Questions Game

Aidan lives in Somerset, close to me.

Is A2K working properly just now?

Sort of, has been good and bad all day, just battled on regardless.

Are you having any big plans for today?

No, nothing big. It's raining stair rods so not very alluring.

Have you?

My day is finished, quiet evening at home chatting to a friend or two. As I'm typing this a friend in the old country calls me up.

Are you happy with your new car?

Yes, it's great, though I've not been long journeys yet. Planning one for Sunday or Monday if the weather is kind to me.

Do you enjoy long car journeys on your own?
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Never on my own on long journeys nowadays, wife always with me, and often drives whilst I sleep.

What is the average distance you drive when you are on your travels anywhere?

In continental Europe where I was travelling on my own, I would do 300 km a day as a rule, visiting places en route, but have had to do longer ones, e g Paris to Barcelona. I listen to the radio but it would be nice to have a companion; if I travel with a son, it's more fun. In Britain I usually have 2 hour drives to the people I visit, using them as staging posts for the farther-flung friends.


How about railway journeys? Do you enjoy those, or don't go on them much?

I travel on the "Indian Pacific", a super train that travels between Perth and Sydney. This is a once a year Government funded free trip, and I usually travel between Adelaide and the mining town of Broken Hill in NSW, hire a car and spending a few days in the bush. Although we have a train system in Adelaide I never use that.

Have you travelled per train under the Channel to Europe?

Yes, although nowadays I take the ferry because it's a lot cheaper, if you have a car. My sons regularly go to Paris by train, nearer than coming home to Devon unfortunately. I adore train journeys and have done lovely long ones in Southeast Asia, China and India. When I visit Oz I shall try to travel that way, although last time I went Virgin Blue was much cheaper.


How about ship? Do you travel that way?

No. Seat of the pants is how I travel.

Do you never get bored looking at passing scenery through the window?

Not as bored as I would if the scenery were stationary.

Do you ever go to a different pub or do you always go to your local?

Same one all the time.

Don't you know that any scenery is in constant motion and that the only way to never really see it is to be in motion yourself.

No.

Has your pub banned smoking?

Not yet.

Did you know that if the troops in 1914-1918 and 1939-45 had been told that the freedom they were fighting and dying for incorporated not being able to smoke in a pub they would have downed tools on the basis that flying lead and exploding shells had a danger factor considerably higher than that faced by parnoid trouble making lower-middle class busybodies using emotive propaganda to pretend that they are saving lives whilst solipsismically ignoring the poisonous fumes they were leaving in their own wake in the course of their important daily doings?

I don't doubt that some people are ignoring the fumes their cars emit during operation, just as some smokers are choosing to remain blissfully ignorant about the toxins they feel it is their right to emit into enclosed spaces by smoking.
But the fact that some people drive, doesn't make it in any way logical to exacerbate the problem by adding insult to injury. And as a non-smoker who enjoys pubs on occasion, I can tell you that those who smoke in pubs are impacting the environment moreso than those who don't because not only are they forcing non-smokers to inhale their second hand smoke, thereby setting the stage for potential respiratory illnesses and cancers in those who might otherwise have been able to avoid them, but I for one am forced to run my washing machine and tumble dryer (in the winter) moreso than I would have otherwise, solely because of inside smokers.
When I leave a pub in which others have smoked, I must wash everything I'm wearing (which I might otherwise have been able to hang up and wear another time before washing-as I live in a temperate climate and usually do not sweat in it).
Multiply that extra effort and expense (medical and household) by the number of every person in every pub.

Do smokers smell the smoke on their own clothing-or is it not noticeable to them- in other words- do you think that smokers also run washing machines and dryers more frequently than non-smokers?

I doubt it. I would imagine they run their washing machines and dryers a lot less that up-tight ladies who think that all you can smell is all that there is and who "occasionally" go into pubs when the mood takes them, or their finances permit, and feel constrained to impose on those who go in every night they are not in hospital.

Do you not know that nicotine stimulates the brain and makes conversation more interesting?

So you associate cleanliness with uptightness? I guess there could be a case to be made for that in some peoples' minds.

I do feel your pain about the whole issue-I know it's a very difficult habit to break and that it's an associative habit so that you're stimulated to engage along with certain other activities such as drinking.

Maybe they could designate some pubs smoking pubs and some pubs non-smoking pubs. And then people could choose where to spend their pub time. The only thing that wouldn't work there is if a smoker and a non-smoker went out- who would make the sacrifice and submit to the other's chosen environment?

I do know that nicotine is a stimulant. But I have to say that I haven't noticed that smoking has ever been a differentiating factor in who I've found interesting and who I haven't. I doubt that nicotine could stimulate someone enough to change their entire personality or make them better conversationalists.

Do you attribute your sparkling wit to nicotine? I understand your mood would suffer without it-but do you really think you'd be any less interesting?

I have to turn that round and ask myself if my wit would sparkle (more) if I smoked, and I would imagine not. When I did smoke, a bit, I used to feel a bit swimmy and I don't think it improved anything.

Do you think alcohol improves wit?

Maybe on the receiving end- and by that I mean when I've had a few I laugh at things I wouldn't necessarily find funny at other times. But I'm a happy drinker-alcohol doesn't affect me as a depressant. Music sounds better- in fact stimulation in general seems heightened-and I think that's just because I'm more relaxed than usual-all the rough edges just seem to smooth out.
Maybe that's what nicotine does for Spendius.

But when I'm not drinking and with others who are, nothing they do or say seems witty or funny.

I realized the other night when I saw a woman and a man who were both staggeringly drunk, that I automatically focused more disapproval on the woman, while almost automatically excusing the man's behavior. I also seem more able to excuse cruelty or racism or obnoxious, loud behavior in males than in females.
Do you do the same thing? Do you think this is conditioning that was instilled in us at a certain time in a certain era? Do you think that the young women of today are having the same sexist attitudes instilled in them?

That's an interesting observation, Aidan. No, I don't think I disapprove of one more than the other, and I'm pretty sure my sons' generation is so used to seeing pissed women that they have stopped being more censorious about them. Getting staggeringly drunk appears to be a normal phenomenon for the young, though my boys now being in their mid-twenties are finding it less fun, so it's a less frequent occurrence.

Do you think these heavy drinkers will suffer in later life?