Since 1st July, the Netherlands has been smoke-free in cafés, pubs and restaurants; blissfully smoke-free. No more smokers!
We left on holiday a couple of days before the ban was introduced and were away for six weeks, so it’s actually only been since this Monday that we’ve been able to go out and experience smoke-free lunch at our favourite places. And what a delightful experience it is.
With the cafés and restaurants now smoke-free, the next areas to target for cleansing are:
- playgrounds
- parks
- café and restaurant patios and terraces
- the street
In that order, of course.
If other European cities are anything to go by, the café terraces will have been rendered uninhabitable for anyone with a properly functioning olfactory organ. As those who wish to commit a slow, malodorous form of suicide are driven outside, current legislation allows them to take their acrid stench with them.
While we’re on the subject, why don’t smokers regard fag butts as litter? Fag ends now constitute the majority of street litter in some large European cities, yet little if anything is done to either prevent or penalise those who litter the street on account of their filthy habit.
If I sound vehemently anti-smoking, you’re right on the mark. Rigorous anti-smoking laws are one of the few areas where the Americans and the Nazis got it right.
As far as I’m concerned, the only place smokers should be allowed to smoke is inside private residences; and even then, there’s an argument against it if there are children living there.