Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Smoking ban update: 3 weeks on

It's been more than three weeks since the smoking ban took effect and I've gone out to a few boozers and seen for myself how people have been behaving. Happily, I can report that I've not seen one person smoking in a pub -- hurrah! I am so acclimated to this ban that I was having a hard time while on holiday in Yorkshire, where they don't have the ban. Why don't Yorkshire have the ban? Cos they're in ENGLAND, which is a different country from Scotland. (Pay attention people, there could be a quiz afterward.) I did, however, see two people get thrown out of places last week, but I'd only be speculating that they were thrown out for trying to smoke. Unfortunately, the rubbernecking did not yield any definitive answers.

Despite these two incidents, it's been reported that takings in pubs are UP since the ban started, contrary to what people believed would happen and contrary to what occurred in Ireland when they banned smoking. I think a reason for this is that analyst-people overestimated Scotland's interest in smoking. Really, smoking was a means to an end: the drink. And perhaps the many smokers who have decided to quit because of the ban are now drinking more to hold off the shakes. Either way, people have hugely underestimated what enormous alcoholics the Scottish really are.

***

Happy birthday to my Sissy who's turning 28 today. Hope you got my prezzie -- I really did send it off this time. Thinking about birthdays, I'm trying to do some planning for my 30th coming up in October. As previously stated, ornate, over-the-top, and ostentatious gifts (we'll shorten it to the 3 Os from now on) will be the order of the day. I've been looking at invitations cos I want to send out really nice ones to reflect the nice do I'm hoping to have. I think the Boy is slowly freaking out with the enormity of my plans. At least I'm not doing a Nicole Richie and wanting elephant rides and shit like that. Anyway, back to Dandoo... happy birthday, kid. Trust me, it only goes downhill from here. Just ask Boy.

8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm disturbed at the number of 30th bd partays are not being planned. So far I've only attended one, and it was OOO only in that my friend flew in thousands o miles to stage his partay. He did a swell job although I felt he needed a bit more bling-kaboom. Boy should have done so himself and if he didn't back then, he should see your partay as his second chance to partay. I really feel that a hot air balloon is in order here.

Wednesday 12 April 2006 at 07:08:00 BST  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

happy birfday, ztowns!!!

Wednesday 12 April 2006 at 07:09:00 BST  
Blogger Autumn said...

Boy is v reluctant to do the party thing for himself, but doesn't discourage me from my little dreams. I'm not even allowed to have a little thing for him at the pub.

Wednesday 12 April 2006 at 09:39:00 BST  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, they imposed a smoking ban here in Seattle, too without any major negative consequences -- California has had the ban for ages, and I got spoiled while I lived there because my clothes didn't smell like smoke after going out. I'm divided on how I feel about it, since I think people should be able to smoke if they want to...but I have to admit, I enjoy smoke-free outings and my throat doesn't hurt the next day...

Wednesday 12 April 2006 at 20:46:00 BST  
Blogger Zandra Towns said...

Thank you Autie. I had a good B-day. went out to eat with my hubby. got Firefly DVDs. But i am sick. I got sick this past weekend and i'm stillcoughin up junk, yellow with a slight greenish tinge. So i'm to pick up mom and dad tomorrow in Chicago. Together for four days, Easter Sunday included! Pray for me.

Thursday 13 April 2006 at 04:11:00 BST  
Blogger Zandra Towns said...

BTW, love the knee-high brown boots. Green sneaks look good too. love ya!

Thursday 13 April 2006 at 04:13:00 BST  
Blogger hadashi said...

i love that you said "prezzie." i am sure that you say it rather maniacally, as it should be so pronounced.

Thursday 13 April 2006 at 07:27:00 BST  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

whoa, like whoa... i see that you got added to hadashi's ubiquitous bloglist! woo! now you can die happie!

Monday 17 April 2006 at 03:34:00 BST  

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