1st of July 2007 - Smokefree England

The much-talked about 1st of July is finally here. Today, England goes smokefree.

"Smokefree? How?" I hear you ask.
"Does it mean England has produced a mighty product which can absorb all the smoke in the country ?"

No, honey. 1st of July is when the new smoking laws (or rather non-smoking laws) is in force, where no one is allowed to smoke in enclosed public areas and workplaces.
"Enclosed public areas" include shops, bars and clubs.

Now, I understand if they do not allow people to smoke in shops and offices but bars and clubs... I don't know what to say except that it's gonna be hard for most pubbers and clubbers.
From what I notice, majority of the people in bars, pubs and clubs smoke.
With this new piece of legislation, they will have to stop drinking or dancing or both to go outside and light up. Kinda kills the fun, doesn't it ? It's definitely thumbs up from the non-smoking pubbers/clubbers but a big boo from the ciggie-addicted ones.

I had a chat with Cheryl about this topic before and she said it's still not that bad in spring or summer but imagine when it's winter. Are the clubbers gonna stop dancing, get their coat, put it on before standing outside the club to have a tap, then going back in the club after the tap, taking off their coat and expect them to continue dancing?

Most female clubbers will be scantily clad regardless of summer or winter and some will just go out during the winter nights without their coats. Even the guys go out without their winter jackets. They normally get a cab to go clubbing and hail a cab home after clubbing so they only have to endure the cold for a few seconds (from running out of their houses' doorsteps into the cab and running out of the cab to the club's doorsteps and vice versa). Sometimes they have to endure the cold for a longer duration like when they go bar-hopping coz they have to walk to their next destination, which is probably the bar next door or so. Sometimes they have to stand in the queue for a cab, which can run really long especially after the clubs close.

Anyway, what are these people gonna do if they wanna have a tap and they don't have a coat/jacket ? Are they gonna endure a few minutes of S-freezing, chilly winter cold just to have a ciggie or are they gonna forgo smoking so they don't have to stand in the cold ? My bet is they would rather stand in the cold than to miss a few puffs of the cigarette.

The casinos here have been advertising this 1st July thing for some time as well. One of the casinos have allocated a special room for smokers to go into to light up, like in the airport.
I forsee the smoking room is gonna have the "Genting effect". The "Genting effect" is what I call a smoky/hazy place where visibility is limited. This is because our famous Malaysian Genting casino is always so smoky that you can hardly see or breathe.

It will be against the law to smoke in certain places and there will be penalties for those who break the law.
For more information on this, you can take a look at this.

Remember, do not light up if you see a "No Smoking" sign.

As for people like my baby who does not like cigarette smoke, you can rejoice on this long awaited day. :)