

[PunkrockerGirl]

I love the frantic arm waving and hand flapping gilly It keeps me entertained for hours
Is there some sort of equivalent hand signal we could adopt when loud adults and their equally grim children are getting on our nerves? Perhaps if there was, the anti smoking hysterics would actually realise how ridiculous they actually look

[PunkrockerGirl]

Inquisitive children will pick up fag butts
Tell them not to then, ffs

[JudyCoolibar]

That is precisely no consolation if the smoker is next to you, particularly if the wind is coming in your direction.

Invest in a wind break then

Guess what, wind breaks don't stop the smoke coming round the sides and over the top.

And surely if a wind break is needed to prevent pollution, it is the person causing the pollution who should do the investing?

[JemimaMuddledUp]

I volunteer on beach cleans. Judging by the number of cigarette ends we pick up, I would say most smokers on the beach do just bury them in the sand.

[JudyCoolibar]

I was in a long traffic jam recently, two buses alongside me. The fumes coming out of the exhausts were unbelievable, far worse than a bit of fag smoke.

So what? Buses are a hell of a lot more useful than cigarettes. And why add to the pollution?

How on earth many of you would have coped before the ban in public spaces I have no idea.

I did cope, for many years. It was hellish - that sinking feeling when the idiot at the next table lights up just as you begin eating, the smarting eyes, coming home with your hair and clothes stinking of smoke, accidentally getting into smoking carriages which smelt awful and where everything was covered in a yellow greasy layer of horribleness. Smokers had it all their own way for so long and caused misery to so many people.

[PortiaCastis]

This is my poochie poo

[VioletVaccine]

Nicotine is an addiction. Smokers have precious few places they even can smoke anymore, nowhere indoors, and you want them to mov out of your general area, in the vast open air? YABU, and a bit entitled.

For some people, food is their addiction. They just cannot resist the compulsion to eat, it is classed as a real addiction.

But you can't possibly get offended when an obese person sits next to you eating feeding their addiction on the train, stinking the carriage out, can you?

[JudyCoolibar]

What on earth is "entitled" about objecting to someone doing a totally non-essential activity in your vicinity which pollutes the very air you breathe? The fact that the person is addicted is irrelevant - they could just as easily indulge their addiction somewhere where it doesn't impact adversely on other people. If anything, it is the smoker who is being entitled.

[Puzzledandpissedoff]

I now live in Australia and you basically can't smoke here: this is good. It's not worth it. I now vape

Unfortunately that's not likely to help you when the hysterics get going. Even when the smoke's gone and it's down to water vapour and flavouring, they'll find something to rant about - like the woman who told me (apparently seriously) that vaping harmed her mental health because she went into a panic on seeing something that might have been smoking

As I said, where outside smoking is concerned I honestly think this is more about a weird need to control than anything else

[WrappedInABlankie]

they are entitled I suppose

You suppose? Ummm there's no suppose about it. They ARE entitled to. You can quite easily move, you know that right?

Some of you need to get a grip smoker's aren't anymore idiots than you up there on your high horse looking down one everyone else.