I have smoked cigarettes for more of my life than I have not. I have spent thousands of pounds on those little white paper wrapped nicotine dispensers with the little brown filter at the end.
The first brand of cigarettes I used to buy regularly, if my memory serves me correctly, was Players No. 6 - they came in a blue and white packet and I bought them in packs of 10 from the little newsagent's kiosk at Harrow on the Hill Tube Station on my way home from school.
No-one would question age, or the fact someone in school uniform was buying them - they were just sold. In fact, there were no areas off limits for smoking them. You could smoke on the tube, on the train, on the bus (though top deck only came in at one stage), in shops, in the cinema, in restaurants, in the Church hall. Just about everywhere.
Except of course, the school grounds, or if a teacher happened to pass by on and you were in uniform then you'd hastily drop it out of sight. Ironically, we could even smoke in the school hall, out of school hours, when rehearsing for the latest production of the drama society.
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