Most Holy Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 The ONLY point I tried making earlier was that IF a country can regulate drinking & its resultant behaviors, as well as a whole range of other human activities (e.g.: urinating in public, etc) it sure can regulate smoking. That's what laws are all about. I find nothing wrong with anti-smoking laws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meg Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 I can't be getting into the whole subject of rights and wrongs of smoking......................i've just quit so i'd rather not talk about it!Found this article relevant though,Charente LibreWe were in Ireland when the smoking ban came in, after all the protests about it, it was obeyed immediately. Also there was a phone number to call to alert the authorities if someone was smoking! Publicans did start commenting on slower trade. Not helped by the fact that many places over there didn't have outside seating.Louise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted October 14, 2006 Author Share Posted October 14, 2006 The pro smoking lobby will always give a negative answer when talking about the effects of a ban possibly because they enjoy a fag with their pint. The anti smoking lobby will always have a positive view and say it has made no difference. I have a friend who has just taken early retirement as the financial director of a leading UK brewery. He stated that there has been a downward trend in delivery of beer to pubs BUT the supermarkets are taking more so the actual real effect on their business has been very little, now you can read in to that what ever you like I guess. His feeling is that people are drinking more at home than before the ban and his statement seems to back that up. I have always thought drinking at home to be a more worrying issue with some people.I am told that in London (my old home town) people are taking their drinks outside and now there are more people drinking on the street outside pubs. I can't say if this is correct or not as I have not been back. I can imagine what with the smoking ban and the high rate of binge drinking (around 25% of young women and 33% of young men now binge drink in the UK - Figures from the BBC news Sunday morning 14th Oct 2006) pubs are not the place to walk past anymore. I mean do you really want to walk past a group of drunken people smoking outside a pub? This problem is now so bad that the British government is launching an advertising campaign to help put a stop to this (BBC news same date). Apparently only around 40% of English pubs have outside seating and let’s be honest the times of the year you can use it is very limited.There are a couple of large agents that sell just pubs and a quick scan of their websites shows there are quite a few for sale. This can't all be just coincidence.It will be interesting come Jan 1st to see exactly how the French react and I think that perhaps comparing like with like (England - France) is not the best thing to do, we will see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgina Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 [quote user="Quillan"].........see exactly how the French react and I think that perhaps comparing like with like (England - France) is not the best thing to do, we will see.[/quote]They don't exactly like following us though do they?I have a bit of an allergy to smoke due probably to the fact that both parents smoked 20 a day each when I was growing up. It totally blocks my nose. So I avoid smokers like the plague.But I can't help noticing and it really is bizarre, that every time I go to a restaurant or cafe, I sit in a place where there are no smokers but, I kid you not, every time I do this, someone who smokes comes and sits next to me. There is something about my face that makes people light up!!! (excuse the pun). No this is really true. The whole place can be empty but this always happens to me. The last straw was in a MacDonalds play area right next to the kids!!![:(] So I really think the majority of smokers don't actually care about anyone else.Georgina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted October 14, 2006 Author Share Posted October 14, 2006 I think thats totally out of order especially because kids are there. It's people who do that who give the amunition to the people who would like to see smoking banned full stop. They are also the ones that get really angry and shout the most when bans are put in place. Personally I would have complained either to the individual or to the manager. I have seen this sort of thing in the past and what really gets to me is I am a smoker and I am in a no-smoking area and could really do with a fag but I chose to sit there (to be with my non smoking friends) and so I must obey the rules. Then some pillock thinks the rules don't apply to them and lights up, I get so angry and have complained on occasion myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 It's like anything else in life - some people have the sense and imagination to realise that what they are doing might affect others and so they take extra care. Others don't - it comes down to intelligence a lot of the time, although there are always some people who are just plain selfish.I was sitting outside Sainsburys a while back when a woman came and sat next to me and lit a cigarette. The breeze took the smoke straight into my face, so I stood up and went to wait somewhere else. She seemed genuinely astonished that she had caused me inconvenience! I saw someone in a pub a week or so back - one where smoking at the bar is not allowed - who went to huge efforts to pretend not to be smoking (no-one was fooled) when it would have been so much easier to put her cigarette down while she was waiting to be served - just selfish.BUT in my experience most 'mature' smokers these days are much more considerate than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayJay Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 Talk about depressing, not only am I a leper, I'm mature too![:(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted October 14, 2006 Author Share Posted October 14, 2006 And I think Dick nearly called me intelligent, I shall now go and look it up in the dictionary he is using them long words again, gets me baffled every time [:D] . