green stuff

In the previous post, I had no intention of maligning smokers. Only smoking.

Last century when I gave up, I did it before nicotine patches and other therapies had been invented, so I had to find my own way. I did it very gradually, and one of the strategies that helped was adulterating my roll-ups with herbal smoking mixture. I began with about one-third herbal, then ramped it up over a long period, until I was on just a wee strand of baccy in amongst the herbs.

I used to smoke this stuff in pubs, but it stank, and people who knew no better would assume it was drugs. Every Saturday morning, Mary Hopkin and I would drink beer and listen to the fantastic jazz quartet upstairs in the White Cockade. The Donald McDonald Band. The guy had an impressive collection of saxes, which he played fantastically. One in particular cost more than a house, and was so big he had to stand on a box to play it.

Anyway, after a few months of Saturday morning ecstasy, drinking Tennents and smoking the horrible herbs, the jazz simply stopped happening. I read a music review in the Scotsman, lamenting the closure and blaming the patrons who used to smoke drugs.

Anyway, the point is I've been trying the same gradual adulteration technique to wean myself off tea. Yesterday I had got to the stage where I could get through a whole day on herb tea mixed with about two twiglets of green tea. Today, St Patrick's day, may be my first day without any green tea at all. So when everybody here is walking around in green clothes or make-up, I'm doing my bit to maintain global balance.