I'm NOT misrepresenting what you said, and Lord K sums it up well. Your mates smoke in the bar, which is where they apparently want to smoke (else they would go outside), and they are obliging enough to not blow it your way (I show everyone that courtesy when I smoke). But, you wish the government would make a law, limiting their freedom, thereby benefitting you when you are in their company.
Maybe many smokers would like to give it up. But, each of us defines our own happiness, and it is not your place to legislate us into acheiving our desires. Me, I've no desire to give it up. I quite cold for 2-3 years. Now, I've busted the addiction barrier and can smoke when I choose. It's kinda nice.
Which brings me to another point -- our notion of what "smoking" is. It should, IMO, be viewed as an occassional recreational thing -- like alcohol. Doing any drug 20 times every day is abject stupidity. All things in moderation.
Oh, and I am wounded and hurt we are not friends.
While it may be true, I would not have said it outright. I thought you true Englishmen were supposed to have more manners than us colonials. [img]graemlins/1ponder.gif[/img]