I'm back in the UK but took the day off yesterday.
First, I had to take my son to the station so he could catch a train to Devon where he's working on a farm for six or seven weeks. Good luck with that.
I then had to drive my daughter to Heathrow to catch a flight to San Diego where she's staying with friends while working as an intern in a local theatre until September.
The downside for me is that I'll have to walk the dog far more than usual – at least once a day. Thankfully it's been raining hard all day in Cambridgeshire and I can't possibly take the mutt out in that weather. Have you ever seen a cockapoo when it's soaked to the skin?
Instead I've been catching up on media coverage of the Brighton beach smoking ban proposal. I particularly liked Chris Snowdon's appearance on Sky News opposite Deborah Arnott of ASH.
In many ways it was a masterclass. I loved the little digs and jibes directed at ASH. I loved too the inevitable moment when Deborah raised the issue of tobacco funding (of the IEA) and, momentarily, Chris had a 'problem' with his earpiece.
When the issue was put to him again by the presenter he brushed it off, suggesting he was only on the programme because he was a local resident. Genius! (I mean that.)
I've also had a chance to see Rob Lyons (Action on Consumer Choice) on Good Morning Britain, which I couldn't while I was in Ireland.
Rob was featured twice on the programme. Click here and go to 0:20:00 and 01:26:00 (approximately).
In addition to a large number of news reports I was quoted in the Guardian which published what I thought was a well-balanced feature headlined Is Britain ready for outdoor smoking bans?.
Forest ("a for smoking group") was even mentioned on CBBC, the pre-teen channel, which broadcast a report on Newsround. (See Brighton looking into banning smoking on beaches.) Naturally the report focussed on the views of several young children who, as we all know, are experts on public health.
Everyone from Deborah Arnott to Daniel Yates, chairman of the Health and Wellbeing Board, is adamant that nothing has been banned and it's only a consultation but we all know how consultations work (Chris put it very eloquently on Sky News) and the chances are the decision will be made not by the public but by the usual public health elite.
Needless to say we're going to fight this all the way because if we don't outdoor smoking bans will spread like wildfire.
What's interesting is the way we are consistently being asked to consider the worst case scenario rather than the every day reality of visiting a beach or public park.
For example, the image most frequently used is a crowded bank holiday beach. How often are beaches that busy? Not often.
On Good Morning Britain the presenters kept referring to an imaginary situation in which a smoker sits next to a non-smoker on the beach and puffs away, with smoke drifting over the non-smoker. Seriously, how often does that actually happen in real life?
Anyway, the consultation to consider extending "smoke free places" in Brighton was published yesterday. I suggest you visit it here.
And talking of outdoor smoking bans, Tobacco Free Futures (formerly Smokefree North East) has launched its own Smokefree Summer (sic) campaign in the North West.
Yesterday I was on BBC Radio Manchester and it was interesting to hear TFF's Andrea Crossfield say, quite definitively, there is "no risk from secondhand smoke in outdoor areas".
She then went on to say "I don't believe in banning things" (!) despite the fact that she supports the indoor smoking ban and will welcome, I am sure, any further restrictions on smoking (voluntary or otherwise) in outdoor public places.
Duplicitous or genuine? You decide.
To hear the interview in full click here (Smoke free family events). It begins around 01:06:40.