Letters: Accident and price hikes spell end of smoking habit

An accident and rising prices forced a reader to kick the habit. Photo / File

I was only 18 when I started smoking. Back then, smokes were cheap.

Forty years later I was still smoking. A lot of people told me to give up but that just made me have another smoke.

Only an accident or death could stop me.

Thing was, I did have that accident. On August 8 I broke my leg, fracturing and dislocating my ankle. I had an operation to have a plate put in my leg and two screws in my ankle.

A month later I did a grocery list and I didn't have enough money for smokes.

I have switched from smoking to vaping with no regrets at all.

I have been vaping for four months now, and with it only costing $7 for the e-liquid I'm saving heaps on smokes.

I am glad I had the accident.

It was a point in my life where something had to give, with the price of smokes going up every six months and the Government wanting New Zealand to be smokefree by 2025.

It's a big ask for a small nation, and it's up to each individual smoker if they want to give up smoking.

At my age, I am feeling really good I made the switch.

(Abridged)

Louise Gray
Brookfield

Capital closed to cruise visitors

We fully agree with the comments from K Bailey (Letters, January 21) about treatment for liner passengers in Tauranga.

We also, as locals, did a cruise around New Zealand a couple of years ago and when in Tauranga recommended to fellow passengers they either did the walk around the Mount or climb it, those who did said they had thoroughly enjoyed it.

Our continued cruise arrived in Wellington on a Sunday morning and sadly it seemed our capital was closed.

The museum opened after a wait and some coffee shops were open. Apart from that it was a city of closed shops.

D Lawrence
Otumoetai

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