Twenty-five days now...

...without a cigarette that is. I never thought I could do it, but there you go. Now I just hope I can stay off the things for good.

I'm not completely out of the woods, mind. I'm using a nicotine inhaler, so there's still nicotine in my system, but I've been using it less and less. They say you're supposed to use between 6 and 12 cartridges a day, but I've been getting by with five at most. I do get cravings, but the inhaler keeps them at bay.

On one particular night I lost the inhaler in the pub, but got by fine that night and most of the next morning. Then, around 11 o'clock, coffee break time, I started feeling pangs that you wouldn't believe. Like hunger, but worse. Fortunately there was a chemist just around the corner, so I got myself another inhaler and topped up without any trouble.

People have said, btw, that the nicotine inhaler/cartridge thing is too expensive for them to even consider giving up. To which I smirk, with the newly-found zeal of the converted: Yeah, right. A week's supply costs 20-odd euros. A week's supply of tobacco (and I wasn't the heaviest smoker in the world) was at least three times that. Get real. I've already saved enough money for, say, a nice practice amplifier, or a decent external hard drive. Or maybe an ounce of top quality bud.

I'm definitely eating more - I actually have an appetite again. Fortunately I go to the gym every other day so I'll hopefully be able to keep any unwanted weight gain in check. And the benefits are most readily felt in the gym - I have loads more energy, though I sweated copiously the first few times after giving up cigarettes - must have been getting all the muck out of my system.

It's amazing how supportive people have been. Non-smokers and smokers alike. As I said before it's the prison break syndrome - you're making your bid for freedom and the other inmates are cheering you on. Believe me - I was a moderate to heavy smoker for just over thirty years. If I can do it, anyone can.

Hey, at least it gives me something to write about.