Upheaval in Scotland

Just in case you were wondering, my lovely, easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy day was not ruined. I even got to leave my surrogate school 15 minutes early.

On the way to the school, I walked past two lines of strikers. The American tourist in me took a picture. "Look ma, we ain't got this at home, people on strike! Take a picture of me wif 'um!" Yes, it was a bit of a novelty, as unions = communism in the US. I really liked the people standing in the second picture, all determined while it was spitting down, so I asked to take their picture.



"What newspaper are you with?" the guy in the hi-vis jacket asked after I snapped. Dude, doesn't camera-phone give away that I'm no journalist? But I didn't want them to think that the picture was in vain or I was taking the piss out of them, so I admitted it was for my blog, but it would get out on the internet and share their message. You can find more info about why they are striking (over changes in their pensions) here.

This section is rated PG-13 by mother. It includes strong language right from the beginning. Sorry, but talking about the smoking ban winds me up, as does talking about the English media.

After two days of ignoring the smoking ban, the media (all based in England -- twats) is starting to run stories. Mostly about how much people hate it, which is bollocks. Everyone I know really loves the idea, even the smokers. Some are being inspired to quit. Some like not being surrounded by smoke. One guy, in the paper, even said that going outside to smoke enabled him to meet a lot of women. So it's wins for everyone!

But I won't deny there have been people whinging on about it. One person said that it made them feel like an outsider, cos when they went out for a fag, he missed the gossip. Oh, shit! Forget the ban, RIGHT NOW, cos Dude is missing the goss. And be a man, dammit -- get the gossip from your woman. Unless you're some kind of government informant or MI5 secret agent, then I say a very strong, 'Get over your damn self!' Wah-wah, you selfish wanker.

Another moaner, the artist David Hockney said,

'This is a very, very mean-spirited act by people who think I don't know what they're doing. Pubs aren't health clubs. I've smoked for 50 years and now I'm told I can't be social anywhere at all.' (The Guardian, 27/04)

This is comment is funny on so many different levels that I don't know where to begin. Okay, how about this: your home doesn't have a smoking ban, so go be social there. Or, like many smokers, does Mr Hockney not smoke in the home cos he doesn't like the smell of it? And how mean-spirited is it to protect the health of people who do not make the choice to smoke. According to the same Guardian article that included Mr Hockney's ridiculous comments, "up to 2,000 people die of passive smoking" each year, along with the 13,000 Scottish smokers. Which brings me to my last point. Yeh, he's right about pubs not being health clubs. But I didn't realise that they were supposed to be lethal gas chambers either.