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 Be that as it may! We had a party for No2 son and wife this weekend (both of whom smoke) and their friends (many of whom smoke). All accepted it as perfectly natural that, as Julie and I don't, they would not smoke in the house and went out onto the patio. We didn't even find any dog-ends afterwards (although the noise when they started swatting each other with the electric flyswat was intense!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgina Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 [quote user="Dick Smith"]................... We didn't even find any dog-ends afterwards (although the noise when they started swatting each other with the electric flyswat was intense!)[/quote] Ooh is that a new game?? Must try it! [6]Georgina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 It was a bit lively in the kitchen...[IMG]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f338/dick_at_aulton/Fite.jpg[/IMG] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 I blame it on the Vieux Carion Cab-Sauvignon. What we need is a government initiative to ban wine boxes. [B] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 Such a gentle, placid bunch of lads...You notice that even when having their eyes plucked from their sockets they don't let go of their beer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Head Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 Looks like great fun there Dick! Good to see the young'uns letting off steam, I suspect you're a bigger kid than all of them though. Can I come to the next one? Another good game is to see who can hang on to the electrified cow fencing the longest...... tearing down a steep hill sat on oversized skateboards in the pitch black takes some beating, injuries guaranteed, a 5k river race in tractor inner tubes is another good'un, abseiling 80 metres into the river at the bottom of a dammed gorge takes some beating...oh god, I need to do something silly now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 [quote user="Dick Smith"]Such a gentle, placid bunch of lads...You notice that even when having their eyes plucked from their sockets they don't let go of their beer.[/quote]Could have done with some of them at Hastings, then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 Shield-biters?I think they were all in Hastings town centre fighting the police. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 I've heard it's pretty rough there on a weekend.I just remembered where the arrow in the eye reference in relation to Harold may have come from - having your eyes plucked out was a punishment for someone who broke an oath made in God's name. Roughly equivalent to an ASBO today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 Or electronic tagging?It's a bit of a leap, really, from having your eye plucked out (sounds quite delicate for such a messy business) and having a bleedin' great war-arrow stuck through it.How have we got 2 threads on the death of Harold Godwinsson? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWINKLE Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 I was out with a couple of french girls Friday night and they both smoke. We went to a restaurant and they both looked to see after the meal if smoking was permitted - it was so they lit up. In the non-smoking part of the resto were a few people I knew with a 7 month old baby. It's quite a large place and this set-up actually works quite well - you DON'T notice the smoke from the other end. I looked after the baby and the other party joined my mates for a ciggie. Later I was asking my friends what they thought of the smoking ban and they said that they welcome it and that it will be a relief and a pleasure to be in a no smoking zone. It won't be a problem for them to go outside for a smoke. This is the opinion of one woman who has been smoking since she's 11 years old and they both smoke almost a packet a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julia Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 [quote user="Dick Smith"]It was a bit lively in the kitchen...[IMG]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f338/dick_at_aulton/Fite.jpg[/IMG][/quote] Is the one with his mouth open waiting for that cake on top of the winebox to be thrown in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 No, but I think his dentures may have fallen out. What worries me is that he borrowed my car yesterday... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 When you say "borrowed" do you mean in the sense of "taking and driving away"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Head Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 Have you seen Dicks car Phil? One would hope that his son has better taste! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 I thought it was a Volvo S40 with turbo thingies? And a whale-tail spoiler on top? Good enough for me! [:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Smith Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 850 T5 2½ litre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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