Something of a phenomenon here is the use of Snus, a ground tobacco project if you want to be exact (check out
snus, swedish snus, sweden snus, swedish snuff for more information). Yep, the Swedes really like their Snus. For the uninitated its a fast delivery system of nicotine without having the irratation of lung cancer or heart failure. It comes in two forms, one is a little teabag like thingy which is inserted beside the gum (though contact with any membrane is probably sufficient though under the eyelid or up the rectum would probably sting a little) and the other is the black tar like stuff which is its true form. The latter is squidged between the fingers into a little pellet before being pushed between upper lip and gum, giving the user a kind of rat boy appearance. The advantages of this is that the user has none of the negative aspects of fagging (shivering in office doorways, setting fire to the bed or yellow fingers) while still getting their nicotine fix. I've seen chaps down the climbing wall using the stuff as they send another gnarly 6c problem, trying doing that with a fag on the go. Possibly as a result Sweden is the only country which has acheived the World Health Organisations goal of bringing its share of smokers down to less than 20% of the population. Further more, half of the Snus users are former smokers.

Now, in good old blighty and indeed in the rest of Europe Snus was banned because of the fear of the risk of mouth cancer. Now, if this were the case the one would expect to see half the population here shuffling around with half their face missing but this does no appear to be the case. Swedish deaths from lung, larnyx, mouth and bladder cancer are the lowest in Europe, which must be in some part attributable to the lower numbers of smokers, who have turned to Snus as a means of getting their nicotine. At the end of the day, if you introduce anything to your body which you know can affect it is not a good thing, but it seems strange to me that Snus, which would seem to be a safer alternative to fags is not made more commonly available. Something to think about. Here endeth the sermon.

music: none
last book: Ethal and Ernest by Raymond Briggs - same chap who did 'when the wind blows' and 'the snowman'. Very moving, very good.
weather: raining a little