Home Alone
Apparently loneliness in old age is like smoking fifteen cigarettes a day.
I have been trying to work out what they mean by this. Are they saying that loneliness in old people will kill them before they get old? In which case they wouldn't get to be old in the first place as we all know that smokers die at a very young age? I don't think they thought that little paradox out to its natural conclusion.
Or are they saying that loneliness gives you all sorts of strange, nasty and unrelated diseases?
Or do they mean that if you are lonely you cannot enter the working place or the pub?
In the Good Old Days, the natural recourse for the single elderly was to nip down to the pub of an evening [or even an afternoon] and quietly sit with a pint and a smoke, passing an odd comment to the barman and maybe chatting to a few other locals. Not only did it relieve the loneliness but it was also a handy way of keeping track of the elderly. If Old Mick didn't turn up for his glass of stout of an evening, people would wonder where he was and would call on him to make sure he was OK.
But of course the Nannies have done away with that, so the elderly now have to sit in isolation at home which is apparently better for their health? If they fall ill no one will be any the wiser and if they die a solitary death well, at least no one was irreparably damaged by an whiff of cigarette smoke.
Of course they could have meant that the sensation of loneliness is similar to the sensation of smoking fifteen fags a day, which wouldn't be too bad altogether?
Though personally I think I'll stick with the pipe.
In the Good Old Days, the natural recourse for the single elderly was to nip down to the pub of an evening …
Let's not forget the bingo halls, working men's clubs, British Legion clubs etc etc which were important places for the elderly to go and socialise, most of which have closed down since the imposition of the smoking ban.
Still, as you say GD, the hundreds of thousands of elderly people now consigned to a solitary and friendless existence is a small price to pay if a few obsessive zealots now no longer have to endure a whiff of smoke in the pubs they don't go to.
"At Last! A smoke free atmosphere!"
OK, there was supposed to be an image there, but although it appeared in the comment frame, it didn't transfer to the comments. I'll try once more, but you may have to do some editing, GD! The image posting process here isn't exactly intuitive…
Nope. Didn't post again. Well, here's the URL anyway:
Well I'll be buggered. I only posted the URL, and now when I come back to look, the image appears. Was that your doing, GD? Or is that how one posts images; totally ignoring the 'post images' icon in the comment box toolbar?
Just a touch of genius on my part. I never tried that "insert image" thing – must give it a go sometime.
If I ever end up all by my lonesome again some time in the future and I decided to spend my evenings down at the local pub (bar) in town in order to combat my loneliness and I didn't show up one evening…
…they'd most likely think I was just some old drunk who decided to stay home for a change.