Paradise lost
Friday, August 15, 2014 at 12:56 My 'Visit Scotland' post aroused some comment here and elsewhere.
The gist of it was, "We're smokers and we won't go to a country that makes us feel unwelcome."
I'm sympathetic to that point of view but my post wasn't about smoking (I do have other interests!), it was about the forthcoming referendum and the fact that a huge number of English people who say they support the union have never been to Scotland, which I find difficult to fathom.
This phenomenon pre-dates the smoking ban so while it may be a reason not to visit Scotland today it wasn't a reason before.
Now, if you support the union it follows that you believe Britain to be one nation – the United Kingdom of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Northern Ireland.
So if you're going to boycott Scotland because of the smoking ban and other anti-smoker legislation, surely you have to boycott other parts of the UK as well?
England has had a smoking ban since 2007 so logically you must refuse to visit Cornwall or the Lake District, for example, unless you have no choice (business, perhaps).
All of which leads me to Pat Nurse who has just returned to Britain following a six-week holiday in Italy.
Pat has commented that she won't spend a penny in Scotland, Wales or Ireland because of anti-smoking legislation but there's law banning smoking in most indoor public places in Italy so why would she visit that country but not those closer to home?
As it happens I know the answer because I've read Pat's account of her trip on The Free Society.
Clue: it's the culture of tolerance and common sense which is sadly lacking in the UK and other English-speaking countries like Australia, Canada and parts of the United States.
'Italy, a smoker’s paradise' is a great read. I thoroughly recommend it.
Above: Pat during her recent holiday in Italy
Reader Comments (8)
Indeed Pat's piece was a great read, she is a talented writer. Such a shame that she stopped blogging her "Tea and Cigarettes" blog. I'm hoping she'll start another 'Octabber' this year.
"Josef Maringer" emailed me to say : "The expensive "smoking licence" was introduced in Greece during the crisis, but does not exist in the italian smoking ban law. In italy the only chance to allow smoking in a part of a bar is to build a hermetically sealed smoking room, which is very very expensive."
My mistake from misreading The Rough Guide to Italy but I stand by my point.
If 28 people want to explain via Otabber why they love their tabs and don't want to quit in Stoptober then I'll happily post them on the blog in October, TBD x
There's a huge difference between a smoking ban in "most indoor public places" and one in "all indoor public places".
All sounded enticing till I read this ...
"They told me that in the more fashionable places like Milan and Rome, there is some smoker persecution"
Guess who's off to Rome in November? {sigh}
Having enjoyed our 3rd holiday in Italy in 4 years earlier this summer, I can vouch for everything Pat has written.
It isn't that Italy hasn't passed laws banning indoor smoking (indeed, theirs preceeded England and Scotland's bans), and it isn't even as if the law is universally flouted. No, it's more about the Italian people, who all seem to be relaxed - laid back even - with a healthy contempt for authority.
Italians are very political, and you only have to casually mention recent EU shenanigans - and especially Mario Monti - to see an Italian in full flow, hand-waving, ranting and smoking numerous cigarettes - a joy to behold!
Most of my time in Italy has been in the north, and I can certainly rebut any suggestion that Milan is anti-smoker - it is just the same as Venice, Verona, Genoa, Pisa, Florence and lots of smaller towns and cities in my experience. Not that I was ever concerned about smoking bans indoors in Italy - no-one in their right minds drinks or eats indoors, even when it is raining!
It was a joy to read Pats piece, as it helped me better to understand what I intuitively knew - that Italy is not the anti-smoking cesspit that UK has become - and has further strengthened by desire to up sticks and move there. If I can persuade my wife, (and she's coming round to the idea), I can guarantee that I won't miss sh*thole Brtain and its pathetic population one little bit.
DP, I haven't been to Rome myself, but my wife had a short break there last year with her girlie friends - she never noticed any additional anti-smoker sentiment .
Final point: it isn't just Italy, of course. Since I decided never to holiday in UK again (NB. not just Scotland, Simon, but England, Wales and all of Ireland), I have enjoyed intolerance free holidays, and amoker-welcome ambience in France, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Austria and Switzerland. Indeed, the Swiss surprised me as being the most obvious active smoking Europeans - still many indoor locations, such as Railway Station buildings, with ash trays on display, and no sign of anto-smoking signs. But its fair to say that the majority Swiss people seemed to be smoking - and openly and proudly.
One Swiss city that has become a hotbed of anti-smoking hate is Geneva - but given that it is the home to the WHO headquarters it isn't too surprising.
I did once visit Geneva - in 1975 - and in fact my visit was to said WHO headquarters. The first place I had ever seen smoking disallowed in meetings. The roof-top staff Restaurant, on the other hand, was divided down the mddle - smoking allowed at one end, not at the other. So I can proudly state (and I do so repeatedly) that I have smoked several cigarettes in the headquarters of the World Health Organisation.
If I'd only known what they were planning back then in 1975 (ie Godber et al).
Don't worry too much DP. We spoke in broken English and so, like the barber's in Chieti, we may have lost something in translation.
I forgot to add for vapers that I saw one person using a vape stick in Bologna but otherwise it wasn't really evident that ecigs are taking off in a big way in Italy.
In total I saw three ecig shops during my travels, and one man standing in the doorway of one so that he could light his organic cigarette out of the wind.
So if you're going to boycott Scotland because of the smoking ban and other anti-smoker legislation, surely you have to boycott other parts of the UK as well?
Precisely.
Thanks Brian and Pat. :)