It seems that new laws related to smoking
are being passed nearly every day. Now
there is something wending its way through the legislative process that would
allow sports bars to once again have smoking areas.
It took several years for smokers to
be banned from puffing away in restaurants, offices and any space within fifteen
feet of an entrance or exit. And,
mutterings of ‘stop the stink,’ were also being bandied about regarding smokers
out on their own lanais in high rise condominiums, in parks and spread out on
beaches, which more or less put paid to smoking anywhere humans congregated.
My husband and I were smokers in the
days when restaurants still allowed you to do so but only in designated
areas. It was this ‘designated area’
thing that put a stop to our cigarette addiction, smartly and once and for all.
We were having a lovely evening out at
one of the many great restaurants in Honolulu. We chose the ‘smoking’ area because it was
our usual thing to puff away on a ciggie while sipping our cocktails and
waiting for our dinner to be served. It
was while doing this that I noticed we had been seated on a raised area of the
restaurant, surrounded by empty tables…the only table occupied was ours. The rest of the patrons were seated in the
lower level…many tables and all filled with smokeless, happy diners.
Smoke rises and so did the disgusted
eyes of the patrons seated at the lower level.
Each one staring at us as though we were visitors from an alien pongy
planet and how long did we plan to stay?
In truth, with so many eyes upon us and seated higher than the rest of
the patrons, I began to think a neon
sign proclaiming that the ciggie stink was not management’s fault but was
caused by the two idiots seated under said sign, was blinking on and off over
our heads.
We became so self conscious that our
dining experience became a race to see who could bolt the food down the fastest,
and how long before we could get away from the accusing eyes of the other
diners.
That evening at home, we emptied our
individual packets of cigarettes onto the coffee table and sat smoking every
single one down to butts. It was our
intention that once they were all puffed away, we would never buy another
packet ever again.
I was nearly green from all the
nicotine sludging through my body by the end of the night but we stuck to our
guns and remained smokeless and somewhat smug that we were able to do so. In
truth, it was not really difficult. My
usual mantra being that if you really
wanted to quit smoking it was a cinch…if
you really didn’t but had to because
someone else deemed it should be so, it was hell and practically impossible to
do.
Now, with this new legislation being
bandied about I wonder how many will once again take up a habit that was so
hard to overcome. Remember people, if
you start puffing away, the only place (apart from a Sport’s Bar) you’ll be
able to legally do so, will be sitting on your toilet with all doors and
windows shut. Not the most elegant
picture to contemplate is it?
