This is a non-smoking place

France, evening

I don't smoke. I tried once when I was 18 because I wanted to impress a guy and I thought I would die. I inhaled the smoke deeply and felt a burn inside my body. I can't remember for how long I coughed.

I don't need to say that I didn't impress the guy at all.

That was my first and only experience with the cigarettes. I actually turned up hating the smell of the cigarette smoke. I hate it so much that I am trying to convince anyone I know who smokes to stop. My sister and my best friend for example.

In any case. Being in France and being a non-smoker doesn't look cool. Everyone here smokes, and a lot. Women even more than men. Or maybe I just notice them more. There is no safe place where to escape the smoke. Even inside restaurants and pubs, there is always a little opening from where people hang on to the outside to smoke. So, passive smoke became an hobby for me here.

But they all look healthy. Very healthy. At least from the outside. I never checked their lungs....

The person who said that smoke makes your skin looking pale and grey probably has never visited France in his/her life. Have you seen the French? smoking one cigarette after the other and still looking good (mmmm, not men...I can't find French men looking good, with or without cigarettes).

Smoke is bad for the circulation.....I haven't seen any French with heavy legs full of visible veins.

I still can't stand the smoke of a cigarette....but maybe the French have the good genes to not only smoke and smoke a lot, but to even get some benefit out of smoking.....

This needs to be investigated more.....
To be continued....