Summer house rules
Sunday, August 16, 2009 Max Atkinson is a "communications researcher and consultant who runs courses, coaches speakers and writes books on presentation and public speaking". He also blogs. Last week he drew attention to our campaign to amend the smoking ban (which he supports) and commented:
"Last week ... we stayed at a delightful hotel that had come up with as good a compromise as I’ve seen so far. Although I very much hope that their imaginative investment will bring them the financial rewards they deserve, I’m not going to reveal its name or where it is – for the simple reason that, if their local district council’s ‘smoking solutions officer’ (sic) is anything like ours, this particular smoking shelter would almost certainly be written off for being far too comfortable, not draughty enough, and therefore illegal.
"Next to the terrace they had built a tastefully designed summerhouse equipped with comfortable chairs, heating, lighting, tables and ashtrays. At first sight, the notice on the door saying ‘PRIVATE PROPERTY’ suggested it was off-limits to guests.
"But it wasn’t, and I presume that the point of the notice was to define anyone in there as a private guest who had been invited into this particular piece of private property by its owners, who also happened to be the private owners of the hotel.
"Whether or not it was technically ‘legal’ under existing legislation, I have my doubts. But I don’t know and don’t care – because it was such a welcome blast from the past to be able puff away, have a gin and tonic and inspect the menu at the same time – and, thanks to the heating arrangements, it would have been just as comfortable in December as it was in August.
"What’s more, and this really is the point, the solution was as acceptable to me as it presumably was to other guests who chose not to sit in the Puffin room.
The sad thing is, Max is probably right not to identify the hotel. In Brown's Britain (founder: T Blair) the authorities would probably declare the summerhouse to be an enclosed public place and, well, you know the rest.
Good to know, though, that some proprietors are still doing their best to accommodate smokers. Where there's a will, there's a way.
Reader Comments (56)
I know I,m not going to be popular at the moment but just lets accept the smoking ban issue is a dead duck. No party is going to overturn this ban.. Margot. it has gone too far, Joe is brainwashed and now we have the farce of Pig flu another joke.
The only way to overturn the ban is accept it and do your own thing where freedom started in the first place...Your home.
You may wonder why I am putting this on here. It is something which Margot has mentioned several times. This is a part of my mother's diary. She died in 2004, but I have only recently seen this as it needed to be put onto a computer file.
I am sure that what is in the penultimate paragraph is what Margot has referred to.
This is 1954 by the way.
"Just before this move from our flat, the old demon depression reared its head again, doctors were not really sympathetic to this complaint in those days, but I did have some medication, which personally, I felt was a waste of time. I really needed to talk, and have someone listen.
All the bottling up of past attacks starting from post-natal depression, was really taking hold. I was very shaky, and the tablets made it worse, so I threw them down the toilet, and struggled on, trying to be positive, and using my Christian Faith in prayer.
Was it an answer to prayer, that the next time I visited the doctor he suggested I go to Burdens Neurological Institute in Bristol?
Some months earlier, I had been reading an article in the Western Daily Press about a Dr. Grey Walter, a scientist who had invented a machine for recording impulses in the brain, and it was Burdens that these tests were going on.
Bill and I went up there one cold snowy day in February, and I went into this large room where the machines were housed.
I was full of trepidation, but it was really quite straightforward. Dr. Grey Walter came in and watched the graph paper moving off the machine, they had attached to my head, and soon I was ready to go home, but – not quite yet. I was sent into a consulting room to meet a Professor of Neurology, and he gently and kindly drew from me all my fears and imaginations. I felt better already, and after a few more visits, tests on the machine, and more consultations with the Professor – who was 82 years old, and still occupied with his fascinating subject – he told me there was nothing wrong, no diseases of the brain, just a severe case of anaemia and post natal misery, which had never been treated or recognised.
Some vitamin B injections and very mild relaxing tablets, and a suggestion to be more positive, all resulted in a return to vigour and well being.
I still had a few shaky times, but did not feel a victim of debilitating hopelessness any more."
Timbone you having a dig at me now lets be nore positve. Now lets get real!!!
a/ Have you spent 270k to fight the smoking ban?
B/ Have you given in donations to Forest and F2C £ 1600..?
C/ Have You seen my beutiful home?
D/ Stop relying on politicians to do something for you and do it yourselves for Gods Sake.
E/ Ps A lovley couple made me a visit from F2C shame we carry on moaning.
Thanks Peter. Havn't got a clue what you are on about or what motivated the comment.
timbone.
Thanks for sharing that remarkable 1950's excerpt from your mother's diaries. Yes, that was "straight from the horse's mouth." The 50's and 60's were a time of great well-being and compassionate medical care. The soothing and enjoyable benefits of smoking were well known and the pharmaceutical industry produced little more than derivatives of aspirin, vitamins, penicillin and a variety of cough medicines - plus quinine based cures for malaria, etc.
There was some depression, of coure, mainly in women during antinatal and menopausal times. The cause was often physical - such as anaemia. Counselling and treatment with extra vitamins or iron tablets plus fresh fruit and green vegetables was usually sufficient cure..
I believe that the pharmaceutical industry saw a niche in the market and, already knowing the benefits of the tobacco leaf attempted to mirror the benefits of smoking in manufactured anti-depressant drugs. To boost sales, they also started the commercial war against smoking. Results from their costly but inconclusive research were falsely reported, and the myth that smoking kills was gradually introduced as a medical "fact".
The rest we know - including the fact that tablets cannot mirror nature as far as nicotine is concerned. The nicotine content of tablets cannot be regulated to suit every individual human being whereas the age-old practice of smoking allows the blood stream to absorb as much nicotine as is good for it. The rest is blown out in smoke or expelled through the digestive system - where it also acts as an excellent laxative, of course.
As we know, the side effects of the antidepressant prescription drugs can be devastating and often need a cocktail of further drugs to attempt to counteract them. I have known people hooked for life - and a very miserable half-life at that - with no alcohol, low sex drive, many foods banned - in fact they might as well be dead.
I personally have known a couple of suicides due to prescription drugs.
Thanks very much for sharing that, timbone. It was a golden age and a time of great optimism
Margot,
I am pleased that you noticed my thought about PETS ("People who Enjoy Tobacco").
This is the first chance that I have had to post since I got back from Malaga and I am tired (up since 6.30am).
A thought: the word ASH has connotations - nasty stuff this ash (from cigs or whatever). Good name for an organisation against smoking - the fact that cigarette ash is just dust does not detract from the power of the association, if you know what I mean. Nasty stuff this ash. HEART AND LUNG FOUNDATION - golden words.There is a slight hicup with 'global warming' - whooopst! - Better to say 'climate change' - covers everything, good or bad. ALL GOOD IS BAD!
FOREST is a funny name for an organisation which wishes to defend smoking - no connotations word-wise. Memorable? Maybe.
Must think about it.
Good night.