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?!!

Yanbu, it's the one thing the Irish Government got right : the great smoking ban. Coincidentally, on a flight recently, it was announced that both smoking and vaping were prohibited, it was great.

OP are you sure you haven't sat in the smoking section of the beach? I'm on holiday just now and our beach has a designated smoking section.

MerchantofVenice
Passive smoking in a car.
Passive smoking in a pub.
Passive smoking in a cinema.
Passive smoking on a beach? In England? I think that's pushing the boat a bit far isn't it?
Also, I do actually think dirty nappies and piles of uneaten food and associated wrappers left on a beach is far worse than someone having a fag in the wide, open air.

It's not unreasonable to mention the pollution caused by cars. They are not necessary either, though many people think they are. If fewer people used cars, public transport would be much better.

I do regard private vehicles as an indulgence.

LOLZ at the precious snowflakes who think that anybody that isn't hysterically against smoking must be a big dirty smoker about to drop dead

The issue here is that a beach is a public place and on a hot day, a fairly densely populated one. Which means you may have to put up with (shock!) some minor irritations from neighbouring people (horror!).

Can't believe a pp used this thread to slip in a sneaky pic of Aidan Turner!

Well done Portia 😁

< counting down the days to Poldark...>

Tufty You seem to have totally misunderstood part of my post. I am saying that yes, lots of other anti-social behaviours might be worse but that doesn't cancel out the vileness of smoking near people. Get it? You know, the whole 'two wrongs don't make a right'?

And, I'll repeat (as apparently it's necessary) there is literally no evidence that the people on here who object to smoking are leaving nappies etc. In fact, considerate people who object to one anti-social behaviour are surely more likely tooobject to litter etc?

Lol at idea that people objecting to second-hand smoke are being precious snowflakes. Of course one incident of passive smoking doesn't equal death. But, um, if people are habitually smoking in places you go regularly, it all adds up. And, as many of you have thoughtfully pointed out, smoking in the open air is perfectly legal, so in some people's lives it could happen a lot.

It's just basic good manners. Loving the 'screw you' attitude of some posters. You sound lovely.

merchant well put. Couldn't agree more. They know it's bad manners but what they are trying to do is deflect the argument.

I haven't smoked for years but I recall being in a big bus station years ago in Dublin. The exhaust fumes from the buses were horrendous, yet there were signs everywhere saying "no smoking". the irony.

Merchant

Yes passive smoking will add up, but outdoors, on a beach, where there's almost certainly a breeze, it isn't going to add up to much.

How many hours will you need to spend downwind of a smoker at the beach to stand any tangible risk of health problems? You'd surely die of skin cancer 100 times over before you contracted lung cancer.

Yes, there are health risks from passive smoking, but at the beach? In the UK you'd be lucky to get a few hours there per year.

People smoking at the beach is an incredibly specific thing to moan about, you might as well complain about people who smoke one cigar a year in the town square on New Years Eve.

I can understand if people don't like the smell, but to cite health reasons? Jog on FFS

dancetilldawn I don't think that's irony (unless it's the Alanis Morissette variety). A bus station needs buses. Their fumes are, unfortunately, part of the deal. There is no need to smoke in a bus station. At all. No irony.

Fulltime it's pointless to try to tot up how bad each incidence of passive smoking is, or try to calculate how much smoke might realistically breathe in... Seems very petty. The fact is, smoking stinks and is dangerous. You know this to be the case, so why try to argue black is white?

Ironic in the fact that banning smoking is presumably to protect people from second hand smoke, but given that buses were making the air toxic with exhaust fumes it was completely pointless. Whether it's right or wrong, that's irony.Gave us a chuckle at the time though.

I tell you what stinks and is anti social on the beach? Bloody portable barbecues. How lovely to eat fresh sausages whilst paying no heed whatsoever to all the people around you in the hour it takes to get it running and the food cooked.

But I wouldn't say anything because after all it's a public space and the activity is legal.

It also helps to look at the way the winds blowing and sit at the edge of the space accordingly. That way all odours blow away from you.

Merchant

Quantifying risk is petty? WTF?

Ah, I forgot about the MN contempt for rational risk assessment.

Yes those things are irritating.
And?

Does that mean smoking in public shows regard for fellow citizens?

I presume your comment was directed to me Head?

I'm choosing to address the smelly, irritating element common to smoking and barbecues. The clouds of smoke emanating from the barbecues on the beach I was at yesterday meant you'd be hard pressed to even see the people smoking.

I used to find smoking on the beach really annoying, but then I just bought a wind-proof lighter

Yeah but those zippos cost an arm and a leg.

Clearly there are many people still willing to defend smoking. Good luck to you. It can't be long until smoking is banned in all public places, and that day can't come soon enough for those of us who dislike breathing second hand smoke.

Someone objected to my dismissal of this idea of quantifying the risk. Well, no one needs to quantify the risk inside public buildings - it's just 100% banned. Same will one day be true outside so you might as well get used to it. You won't be able to say 'Oh it's just one teeny-weeny cigarette, stop being so precious. '

To those of you still finding this thread hilarious - you do realise that people have lost family members through passive-smoking? You know that, right?

It's a very unpleasant subject to joke about. And you don't get to decide how much or how little second-hand smoke bothers people. People are entitled to be upset. Yes, you're also entitled to be a complete dick about it all - a privilege I see many of you are fully enjoying.