While sharing a cigarette, we fixed all our problems together. Whatever came our way, we would fight it until the end. We were invincible as a couple and inseparable too; a match made in heaven. Virginia and I laughed our way through life's troubles. We never argued until we tried to give up smoking at the same time. I'd had a health scare, and she suggested packing it in. Going cold turkey together is awful, and we almost ended our relationship in divorce. After a week, I'd had enough of a respite and started smoking again. I was soon on top form and felt fit again. The breather restored my health, and we returned to our old ways soon after.
But what about the expense, I hear you say? It's funny how you can always find money for cigarettes when you're a smoker. It doesn't matter how tough things are, you can buy another pack. My Uncle Jim was a big smoker in the nineteen-seventies. He enjoyed anywhere between thirty to forty cigarettes every day. It was an era when smoking was encouraged and tobacco companies offered many incentives. They gave tokens away with every packet. The idea was to collect them and choose gifts in exchange. Uncle Jim collected seven thousand cigarette tokens of various denominations, hoping to claim a new car. He counted them out, gathered them up in a dozen boxes, and sent them off. It's funny, but he heard nothing back from the cigarette company. When he called them, they said the tokens must have got lost in the post. Uncle Jim couldn't believe it. According to my aunt, he hurled the telephone through their enormous picture window. The loss didn't deter Uncle Jim, however, and he continued to smoke an alternative brand of tobacco.
I overheard my family discussing the issue, and they asked the inevitable question regarding his expenditure. What would Uncle Jim do with the money if he had it all again? Uncle Jim just shrugged and said, if he had all the money he'd spent on cigarettes, he'd spend it all on cigarettes.
It made little sense to me as a youngster and the waste horrified me. Now, I'm not so sure. He enjoyed a cigarette and I can understand that up to a point. He didn't die of cigarettes and he had a happy life. As a social shorthand, it's great for making friends. Can I pinch a ciggy? Would you like one of mine? Have you got a light? Inevitably, such questions lead to longer conversations at work or at a party. I've made many friends and acquaintances in that way.