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I think we are in need of a law making throwing a cigarette onto the sidewalk, or into the street, illegal. Why are cigarettes exempt from the littering laws? If people want to smoke outside, they should carry around little enclosed ashtrays, or give up the habit altogether. I have been burned in the summer wearing sandals when a still hot cigarette hit my foot. And I hate the look of all the butts all over the sidewalks and street.
<p>Even though I have been meaning to quit smoking and failing miserably, over and over again, I must admit that nothing spoils a beautiful view like an ugly butt.</p>
It is the only vice I did not succumb to: the smell on one’s breath, the smell on your hands, clothes.
I remember doing an errand for my Mother on the way to RJ’s for dinner which consisted of stopping by a friend of her’s. This horrid creature never opened her windows and smoked several packs a day…when I left my first instinct was to go home and bathe, change clothes but instead asked Kathleen for a towel and took off my shirt and wet my hair….
Now I am up in arms when I smell cigarette smoke as I leave my office building……
The summer I was 17 I was in Nicaragua and smoked their version of Camels, which were the cigarettes my cousins and friends smoked. I forgot I had one in my hand as I entered the door of my Grandfather’s home and he saw me flick it into the street. My denial did not wash with him and he simply asked me to never smoke again. The way he asked was enough…….
I suppose the cigarette remnants will provide trace elements for the tree, and the tobacco could ward off insects, who are sensibly averse to smoking. more of concern should be the standing water in the tree pit; drowning is more of a concern that butts for the hapless city tree. If the City is pushing for a million new trees to be planted, they should at least start by rerto-fitting the pits they are planted in to provide for better drainage, more nutrients and protection from road salts and de-icers. Perhaps if they were nicely underplanted, smokers would then be more inclined NOT to use the pits as an ashtray.
As you have so often pointed out leisure leads to spirituality, art and higher criticism. I suspect that the trashiness of many environs is the result of the wildlife therein not having much leisure. Every beautiful facade of a nice restaurant is generally the pretty face for the public but somewhere there is always a face, generally in the back, with a level of nastiness that would turn the diner’s stomachs, especially in dense urban areas like yours. The back side of the nice establishment is where there is not much leisure, where deliveries are made, trash and garbage are taken out and a good deal of work gets done. Perhaps it’s not leisure that’s the key here, perhaps it’s more a passion for order. Out parcel restaurants take great care in the suburban areas to present a pretty face on all sides. I am constantly amazed how I am able to judge the quality of what my experience might be at shipper or receiver’s warehouse by simply noting the quality of the housekeeping around the dock and the driver’s window. Cleanliness might not be next to Godliness simply because it is not possible in some cases, diesel mechanic shops for example, but neatness is always a mark of intelligent, though not always educated, people with a passion for life. Much of life is very dirty, gritty and unpleasant to the eye but it certainly doesn’t have to be trashy. Field strip your butts, let the remaining tobacco return to the earth, put the filter tip butt remains in your pocket and dispose of them nicely in the trash at your next opportunity. Oh, I’m sorry your too busy telling me,”Life is execrable and then you expire.” to worry with something trivial like that. Trashers! I really don’t like them. I don’t like what they do and I don’t like them.
I think we are in need of a law making throwing a cigarette onto the sidewalk, or into the street, illegal. Why are cigarettes exempt from the littering laws? If people want to smoke outside, they should carry around little enclosed ashtrays, or give up the habit altogether. I have been burned in the summer wearing sandals when a still hot cigarette hit my foot. And I hate the look of all the butts all over the sidewalks and street.
<p>Even though I have been meaning to quit smoking and failing miserably, over and over again, I must admit that nothing spoils a beautiful view like an ugly butt.</p>
It is the only vice I did not succumb to: the smell on one’s breath, the smell on your hands, clothes.
I remember doing an errand for my Mother on the way to RJ’s for dinner which consisted of stopping by a friend of her’s. This horrid creature never opened her windows and smoked several packs a day…when I left my first instinct was to go home and bathe, change clothes but instead asked Kathleen for a towel and took off my shirt and wet my hair….
Now I am up in arms when I smell cigarette smoke as I leave my office building……
The summer I was 17 I was in Nicaragua and smoked their version of Camels, which were the cigarettes my cousins and friends smoked. I forgot I had one in my hand as I entered the door of my Grandfather’s home and he saw me flick it into the street. My denial did not wash with him and he simply asked me to never smoke again. The way he asked was enough…….
I suppose the cigarette remnants will provide trace elements for the tree, and the tobacco could ward off insects, who are sensibly averse to smoking. more of concern should be the standing water in the tree pit; drowning is more of a concern that butts for the hapless city tree. If the City is pushing for a million new trees to be planted, they should at least start by rerto-fitting the pits they are planted in to provide for better drainage, more nutrients and protection from road salts and de-icers. Perhaps if they were nicely underplanted, smokers would then be more inclined NOT to use the pits as an ashtray.
As you have so often pointed out leisure leads to spirituality, art and higher criticism. I suspect that the trashiness of many environs is the result of the wildlife therein not having much leisure. Every beautiful facade of a nice restaurant is generally the pretty face for the public but somewhere there is always a face, generally in the back, with a level of nastiness that would turn the diner’s stomachs, especially in dense urban areas like yours. The back side of the nice establishment is where there is not much leisure, where deliveries are made, trash and garbage are taken out and a good deal of work gets done. Perhaps it’s not leisure that’s the key here, perhaps it’s more a passion for order. Out parcel restaurants take great care in the suburban areas to present a pretty face on all sides. I am constantly amazed how I am able to judge the quality of what my experience might be at shipper or receiver’s warehouse by simply noting the quality of the housekeeping around the dock and the driver’s window. Cleanliness might not be next to Godliness simply because it is not possible in some cases, diesel mechanic shops for example, but neatness is always a mark of intelligent, though not always educated, people with a passion for life. Much of life is very dirty, gritty and unpleasant to the eye but it certainly doesn’t have to be trashy. Field strip your butts, let the remaining tobacco return to the earth, put the filter tip butt remains in your pocket and dispose of them nicely in the trash at your next opportunity. Oh, I’m sorry your too busy telling me,”Life is execrable and then you expire.” to worry with something trivial like that. Trashers! I really don’t like them. I don’t like what they do and I don’t like them.