O dear! I can't let that one by <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" />... I think the smokers here, and 98% of the smokers I know in person, are well aware that others don't want to breathe their smoke. The majority of them go out of their way to be considerate.
Absolutely! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> When I smoked all those years ago we were all completely indifferent to the issues. I don't recall the point of view of non-smokers ever crossing my mind. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />
By contrast, during the time I've lived in this house (16 years or more) nobody has ever smoked here, despite my never once bringing the topic up. We have no signs saying "Thank you for not Smoking" or anything like that either. Visiting smokers either automatically go outside and smoke on the verandah (where they usually find the ashtray we permanently leave there for them) or they wait until they go.
I don't remember anyone even asking if they can smoke in the house, they just see that we don't so they don't. And I think that the public awareness campaigns can take a great deal of the credit for that. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> But the main credit goes to the smokers themselves, who are largely - as you say - decent people with manners. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> It's just that we seem to have received mostly very defensive replies from smokers on this thread - with some preferring to take an "Anti anti-smoker" stance rather than address the issue.
I'm not actually a crusading "Anti-Smoker", as some might like to believe, but I AM very much "Pro Not Smoking". The difference might sound subtle, but for all manner of good reasons I would love to convert people to the benefits of quitting. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
