Nice People 13: Nice Save

LydiaJ

vivatifosi wrote: »

... please don't quote will delete.

So very very sorry to hear that. Sending hugs and thoughts and prayers to you and Drtifosi and all your family.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

GDB2222 wrote: »

Will they keep the job open for you?

TBH they probably would if I asked, and shortened the trip a fair bit, but it wouldn't be fair to the next in line. Could easily enough work elsewhere for the same employer on return until something frees up closer to home if I need that particular lifeline. But it feels like a natural point for a change anyway.

I thought, in any case, that everything Aberdeen based is being put on hold because of the drop in the oil price?

It is, in the oil industry, but although I do seem to end up in many of the same parts of the world as those guys, I work in a completely different field....:)

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

vivatifosi wrote: »

Re....

When I look at my close relatives of an older generation, it's quite interesting that many of them appear to have died at relatively young ages of 'lifestyle' related diseases, despite never having the associated 'lifestyle' choices.

One relative of mine never smoked, fit as a fiddle, died of a stroke in their early 60's. Another never smoked and rarely drank, died of early onset Alzheimers in their 50's. And another was teetotal, healthy eater, non-smoker, and died from cancer in their 60's.

I don't doubt for a minute that smoking is every bit as bad for people as it's made out to be. But I also don't doubt that had those relatives been smokers, the doctors would have immediately (and wrongly) blamed smoking for their untimely demise.

lostinrates

LydiaJ wrote: »

Nikkster, I can't





I think that can happen with anything that you do many times a day for ages and then stop for years, whether the thing in question was a good, bad or neutral thing. I find myself feeling something similar when I see a woman breastfeeding in public - it looks weird and I have to remind myself that that used to be me.

I think breastfeeding is beautiful. I love seeing babies eat. I love seeing puppies and horses and kittens too. And chicks eat crumb, but not so much as things that drink milk. For some reason I find it intensely beautiful and right. I find it incredibly odd that its become so weirdly taboo. I understand that at times its a personal and private bonding moment between mother child or family, but in the course of daily life, when people are out and about its something natural, fundamentally.....normal. In a world where so much of what we eat we mess with whether it comes in packets, or we fuss and get 'fussy' with in the kitchen the idea that a baby wants and is getting something babies have always wanted and got is really quite astoundingly humbling. The intimacy in the feeding, the satisfaction on the face, the perfection of being so cared for safe in the arms of being loved, of loving someone so perfectly.


Never done it, never will. But do not find it odd at all. Sometimes,I miss the smell of a cigarette and the pause for thought. I never liked the way it looked. Or smelled after wards, just while lit.

hjd

lostinrates wrote: »

Never done it, never will. But do not find it odd at all. Sometimes,I miss the smell of a cigarette and the pause for thought. I never liked the way it looked. Or smelled after wards, just while lit.

My father used to smoke but got a cold one year and never smoked again after that. He started on cigarettes but then moved to a pipe. I love the smell of a freshly struck match - does that make me weird?
DS smoked for a while, the moved to e-cigs, has now stopped thankfully.
MIL used to smoke; she gave up but used to buy her duty free ration every year on her way back from holiday, smoke them all then give up again. Very strange.
An aunt used to smoke but since she had dementia she has forgotten about it.

michaels

Nikkster wrote: »

That's the only thing I disagree with though... I don't even meet any single men, let alone any I like or further still would like to family-up with (let alone would look twice at me). Thesis is not the problem there, I'm certain.

Lots I can't comment on but are you sure this last is true? Trying to image myself in your position I am sure there would be lots of non-t things I would not commit to on the grounds that I should be doing the T even if I then spent the freed up time doing anything other than T.

Generali

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

When I look at my close relatives of an older generation, it's quite interesting that many of them appear to have died at relatively young ages of 'lifestyle' related diseases, despite never having the associated 'lifestyle' choices.

One relative of mine never smoked, fit as a fiddle, died of a stroke in their early 60's. Another never smoked and rarely drank, died of early onset Alzheimers in their 50's. And another was teetotal, healthy eater, non-smoker, and died from cancer in their 60's.

I don't doubt for a minute that smoking is every bit as bad for people as it's made out to be. But I also don't doubt that had those relatives been smokers, the doctors would have immediately (and wrongly) blamed smoking for their untimely demise.

One of the things I found particularly annoying about having cancer is that people assume that you gave it to yourself due to some sort of moral failing. IMHO it comes from the Daily Mail trying to sort all foods into things that cause or cure cancer.

vivatifosi

Per Cancer Research, only 28% of cancers are caused by smoking, however this rises to 80% for lung cancer. I think the others it's more of an elevated risk.

When I had my run in with mel I was repeatedly questioned a out sunbathing, but it's something I've hardly ever done as I prefer city breaks and activity holidays. My idea of hell is a two week beach break.

Generali

mystic_trev wrote: »

wouldn't recommend smoking!

The problem is that smoking is crazily addictive; I tried to quit from the age of 17 until I was about 35-36. It is basically impossible to quit smoking.

It's why I make it clear to the Generalissimos that they must never, ever start smoking or I will do something horrid to them. I don't care that they should be free to make their own mistakes and all that stuff that I normally bang on about. No tobacco.

If they were smoking grass my biggest concern is that they'd get mix it with tobacco and get addicted that way.

LydiaJ

lostinrates wrote: »

I think breastfeeding is beautiful. I love seeing babies eat....

So do I. And mostly when I see it I feel happily reminiscent of my own bf days, and happy for the baby and mother in the way that you describe. I know that some women are a bit nervous of what reactions they may get, so I always make a point of smiling at them, by way of encouragement, just in case they need encouraging.

But just every once in a blue moon I shock and disappoint myself by feeling a "what???" feeling, just for a second or two, when I see somebody doing it in a place that feels incongruous or unexpected to me. I remember feeling that way at work a while ago - a teacher on maternity leave had come in just to attend a particular meeting (about changes to terms and conditions for part-timers IIRC), bringing her baby with her, and fed it during the meeting. Just for a second I felt "Really? Is that OK in here? Will the headteacher mind?" before realising that (a) the headteacher (despite being somebody I found a bit scary) wasn't batting an eyelid, and (b) any bf mother with a grain of sense who needed to bring a baby to a meeting like that would make sure to bring it hungry so that it would feed quietly the whole time rather than wriggling about, and (c) back in my bf days I would have done it myself without a second's thought. I think that incident was what was in my mind when I read the posts about ex-smoker NP feeling "what? why?" about people smoking.

hjd wrote: »

My father used to smoke but got a cold one year and never smoked again after that. He started on cigarettes but then moved to a pipe. I love the smell of a freshly struck match - does that make me weird?
DS smoked for a while, the moved to e-cigs, has now stopped thankfully.
MIL used to smoke; she gave up but used to buy her duty free ration every year on her way back from holiday, smoke them all then give up again. Very strange.
An aunt used to smoke but since she had dementia she has forgotten about it.

My dad started in the navy during the war. I think cigs were part of the ration given to service personnel. He switched to a pipe and cigars when the first studies were published about the link with lung cancer, and then gave up by accident a bit later. He was having a lot of trouble with a wisdom tooth and wondered if maybe the smoke was impeding the healing and so decided not to smoke again until it was all healed up. It took about a year to be all better - I think he got an abscess and so on - by which time he'd lost the taste for it - lit up what he expected to be a lovely cigar and found it disgusting, so never smoked again.