PEOPLE WHO READ

A friend on the East Coast has built himself a smoking den in the attic. Which, last year, caved in during the snowpocalypse, and drove him into the brutal anti-smoking world down below, where his good wife lives.
I shan't say any more about his domestic situation than that.

Many smokers live with tobacco-hating women, this blogger included. Fortunately my apartment mate has a weak sense of smell, and is fairly tolerant of my peculiarities. Not so most of the cigar-huffing cretins of Marin County, poor dears, who almost to a man tell sad tales of being banished to the back porch, or sitting at the far end of the garden, or indulging in solitary anguish entirely at the end of the block under the streetlight with the crack dealers, juvenile delinquents, and raccoons.
Who, presumably, also have intolerant co-occupants.

My apartment mate has a boyfriend who can't stand the smell of smoke, but because he's in a wheelchair he cannot ever visit her. This, and our different schedules, give me many fine hours that I can fume away with the windows open, or swan about the apartment dressed or undressed like a slob. With the windows open.


There is no one present to raise any objections.


I am rather lucky, all things considered.


If I ever start dating again, I'll probably get screwed.


Not that I'm likely to start dating anytime soon. Given that most women hate smokers, as well as men who do not act according to expectation.

In this world there are two types of people with whom conversation is well-nigh impossible: sportsfans and handbag-o-philes. There have been times at the cigar bar that I wondered what the heck I was doing there, as everyone else was screaming team-related obscenities at the television set or clutching expensive purses.

I felt rather the odd man out.

No, I'm not looking for someone with whom to discuss art or politics.
Just conversational partners who are reasonably abreast of current events, willing to formulate opinions with a certain nuance, and able to completely ignore my smoking. Or enjoy a puff or two themselves.

What that basically means is that it's a complete shot in the dark.

Most of my associates are men who read.

Far fewer are women.

TOBACCO INDEX


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