The Evil Weed

One of Wosog's few faults is the fact that, despite detailed knowledge of the associated risks, she is a cigarette smoker. Over the years I have tried on numerous occasions to persuade her to stop with very limited success. In fact, the more I go on about it the more determined she seems to be to keep puffing until it kills her: as it may well do.

A while ago I decided to use the BBC Health website which has a system whereby you can enter various details, and it works out your life expectancy. "Great!" I thought, "I'll enter both our statistics and show Wosog how much sooner than I she will die because of her smoking!" Of course, when we entered our respective information the site predicted that she'd still live 10-15 years longer than me! Back to the drawing board....

The nice sign above shows Italian nicotine addicts where their next fix can be purchased. It was interesting to experience in Rome for the first time a country that already has a ban in place on smoking in confined public places. However, as Wosog pointed out, it's not so onerous in a country where the climate often provides the option of eating, drinking and smoking outside.