Confessions Of A Quitter…

It was mid January, cold and cloudly, 2 weeks in and I hadn’t smoked for two whole weeks.   It was early afternoon, I was driving  in slow moving traffic back from work and  There  She  Was!

Walking confidently down the street.   A pretty young lady, wearing a matching black blazer and short skirt in a faint red check pattern, supported by black leggings and black knee length high boots.  Shoulder length, straight brunette hair.   She was drop dead gorgeous!!!

She inhaled that cigarrette in slow motion, the white smoke left her pretty mouth and as cool as you like, she flicked the butt on to the ground and stubbed it out as she walked over it.  She was out of sight as the traffic moved forward and I headed home.

As soon as I got back to the apartment, I had sudden urge, something triggered and I couldn’t stop thinking about what I just saw.

I immediately dashed out, not to find the pretty young lady, but to the nearest shop and buy a pack of 10 Silk Cuts.

My attempt to quit had lasted just two weeks.

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It was mid February, it was a warm day in the Algarve , Portugal.  It was 6 weeks since a cigarette hadn’t touched my lips.  There we were waiting in the large reception area, with its shiny marble floors and mahogany matching furniture.   We noticed an older Portugese couple talking loudly which drew our attention to them.  There they were chatting, with the warm sun, shining through the lobby,  having a cappuccino and a cigarette.

As we waited for our room to be made ready,  we too ordered a cappuccino and I went a bought a packet of Malboro Lights from vending machine.

This attempt to stop smoking lasted just six weeks.

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I started  as a social smoker,  smoking the odd cigarette with the odd glass of beer.   I just turned 30 and a week or so later I ruptured my achillies tendon playing football.  I was in plaster for three months, bored at home watching daytime tv.   To pass the time away the girlfriend used to buy me a box of cigarettes whilst she was at work.  I promised myself I would come off the smokes as soon as my leg was out of plaster.

The months passed by,  my leg got better and the plaster cast was removed. On my return to work, the first thing I did on my break was to buy a box of cigerettes.  The lungs were craving for nicotine and I was hooked.

Trying to kick the nicotine habit was proving more difficult than I first realised!!

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