To have a fag in my garden if I want to?

[WomanInChains]

I only smoke in my garden, never in the street or anywhere else. A footpath runs along the side of it adjoining a woodland area. Footpath is a short cut to supermarket, doctors, hairdressers. I smoke in the alleyway at the side of my garden which runs adjacent with the footpath.

I am getting sick of random people making loud comments when they pass by my fence like 'that stink is disgusting, ohh someone's smoking eurgghh' and etc.

WIBU to shout over to the next person to fuck off away from my fence if it bothers them rather than pausing and making comments?

Which means they all die off in their late 50s/early 60s at the end of their economically productive lives and after their DC are independent. They are thus net contributors to the state finances.

So, encourage people to smoke? WTF?

But you keep kidding yourself.

Haahaaha! You assumed I'm a smoker . I'm not. Just really don't get the fuss about people smoking in open air, but hey, if it gives some people a moral stick to beat others about with and they feel more virtuous for it, that, like smoking, is legal, too.

It's irrelevant. You were basically saying that people die anyway, so why not smoke.
Ok, you're not kidding yourself, but then it's worse, because you're telling smokers that it makes no difference for them whether they smoke or not.
Personally, and on this thread, I don't care if smokers do want to kill themselves earlier than most non-smokers, just as long as I don't have to breathe the smoke, but I'm not going to tell smokers that it makes no difference. Why would anyone do that?

Why is this thread arguing about the merits (of otherwise) of smoking? And how on earth did dementia come into the equation?

The OP didn't ask if she was BU to smoke, just whether she was BU to smoke in her own garden, which (most reasonable people would agree) she is not?

The OP's actual problem is people making comments as they pass by.

But, the OP has been very careful to avoid recognising that freedom works both ways.

Well it's also clear that people are free to say what they want as long as it's within the boundaries of the law and not inciting hate etc.

Last time I checked it was still legal make a comment on an unpleasant smell.

So the passers by also are not BU.

You're right, it does work both ways.

So neither you nor the passers by are BU OP, hope that clears things up.

It's irrelevant. You were basically saying that people die anyway, so why not smoke.
Ok, you're not kidding yourself, but then it's worse, because you're telling smokers that it makes no difference for them whether they smoke or not.

You make a career out of projecting and jumping to conclusions. It's actually quite amusing. I'm not telling anyone to do anything. Some smokers will die from their smoking, probably more will than not. But others will not. They are all adults and can chose to engage in that behaviour (or others) as they see fit, it is legal. At the end of the day, we will all die. I'm sure all smokers are aware they increase their risk of dying at an earlier age due to smoking related disease, they don't need internet sprites to learn the truth of that or threads of outrage to know that. Exactly, Anything.

I had this last year. I am a smoker ( on and off for the last 10 years) I don’t smoke in my house or my car as have children. The next door neighbours who are constantly working on their garden started to make comments through my fence such as ‘ disgusting ‘ ‘ it stinks ‘ and ‘ I knew she would do that! ‘ in reference to me coming out for a cig.

They are old so I was patient. The previous tenants to me sold drugs burned furniture in the garden, had friends living on the garden, parties, police, rowdy kids the lot. It seemed to me the neighbours had forgotten how good they have it now ( we make no noise never had a party here don’t let the kids scream up the garden ) so I wrote a letter explaining I understood it was not to their liking but it’s my garden and it’s my choice and if they didn’t like it then I suggest they moved to somewhere in the middle of nowhere...

Went quiet for a couple weeks then the old lady started again. So now I wear headphones when I have a fag. Mainly because they are 9/10 always out there when I go and if she does say anything I can’t hear her and she can get the satisfaction of saying her comment 😄😄😄😄

Haahaa, Mandy.

Freedom of choice means you have the choice to have your cigarette comment-free indoors.

The previous tenants to me sold drugs burned furniture in the garden, had friends living on the garden, parties, police, rowdy kids the lot. It seemed to me the neighbours had forgotten how good they have it now ( we make no noise never had a party here don’t let the kids scream up the garden ) so I wrote a letter explaining I understood it was not to their liking but it’s my garden and it’s my choice and if they didn’t like it then I suggest they moved to somewhere in the middle of nowhere...

You can't say that the previous tenants were worse so they should just shut up! (Sorry, this is a sore spot for me because I've known various people over the years who use this kind of logic to defend themselves - it always drives me crazy!)

Let's clear up a few things.

Most smokers do not die in their 50s or 60s.

Most smokers die not that much earlier than people who don't smoke BUT and it's a HUGE 'but'- they have appalling quality of life for many years.

