European attitudes to smoking
European attitudes to smoking.
Sometime earlier this year I took a trip to Europe, to England and France actually. It was a wonderful trip, I really loved it. But one thing that struck me was how different cultures are from your own. They are not only different, they are also similar, but I suppose it is the differences that really stand out. One of the things that struck me very much was the difference in attitudes towards smoking.There is - as many people know - there's a growing anti-smoking sentiment in this country. And you see smokers huddled outside of their office buildings, in front of doors with their cigarettes in their hands and shuddering... wrapping their coats closer about them shuddering and getting a drag off a cigarette. And almost embarrassed, almost like they are fixers of illegal drugs. And I only feel sorry for them in a way, but I don't like smoking personally. So I don't really feel too sorry for them.
However when I went to England and France, I got a new prospective on this issue. To be blunt, people in Europe smoke like chimneys, in my point of view, from what I could see. There are anti-smoking signs all over the place, but no one seems to pay much attention to them. People seem to smoke anywhere and everywhere.In fact, when I was in England there was controversy, that I heard several times over the radio, about a member of the world cup team, the world cup soccer team, who smoked. And people were actually saying "well he shouldn't be on the team because he's a bad example for our children." Well I think if they want to look at bad examples for their children with smoking, they should just go out on the street, or go into the subways or look in the mirror even, because so many of them are smoking in very inappropriate places.
I went to a Chinese restaurant in London, the food was very bad but that's beside the point, - and they had a buffet. They had a buffet in which people could take whatever they wanted for a certain price. And
Sometime earlier this year I took a trip to Europe, to England and France actually. It was a wonderful trip, I really loved it. But one thing that struck me was how different cultures are from your own. They are not only different, they are also similar, but I suppose it is the differences that really stand out. One of the things that struck me very much was the difference in attitudes towards smoking.There is - as many people know - there's a growing anti-smoking sentiment in this country. And you see smokers huddled outside of their office buildings, in front of doors with their cigarettes in their hands and shuddering... wrapping their coats closer about them shuddering and getting a drag off a cigarette. And almost embarrassed, almost like they are fixers of illegal drugs. And I only feel sorry for them in a way, but I don't like smoking personally. So I don't really feel too sorry for them.
However when I went to England and France, I got a new prospective on this issue. To be blunt, people in Europe smoke like chimneys, in my point of view, from what I could see. There are anti-smoking signs all over the place, but no one seems to pay much attention to them. People seem to smoke anywhere and everywhere.In fact, when I was in England there was controversy, that I heard several times over the radio, about a member of the world cup team, the world cup soccer team, who smoked. And people were actually saying "well he shouldn't be on the team because he's a bad example for our children." Well I think if they want to look at bad examples for their children with smoking, they should just go out on the street, or go into the subways or look in the mirror even, because so many of them are smoking in very inappropriate places.
I went to a Chinese restaurant in London, the food was very bad but that's beside the point, - and they had a buffet. They had a buffet in which people could take whatever they wanted for a certain price. And