Talking with the triplets (I know it should be "to" but I am on even terms with them) I often discover things from my (very near) past that don't exist anymore and give rise to huge astonishment (to ALL of us).
Take smoking:
The children often play "train journey" with me - each of them has grabbed one of my posh little trolleys (two in soft silver pink, one in grey-black -- and the one triplet with a remarkable tendency to luxury and elegance always grabs the stylishly understated grey-black one!), sit on my sofa and present their tickets.
I am ticket collector and locomotive driver in one person, and - as everywhere in the world staff isn't easy to get - also serve a hot chocolate in the on-board restaurant.
Well, to come back to the "Once upon a time"- bit:
I told them that in my youth people smoked in trains.
I remember that sometimes when one could only get a seat in a smoking compartment after a journey the clothes in my suitcase stank of smoke (some of these compartments were only separated by a curtain, if I remember it right).
Both, the triplets and I, were very astonished that smoking was allowed in trains, or at breakfast tables in a hotel, or in private households where a guest would politely ask if it is alright to smoke and then didn't even wait for the answer...
PS: I have a vague feeling that it should be "smoking on trains" - would that be better?
- Thank you, Tasker - I corrected it from "in" to "on".
Smoking on trains. And on buses, in offices, in the street, at work in pubs, and in the street, and in cinemas and theatres, and in shared houses, and friends houses, everywhere, thick hanging in the air, not me, but it is why I have cancer.
ReplyDeleteDear Tasker, I am so sad to hear that you have cancer and wish you power and energy to fight it. So awful to have to suffer for other people's sins. I wish you recovery as soon as possible. Britta
DeleteApologies for my blunt comment.
DeleteOtherwise your post made me think about in and on. I don't know how I know, but transport is usually "on".
I changed it at once, dear Tasker - I asked about "in" and "on" trains because I also had the suspicion that "in" sounded a bit quaint.
DeleteI love to learn better English! Blogging forces me to think how to say it - I never use AI or translation machines from Google - that's why it takes me quite a long time to write a post (though: not THAT long :-)
I am totally allergic to cigarettes, both while they are being smoked and after the butt is squished into the ashtray.
ReplyDeleteIf someone smokes in the outside part of a restaurant, I can simply stand up and leave. But if someone smokes in a train, plane or car, standing up and walking out doesn't really work.
Dear Helen, I agree: inside of a building there was no possibility to protect oneself. I think that now (!) Germany has passed a law, that parents (or other people) are not allowed to smoke in a car when children sit in it.
DeleteAs a child with asthma I could never go to the movies because of the smoke. So my movie knowledge is pretty scanty. After smoking was banned I started going but never learned to like them. I think I missed the window.
ReplyDeleteOh, that was hard for you, dear Boud!
DeleteBut nowadays you can make up for it - I did it in one year when I had a one-year-ticket for 17 cinemas in Berlin, and one could go and watch as often as one wanted! Though I see that you do not like it now - why?
Isn't it sad that smoking was once considered to be a rite of passage? People smoked everywhere and we thought it made us look sophisticated.
ReplyDeleteI did that too, dear Mimmylynn! I thought it looked utterly sexy (and, to be honest: I think it still - deep red nail varnish, a thin long brown cigarette and blowing smoke in a seducing way - hahaha - the way to ask for fire... )
DeleteBut I gave it up before thirty - and never regretted it. And I think other people were glad about that :-)
When I was a child, one parent smoked. When I was introduced to cigarettes it was as if I had always smoked. When I gave it up I was astounded that people who smoked smelled like cigarettes. I spent the next many months apologizing to friends and family for the awful smell I had carried around.
ReplyDeleteDear Joanne, my parents smoked too (no hard smokers), and I started as a student. And smoked quite a lot though it was costly. Interesting: my sister never smoked at all - so inheritance can't be my excuse :-)
DeleteYes, smokers smell awful - I remember one teacher at high school who left a trail of cold cigar smoke after him that still lingered on when he had left the building!