It's not length of life that counts but quality.

Smokers get any of the cancers that non-smokers do, but their risks are higher. So that's bowel, throat and mouth, breast, lung and for women, cervical cancer.

Add to that a whole range of bronchial disease, and heart /circulatory diseases.

This attitude 'oh but we all die anyway and won't get dementia' is a cop out! you are FAR more likely to get dementia in your 50s or 60s as a smoker than a non smoker is. Smoking hardens the arteries to the brain and destroys blood flow to the brain - this is what vascular dementia is- and the die off.

So the idea you can smoke for decades then pop off with an easy death is laughable.

@womaninchains. You have a right to smoke. Everyone else has the right to clean air. This is the bit you aren't accepting. The fact people are commenting, is a sign they are not happy about your smoke.

How odd you come here to defend yourself rather than asking for help to give it up.

Why is that not an option for you?

I’m arguing that I am an adult and I have a choice

Well yeah, that's fine. You don't even need any argument beyond that really. But if you insist on doing so, "I have less chance of getting old enough to get dementia" is a really bad one to make.

They're entitled to their opinion and, as long as it's not illegal, are entirely entitled to give it. Smoking is something that can be, in this case, inflicted on other people - they are having to walk through your smell. Just as if music was poundingly loud, they'd be having to walk by being forced to hear it. Or if dog shit was left to pile up and they had to walk through the smell of that. Etc.

*How odd you come here to defend yourself rather than asking for help to give it up.

Why is that not an option for you?*

She didn't ask for help to give up, but I do agree there's no point in starting a thread to defend oneself, Woman, just crack on if you want to. Buy a set of noise-cancelling headphones and carry on.

I never said they should shut up. I just said I think in the big scale of things my cigarette smoke is maybe not as bad as all night music, the police raiding the house on a weekly basis and multiple people living in the back garden in tents :-)

@Storm4star

You say you know the risks but I'm afraid you don't.

Smoking is one of the main causes of vascular dementia- and vascular D is the main type of dementia. If you read about lifestyle advice to avoid dementia , Number 1 is STOP SMOKING.

Also, the argument that someone you know has smoked for 40 years and is 'healthy' is really stupid.
How old is she? Mid 50s? 60s? Just because you can't see the damage doesn't mean she is healthy. The likelihood is that one day she will have a stroke or a heart attack. No warning perhaps.

Yes we all die one day. But you are really kidding yourself if you think that as a smoker you will have good quality of life in your older age.

You can’t compare it with things that are not comparable

Loud music doesn’t pose as much of a health risk, it’s annoying in its own right. A sound isn’t the same thing as a smell or a smoke. They may both be annoying, I appreciate that but they aren’t the same thing

You can’t use the defence of you could be a worse neighbour, because your neighbours just don’t like it when you smoke. Telling people they should appreciate your fag smell is hilarious

It would have been hilarious if she said that but she didn't.

@queen

She's nearly 80. I'm nearly 50 my self.

Threads like this feed into my view that smokers have no idea how horrible their smoke output is to non-smokers.

You're within your rights to smoke in your garden, obviously, but if smoke is so fantastic why don't you want it in your house where you can continue to breathe/smell it after you're done smoking?

Loud music doesn’t pose as much of a health risk, it’s annoying in its own right.

I've been run out of several homes by loud music, tbh. Trance music with loud bass or any loud music and believe me, the council doesn't want to know most of the time. Absolutely had a huge impact on our health and lives. Far from just annoying, it was absolutely awful. People don't realise how much such anti-social behaviour like loud music can impact on others' lives.

InertPotato
That is a fair point actually . As an ex smoker but Light smoker, I can tell you that the stale smell was always grim for me too.

Yes my point being they are all bad but in different ways. Loud music is sometimes dreadful. But it wouldn’t give you as asthma attack, if that makes sense?

Essentially the PP was saying her neighbours should appreciate she could be a far worse neighbour. Which read to me that they should appreciate the fact that all she does is smoke and not play loud music. Which is what I laughed at.

Storm4star

I can't decide if you are really serious about these examples or just being an awkward bugger :)

Everyone knows someone who smoked 60 a day and lived to a 100 with never a day's illness. You get my point?

But stats show that these are the very rare exceptions.

On balance, smoking kills and causes severe illnesses.

You may feel fine but I bet you can't run 100 yards without getting out of breath. Your lungs will be knackered, relative to a non smoker. And the arteries to your heart will be already pretty narrowed and furred up.

Come the winter I expect you will get colds that go to your chest and in time you might get bronchitis or pneumonia.

It's up to you , love. Your life, Live it as you want.