One of my neighbours sits in the dark at night. I know this because periodically I see the light orange glow of his cigarette. He just sits there. There is no one else. No laptop. No television. Sometimes a radio but rarely. Hour upon hour upon hour through the evening into the early dawn he will sit there and smoke and do nothing and smoke.

This bothers me. I am not sure why. It has the hallmark of some sort of revolt. A kind of quiet personal uprising against those inside. There are several family members that are contained within the home…sometimes they come out but only during the day, the night is his domain.

I am bothered because it is anachronistic behaviour to me. I don’t understand it and I like to understand people and their behaviours. I consider it a personal hobby.

Perhaps I am annoyed because it seems pointless. Of course I realize I have absolutely no right to dictate how he lives but I try to put myself in his shoes spending my existence living in the dark periodically exposed to the vision of others when I stop to light a cigarette and than back to my darkness. It is as though he cannot stand being inside. Perhaps he does not like his family.

I live near a lot of smokers. I grew up in a house of smoke and have loads of relatives who smoke and while I once tried it never appealed to me. I am thankful for these things. It is a kind of enslavement I can ill afford. So expensive and costly in other ways as well.

I am annoyed that all of my smoking neighbours need to go outside to smoke. It seems like every 10 minutes the doors open, shut and then the prevailing winds see fit to direct all the exhaust through my open windows. It makes me gag. C’est la vie. I am looking forward to winter…cold, crisp, frigid, smokeless winter.

I prefer the kind of addictions that don’t harm other people except as I try to think of one I am at a loss? Porn? Victimizes women. Alcohol? Tends to kill people. Gambling? Much harm has been done by desperate gamblers to the people around them. Food? The cost to the public health care system for obesity related illnesses is enormous. Sex? The people who are objectified and thrown away in the process would tell you it is not a harmless addiction.

I guess there are no harmless addictions.

An ambulance just drove by. It was not in a hurry. That is either good news or bad news.

It is a warm evening as I sit out here out front and write. There is a soft breeze and my daughter is next to me eating her fourth or fifth bowl of homemade soup. She has been trying to get me to guess whether she drinks from her spoon or the bowl based solely on sound. She is a very cool young lady and I love her a great deal. She never runs down. She just stops. In the evening when she grudgingly lays down in bed she simply stops…then 8 to 10 hours later she starts again.

Well, enough with the random writing. I am beginning to think I may be addicted to writing. Perhaps that is an addiction that is harmless. I don’t know – I imagine it could be harmful too given half the chance.