October 10th Only seven more days left before the total ban takes effect. Mind you, it has been tougher getting cigarettes since Prime Minister McKenna’s government outlawed their importation and production two months ago. Rumours are floating about, that a Russian ship has just docked with 2000 cartons aboard. They are also willing to smuggle passengers to Venezuela , one of the last places in the Western hemisphere where cigarettes can be smoked in public places. That Chavez is still pissing off the Yanks.

October 11th Looking out my window, I noticed that some of the leafs have started to turn. The room smells like hell, but under Nova Scotia’s new smoking law, we are not allowed to open the windows. The smoke escaping from our houses caused too much pollution, they said.
Read that Premier Kelly finally announced that the province is looking to set up a tidal power plant. The owners of the re-opened mines in Cape Breton will have a fit, but I guess he did not have much of a choice after a stretch of Shore Drive was wiped out when sea levels started to rapidly rise a few years ago.

October 12th It’s strange not seeing many fat people on the streets these days. That “Health Surcharge Tax’ really put them to shame. Mind you, at $200 per year for every three Kilos above one’s ideal weight, it quickly adds up. Guess they had to find new sources of revenue.
Still, it’s quite sad that so many of the overweights have gone into hiding . Can’t say that I blame them, considering the way some people stare and even yell at them when they walk the streets or dare to sit in a restaurant. I’m sure that some of them are just trying to duck the government sponsored mass exercises that take place every morning at bloody 7 am. Sometimes I wonder if the tax break you get for attending regularly is worth all that trouble.

October 13th Christ, I miss the little one. I will always remember the day Child Welfare came and carried her out of the house. I could hear her howling all the way down the street . Jen left me two days later. Can’t say I blamed her. “Why don’t you just fucking quit!” she kept yelling over and over. There was no way that she would ever understand: I simply could not let them win … at any cost.
Naturally, I was not able to get shared custody: no court in the land will let a smoker near a child these days. They do allow me to see her once in a while, but only after I shower and put on freshly cleaned clothes. It’s tough when we meet. I know it all my fault, but why does she have to put on that mask every time she sees me? Maybe they have won after all …

October 14th Thought I saw one of the last of the V8s early this morning! The guy must have been nuts. Doesn’t he realise that they will confiscate the car on the spot if he gets caught? Nowadays, all you get to hear is the humming of electric motors. Once in a while, an old V3 highbred still buzzes by .They, too, will be gone after next year.
Strange thing, but I never thought that I would miss the sound of the Harleys that used to annoy the hell out of me all those years ago. The dealership down the street still carries the old name, but now all they sell are i-Swings and a few electric scooters.

October 15th. Two more days to go. Went downtown for the first time in a while. Admired the courage of the last of the Pizza corner guys. The place was dead, and probably has been for the past few years. The other two joints have long since closed. Had a sympathy slice and headed down to Argyle Street. It was virtually deserted.
Wondered what ever happened to Victor? Last I heard, he had set up shop somewhere in China of all places. He had called it the “freest place on earth”, or something like that. Oddly enough, some of the old patio chairs are still there, as if they hadn’t moved an inch in the past six years.

October 16th Last day. Am sure, that the neighbour who ratted me out to Child Welfare will do so again if she suspects me of smoking. Have drawn the curtains and bought a few more air purifiers. Might hold the wolves at bay. Probably not.
Supply is never the problem, although prices have gone up. Hell, it’s cheaper to get a few grams of coke than a bag of tobacco these days. One of my dealers even offered to throw in some free China white when I bought my 20 grams last week. Ready-made cigarettes, on the other hand, are virtually impossible to find.

October 17th The strangest thing happened early this morning. I heard on the news that the fatties had started a riot! The whole thing appeared to have been highly organised. Who would have thought that they had it in them? Apparently, they occupied some government buildings and a mob of them had begun to riot on Barrington street. It quickly became apparent, that the Nova Scotia Provincial Police was not doing much to stop them, since the overweights enjoyed the sympathy of a great segment of the population.

I immediately rushed downtown, only to find that the riots had stopped. Still, the city was barely recognisable. On Blower street, a mass of revellers had started up an impromptu carnival . Musicians were all over the place. The crowds had spilled over onto Argyle street, where some enterprising folks had set up chairs and tables and fired up some of the old barbeques. It was the first time in years, that I had smelled charcoal.

Amidst the throngs , I spotted fats dancing with thins, students swilling beer as if the weight tax didn’t exist, and old ladies recreating their hippy days by hugging everyone in sight. In front of the boarded up Seahorse, a group of what looked like NASCAD students had congregated and were engaged in heated discussion. I hardly believed my eyes when I spotted the first pipe. I quickly realised that others were openly smoking joints and tobacco, as if no law had ever existed. “Like Berlin in the 20s”, I thought to myself as I joined them.

Pulled out some tobacco and started to role a smoke. After a few drags, I passed it to my left. Within minutes I had rolled another one, but then stopped. The cigarette and the rest of the tobacco were lying on the ground as I started to walk faster and faster. “My little one”, I thought, “My little one has to see this”.