Happy Smoking Ban Day, England!

Finally, it will be possible to go out for a Friday drink or a Sunday lunch, or to attend a gig, or to play a gig, without coming home wheezing and smelling like an ashtray. The smokers may grumble, but as the typical ex-smoker who has become extremely sensitive to cigarette smoke, this day couldn’t come soon enough for me (nor, apparently, for the people who were setting off fireworks at 6 AM this morning, when the smoking ban officially went into effect—they must be really happy). If this is the “nanny state”, then I say, “Bring it on!”

In other news—I’ve sorely neglected this poor site, mostly because I’m lazy, but also because I feel like I’ve been on the go non-stop over the past month and a half. After getting my passport back, I immediately went to Paris for a week, which was brilliant (and which I really want to write a longer article about—at some point). Then I was back home for a week, then I was in Florida for a week, then I was back for a day, then I was in London for several days, then I was back with houseguests—and when everything should have calmed down a bit, Jeremy and I had to start looking for a new flat because our landlord is selling the place we’re in. This was a nasty, nasty shock because we really love our flat, but we’ve found a flat just around the corner which will hopefully be just as nice. We get the keys on Tuesday, and then the real fun begins: moving…

Anyway, I’m shortly heading off to lunch at the Atlas Lounge, a very nice bar/café just down the street which has good food, friendly table service and a wide selection of coffees, juices and cocktails, and which we used to frequent regularly but had to abandon eventually because it was always so unbearably smoky. At 6 AM this morning, Brighton got a whole lot more appealing to me!

Further reading…