Pre-Party and Smoking Kills
Madeleine (and Doggie) checks out the pre-Reception space at the marvelous Wilburton, overlooking the Green Mountains of Vermont and comprised of the Appalachians and the Berkshires. Soon Madeleine to be surrounded by 150 wedding guests, many of whom I know from as long ago as college thanks to Bronxville holiday dinner-parties.
The resort's 23 acres covered with objets d'art - some work like the rusty New Mexico sculptures while others miss, like the house-size gold Wicker Man which oversees the bonfire area (appropriately enough for those who saw the classic '73 horror movie).
The Wilberton owner, I learn, an Irish collector who supports mostly local artists and part of "The Sculptural Trail" which I think a hippy hang-over from a by-gone era. A lot of grass once smoked here, I am sure. Dorset, the proprietess informs me, has changed considerably from blue-collar and working farmland to college preppy. I confirm this by jogging past a lacrosse tournement, marked nature trail and ski-head waiting patiently for winter.
On the same run, I note Norther Harwoods, Beech, Yellow Birch and of course the Sugar Maple, which is Vermont's famous state tree. All vibrantly green yet the time to see them, famously, is autumn when they explode colour.
Oxford University reports an increase in the cost of smoking to the NHS - about £5.2B per year or double previous estimates. Oxford calculates that in 2005 around 110,00 people died as a direct result of cigarettes , accounting for almost one in five of all UK deaths. It is amazing to me that anybody smokes in this day and age - we know the facts despite years of deception - and we know it is deadly.
Oxford University reports an increase in the cost of smoking to the NHS - about £5.2B per year or double previous estimates. Oxford calculates that in 2005 around 110,00 people died as a direct result of cigarettes , accounting for almost one in five of all UK deaths. It is amazing to me that anybody smokes in this day and age - we know the facts despite years of deception - and we know it is deadly.
The UK has some of the harshest anti-smoking labelling anywhere: on each box "Smoking Kills" pretty much says it all. No doubt this has worked: >50% of British men smoked in 1980 and today it is 22%; for women it is around 20% (Cancer Research UK). Yet a nasty little fact is that by age 15, 20% of children are regulars despite it being illegal to sell tobacco to under 18s. Girls smoke more than boys: 24% compared to 16% in 2006.
I have mixed feelings when I see the poor slobs huddled outside some office with fag to hand, often cold and usually looking pretty miserable. I hate their second-hand smoke and am unafraid to ask them snub it out when my kids nearby. Yet smoking no easy thing to quit. I've never been addicted to cigarettes yet Wayne and I used to puff away while drinking Cuba Libres and dreaming of eye glasses (this with Help The World See, pre-MBA).
No, it is not easy so I also feel sympathy for those unable to win their battle against nicotine. But only to a degree.
