At the pub last night I witnessed three nicely dressed well behaved youngsters (20 somethings) approach the bar and light up within six feet of the evening's guitarist-singer. I'm sure they had no idea the effect they had on his well-being and if gently asked they probably would have moved away.

As it was, I didn't stop to find out, I was about to leave anyway and the smoke only hastened my departure by about 5 minutes.

The point being that from 1st July this shouldn't happen. Last night's youngsters didn't do anything they were not permitted by law to do but they did cause offense to those like me who are sensitive to smoke.

The ban will not stop smokers who really want to from smoking, it will just make life a bit more pleasant for the rest of us and may, just, encourage one or two smokers to smoke a bit less.

Christine