Firstly, if you have never seen "Thank you for Smoking!" then you really should hire it and have a squiz. Quite a funny piss-take on the smoking industry.
In line with most people in the world, I really don't like Mondays. But I have to say that I really loved last Monday! Why? Well, on 1st Oct 2007 the new Anti Smoking Laws (Nichtraucherschutz) kicked in in Hessen and a lot of other states in Germany. Now it is no longer legal to smoke in restaurants, pubs, clubs, trains, etc, unless a completely sealed off seperate room is provided. There are a few exceptions to the rule (eg.
Festzelte or festival tents), but for the most part jetzt ist Schluß!
The first time I actually noticed the effects of the new laws were actually the day before they kicked in, when I picked Bel up from the Airport. Usually there are a bunch of people standing around smoking in the arrivals hall, but now all of the ashtrays have been removed, and the air there smells like...well...air! Now the only place they are allowed to smoke is in little smoking rooms scattered around the airport.
In open railway stations, people are still allowed to smoke on the platforms, but only in certain areas. So all of the smokers have to huddle together inside the yellow box painted on the platform and smoke their lives away. That means that the rest of us can stand at a distance and just point and laugh while they merrily kill themselves with no further impact on us.
One of the coolest parts of this whole thing was the speed with which it was done. None of this "give them 18 months to prepare" or whatever - it was announced in the first week of September (and right at the end of the week), and came in to force on the 1st October. Therefore most places haven't had time to prepare the "seperate room of death", and therefore smoking is completely gone in most places.
Anyway - thank you German Government for finally saving my lungs. Pity you couldn't have done it earlier...
Tschüß,
'Brushy.
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2 comments:
I also loved the movie 'Thank you for Smoking' and the smoking bans in Germany sound great!
Smoking is now banned from all inside places n OZ but I'm just waiting for a ban against smoking around outside eating and drinking areas! Non-smokers in OZ are still not able to enjoy their food or drinks in the fresh air.
Yeah, we have the same problem here too. Now it is impossible to get an outside table at the Ice Cream Cafés when the weather is nice, as it is overrun from Black Lungs.
Tschüß,
'Brushy
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