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Total Smoking Ban - A step too far?

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Blodyn:
My OH and I have recently returned from a holiday in London, where the high population (I was going to say "dense population" but I didn't want to appear to be casting aspersions) and large number of businesses (presumably without provision for smokers) result in many smokers on the streets.  Like Nemesis, my OH has asthma and tries to hold his breath when walking through clouds of smoke but if he'd tried this in central London he would soon have gone blue in the face!  Eating outside at a cafe or restaurant would have been unpleasant, as DaveR pointed out, due to the number of smokers there, while sitting in a park to eat sandwiches was almost as hazardous.  Even in Llandudno one sometimes has to "run the gauntlet" to get into some places, due to smokers congregating just outside the doors. 

The current smoking ban has improved the inside of restaurants and pubs, etc but has had the effect of moving the smoke onto the streets - did the legislators not forsee this?  Banning smoking on trains had a similar effect.  When there was a smoking carriage it wasn't too bad for non-smoking travellers but was obviously hard on non-smoking train staff.  After smoking on trains was banned it suddenly became difficult to find a smoke-free area on the platform.  Now the platforms are OK but it can be hard to avoid smoke if waiting for a lift or taxi outside a station - particularly if there's any shelter over the entrance. 

I've been really disappointed in this side effect of the smoking ban, as I feel that I'm now encountering more smoke than I did before.  Secondhand smoke may not be as harmful in the open air as in an enclosed room but it's still unpleasant to non-smokers - maybe as unpleasant as me singing on the street (which I don't do out of consideration for others) or Mike scratching his ear!

If you're still with me, this is a rather long winded way of saying that I would certainly like to see more restrictions to smoking in public places!

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