Anyone else like Sting? I really like Sting, and there is a great song of his called “Don’t Stand So Close to Me”. I don’t know what he’s talking about, but I find it resonates with me when I am waiting for the tram or train. I play the song in my head on repeat because I am constantly surrounded by smokers. That’s right, for a city as clean and lovely and wonderful as Zurich, there are just as many smokers here as any other European city. Me thinks all of those scientists that discovered the link to lung cancer just couldn’t be bothered to translate the message into multiple European languages.
There are smokers in Chicago, but at least when I was waiting for the red line, smoking wasn’t allowed on the platform. I wasn’t forced to stand there and inhale it and what not. When people would walk and smoke, I could easily dart away.
But here, since most of the tram stops are just general public areas, there is no way these people could be told to not smoke. What makes it an issue for me is that I try to stand far away from them but I become surrounded. First it’s one on my right so I shimmy to the left. Then there are two on my left so I shimmy back right. By the time I get on the tram I feel like I am back in a college bar when smoking used to be allowed and having to burn my coat at the end of the night. Not to mention, I am reaching for my inhaler like a total nerd because it aggravates my asthma.
And the worst of it all is I don’t speak the language so I can’t even politely say “Can you please get the $%#& away from me with that &$%*?”
*Sigh* On the bright side, it has been forcing me to walk more. 🙂
But anyways, dear smokers of Zurich, please take a cue from Sting and don’t stand so close to me!
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