Now, if you clicked on this post, you fall into either of three categories :

• Category A : You smoke, maybe a lot, or maybe just one or two when you’re having a drink, and you don’t mind the smell of smoke in bars. It’s actually quite nice.
• Category B : You don’t smoke. You don’t really like it when you’re sitting there having a drink with friends and it’s smokey, everywhere. Neither do you like it when you go home after an evening out, and your dress, or jeans, and your gorgeous hair smells of smoke.
• Category C : You couldn’t care less about smokers or smoking. But you’re curious, how on earth did this new law suddenly happen?

Sorry to disappoint those of Category B but, unfortunately, it’s not happening. This was just me being hopeful. Positive thinking, as The Secret teaches you. Put your goals on the wall and it will happen. In the modern era, you can write a blog post about it and maybe, just maybe, it will come true 🙂

Now I know this is somewhat a sensitive subject. You enjoy a smoke or two and you’re probably thinking – well if the others don’t like it, go somewhere else then. The problem with the UAE is that in most bars, or at least the ones that we’ve been to, smoking is allowed indoors. So for those who do enjoy a drink or two, or live music, there really is no where else to go. Unless you leave.

This was one of the biggest thing we found difficult adjusting to (believe it or not, other than the 50degrees summer-time), when we moved over here from down under. If you have a look at Wikipedia  (click here), you’ll find that most countries have banned indoor smoking in public areas, and sadly the U.A.E is I think, a long way to go from getting there.

As of late, I’ve gotten a little bit sensitive with the smoke. It’s worst in indoor concerts (ref : 30 Seconds to Mars in World Trade Centre) – a completely covered venue where kids are allowed to attend (or at least they looked very young to us!) and the whole place was drowning in cigarette smoke.

What if you were expecting, or well, just a little concerned about second-hand smoke and not really keen on having lung cancer, but you want to join your workmates for a drink or two (non-alcoholic or not), or just sit there and enjoy some music. You can’t really, can you?

Now look I have nothing against smokers. It’s a personal choice. It’s not about you, it’s more about the UAE possibly catching up with the rest of the world with regulations and what affects health. If rules like ‘ No walking dogs in the marina ‘, or ‘ No u-turns and left-turns in the marina ( in case some idiot drives into the tram, again ) ‘, or ‘ No cycling along Jumeirah beach ‘ can be created overnight, I don’t see why this is so difficult to introduce. Countries like New Zealand and Australia have had this enforced for more than a decade, and England as well in the last 8 years or so.

Ranting aside, this has prompted me to do a bit of research on bars (though very few) that has actually banned indoor smoking, or have areas allocated for non-smokers. Watch out for the next post 🙂