GUS (Gave Up Smoking) is a community support diary for Kossacks in the midst of quitting smoking. Any supportive comments, suggestions or positive distractions are appreciated. If you are quitting or even just thinking of quitting, please join us! We kindly ask that politics be left outside.
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I spent part of last weekend doing something I hadn't done in at least a decade: I went to the county fair with a group of friends (including my local GUS buddy Common Sense Mainer). We had a lot of fun there....walked around, looked at stuff, ate tasty (if not super good-for-you) food, went on rides (okay, I went NEAR rides), walked around some more, argued (briefly and politely) with Republicans and avoided the Governor (and accompanying loss of appetite), got up close and personal with some screeching piglets (not to mention cows, sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas, rabbits, geese, turkeys, and a whole lot of fancy chickens), and in general had ourselves a fine time. My sunburn wasn't too bad. I managed to avoid fried-food coma. A pretty solid outing, all things considered.
I also spent quite a bit of that day doing something else I hadn't done in about a decade: experienced a whole lot of second-hand smoke. Man, the county fair sure does bring the smokers out of the woodwork! At one point we decided to take a break and rest our feet and have an adult beverage over in the small, open-air bar adjacent to the harness racing track. It was the first time in years that I had a drink in a place that allowed smoking (in the open air deck area). It was a bit of a shock, to be honest! I hadn't realized how much I was used to smoke-free recreation, and I was reminded how tough it must be for those who are trying to quit but living in states with no such protections helping them avoid temptation.
My state has pretty strict smoking laws when it comes to public spaces. There is no smoking allowed in bars, restaurants, municipal buildings...most places where people gather, actually. Even the parks and public spaces (like recreational trails and beaches) in the Portland are are technically smoke-free, though the rules are not really enforced very diligently. You can grab a smoke outside at the handful of bars and restaurants built on wharves or docks (apparently the water things circumvents the rule) and in private clubs, but otherwise? You are out of luck, even on roof decks and at sidewalk cafes.
It wasn't until I'd gotten my second or third big whiff that I realized that big county fairs were an exception to the usual no smoking rules, and in fact, the festivities seemed to attract a higher-than-normal percentage of smokers...it was like going back in time a couple of decades. But fair enough---they weren't breaking the law and there aren't a whole lot of opportunities for them to smoke freely, as it were, so there wasn't much we could do.
Fortunately it wasn't everyone, and a lot of areas were off-limits for smokers, but the midway and grandstands were filled with the clouds of smoke you see less and less often these days. It was also a reminder that there's still a lot do do when it comes to public health efforts to help people quit. It's not as easy as a kiddie game on the midway or as much fun as---well, pretty much ANYTHING you can do at a fair, actually---but it is doable.
Who's Your Little Buddy?
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