Growing up with Cigarettes (‘Life’s a Journey’ Nostalgia Link-Up, Week 61)

Welcome to year two of our weekly series of ‘link-up’ Posts which reflect on life’s journey, old memories and family stories (see below for more info).

Sometimes the world just passes us by and we don’t even notice it changing. But there are certain things that illustrate that the years have flown by faster than Marty McFly in a DeLorean. Smoking is one of them.

I grew up in a family of smokers, as did most kids of the 60s and earlier. THIS is one of the abiding memories of my childhood. I used to love pushing it down and watching it rebound on its little spring as it snapped at the bits of rubbish I fed it with.

My elders smoked in the car, in the house, in the office, in the pub. Dad even had me stuffing his pipe with gloriously sweet smelling tobacco as a wee girl. The average UK home of the 70s was furnished with slightly yellow-tinged wallpaper and a selection of ash-catching objets d’art such as this. My, how times have changed!

Airlines believed that restricting smoking to the last few rows of the plane was enough to preserve the health and comfort of all passengers, and there wasn’t a bus in the land without a chewing gum and nub end crammed ashtray in the arm of the seat.

I had no reason to think that this was any different to any other household, nor that I might be suffering as a result of it. But somehow I still knew it was unhealthy, so thankfully I never took up the habit. Don’t get me wrong, I flirted with the odd Marlboro menthol, but I never got the knack of inhaling, and couldn’t bring myself to smoke in front of my parents, so took my lack of commitment as a sign that it wasn’t meant to be, and never bothered again. This is the closest I came.

My youthful lungs appear to have survived the years of parental abuse. Sadly, some of the elders did not fair so well. Perhaps we should be grateful that our dentists aren’t still recommending these…

Did you or your family smoke when you were growing up? Tell me about your memories…… Join the Linky or leave a comment. Nostalgia come in all shapes and sizes, so make sure you capture yours.

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