So the smoking ban came in yesterday. I’m very interested to see how it pans out, as I believe that English pub-goers are quite different to those of Scotland and Wales – not meant offensively, but lets be fair – English people are renowned for their smoky pubs. My personal opinion is that it should be left up to the clients to decide whether their pub is non-smoking. Therefore, by power of veto, each individual pub could implement a non-smoking or smoking policy. Therefore, there would be no “draconian” (as I have heard it called) ban, and conversely, no force of smoke on unwilling punters.
I am aware that prior to the ban, landlords had the power to make their venues non-smoking. One could simply join the band-wagon and argue that the landlords didn’t want to implement no-smoking policies because the they didn’t want that. I slightly concur with this, but with a slightly different twist… I believe it should be up to the landlord to actually hold a vote whether or not a venue becomes non-smoking. Doing this would allow punters to decide themselves. I believe then there would be a few more available non-smoking bars, and a few less smoking bars.
Interestingly, joining the bandwagon, the Spice Island Inn has been non-smoking for some time because the landlord decided it to be that way. From what I can see (and I may be wrong), their custom was affected. I saw most people going to the Still & West (literally next door) for a drink and a smoke, or going to the Spice Island and sitting outdoors. I believe that is because people had the choice – go to a busy smoking pub and smoke and have a pint, or go to an empty non-smoking pub and just drink.
I went into a little more depth than I would’ve liked there, but I think I’ve got my point across… I’m not very good with explaining things.
In other news, I went to Guildford on Friday feeling quite worse for wear after being ill all of Friday. Nevertheless, I perked up later that day and we had an enjoyable party. Thanks to all those that came. Saturday was spent sleeping in bed until about 4, until I went round to my sister’s to see Finley again, whom I held and cried for the entire time until he went back to his mummy! I think he was a tired baby, but I left about 5/6 I think, and headed via Tesco to get some rather tasty BBQ Chicken breast and bits of veg for dinner, as well as a DVD.
So the DVD was Hostel – I’ll try not to include any spoilers for those of you who don’t wish to know what’s in it (whether that be because you haven’t seen it and want to, or because you haven’t seen it and don’t!). To summarise the film, one could say it’s 40 minutes of boobs and sex, followed by 40 minutes of wanton violence and gore… which in a nutshell isn’t such a bad thing. The storyline was surprisingly not as appalling as I thought it would be with most modern horror films. And that’s about all I can say about it really without going into detail.
Oh – and one last comment. I’ve not given up smoking, I’ve given up going to the pub. It’s cheaper to buy booze at the supermarket, and I can happily sit at home and drink and smoke. And even if I don’t smoke, it won’t smell of bleach, body odour and stale alcohol.
Anyway – this is quite a long post now, so I should probably finish up.
