Bring back cigarette breaks.

Have you ever left the office and wondered what you have achieved during the day?

Meetings, meetings, meetings, they seem to have become the norm in the modern workplace – an endless round of emails, teleconferences and face to face meetings. A student smiled ironically as she explained that she had 28 hours of pre booked meetings each week in her calendar.

Ask yourself - does a doctor have meetings? a carpenter or plumber?

However they do take breaks and frequently of the unfashionable kind – a cigarette break. Many smokers try to quit but along with the biological difficulty also express a longing for the pause or break in the day, a chance to think and plan.

Much as I disagree with the damage and effects of smoking  I also miss the truthfulness of conversation, the clarity of thinking, the strength of the bonding that accompanied these breaks – and I have never been a smoker.