Posts from — April 2007

Was down at the pub during the week. A new construction had appeared in the garden of our beloved local. That’s right it’s the new smokers accomodation area. This area will no doubt get it’s obligatory outside heaters ready – well we wouldn’t want smokers getting cold would we.

So with going green being high on the agenda at the moment i wonder how many pubs will be creating these outside heated havens? With around 60,000 pubs in the UK that’s a lot of World warmers. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to realise patio heaters are bad for the environment and not mention a waste of limited natural resources. A few weeks ago Wyevale, a large DIY store in England & Wales, announced it will stop stocking them. The Market Transformation Programme says that patio heaters already produce 140,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. That total’s likely to ramp sharply after Joe Public installs his shiny bank of ice melters.

So what’s the solution? Could we maybe provide smokers with insulated smoking jackets? These could be equiped with skins and lighters too. The Guardian article also mentions recyclyed wood burning stoves. While not a great alternative it’s certainly greener.

I was reading a great, but nonetheless fair, post about the right to/to not smoke. It’s about how smokers should use snorkels to replicate the considerate industrial chimneys that keep the harmful gases away from us. A fantastic idea. Although this would never happen it’s nice to know that majority of smokers i know do blow their smoke upwards and away from you.

On the flipside i have heard that a smoker has invented smoking appratus that allows him to sit in the pub and still smoke. The head gear is based on a diving bell setup! Whether this is true or not i don’t know. Anyone got a link to this?

I was in the pub last night and although i was surrounded by 3 people smoking… it was nice to know that in only shade over 100 days it’ll all be gone.

Unfortunatelety 2 of these people smoking were close relatives – not a chance in hell of converting them either. It’s certainly going to be interesting in Winter after the smoking ban kicks in.

I also wonder whether the ban will cause other side effects to happen though…
Will non smokers regret the ban when the they sit outside a pub to be met with smoke? Haha, the irony!
Will non smokers start to develop drinking/obesity problems with their newly attractive pub environments?
Will smokers get more colds from going outside for a smoke? (Not that it gets that cold these days)

With the price of pints these days will the pubs get any business at all! £3 a pint! lol

The Welsh, as of 6am today, got their public smoking ban. First Scotland and now Wales. Just 120 days to go until it’s England. Wales was actually the first place to call for the ban, but beacuse their parliament is a bit behind the times it took a while to go through.

People smoking in public places now face a £50 fine. Jonathan Morgan summed up the ban quite well i feel:

“This is not an anti-smokers measure. It is a measure to protect non-smokers who legitimately want to enjoy a night out without running the risk of developing a smoking-related disease.”

To read more about the smoking ban in Wales go here:

SmokingBanWales.co.uk

Also Scotland’s recent ban has been considered a success with the number of smokers falling by over 1%.