So I called them Monday and spoke to a helpful chap called Andrew, who explained the opening hours, location etc. Basically you can drop by anytime, but need to allow 30 minutes for the initial consultation. I turned up at the first available date today.

It was a struggle, to get through the crowds, not!

The clinic is held in a large hall and consisted of two nurses at separate desks. There were no other punters, er, I mean lepers, er, damn, I mean smokers.

I was directed to the first lady, and took a seat. She was most helpful, though I didn’t catch her name (I am appalling with names) and she explained she would go through some stuff with me, test my CO2 levels and then I would move across to the next nurse.

She was very efficient, helpful and non judgemental, which can be rare for a none smoker these days. My CO2 test came in around 47 though I am not sure what units that was. I recently cut down to 30 (yes 30!) a day from around 40. The lady showed me the chart which only showed CO2 levels up to 20, so that wasn’t so good! We also discussed smoking habits, when I am most likely to light up and methods to combat it. Very useful.

I moved onto the next lady and a few more people started to arrive, maybe I was just keen. The next lady (Lesley?) was really nice too, we discussed the different options and decided to try patches, the strongest available, which will give me about the same amount of nicotine as 20 cigs per day, plus an inhaler. As I pay for my prescriptions, she recommended a prepaid prescription card, £29.10 and it covers 3 months of prescriptions. Sounds good to me – I ordered one online as soon as I got home. When asked about a date – not the dinner kind – I said as soon as possible. It isnt that I am keen, just given the situation, it needs to happen sooner rather than later. So we settled on Sunday or Monday, depending on when the prepaid card arrives. I will need to go back each Saturday between 10 and 1 to have a chat and get the next week’s prescription.

So there we have it, I am soon to be a none smoker! Piece of cake.

I may be eating those words next week 🙁