In some ways it is unfair to give the title 'Summer and Smokers' to a blog started in Concarneau, but there it is. I'd like to make it very clear at the outset that I have nothing against Concarneau - indeed, rather the reverse. What I have got something against is smokers - or at least, some smokers. I will explain shortly. But let me start by extolling Concarneau, and then make the relevant link.
Concarneau is a delightful town in southern Brittany - a real mix of a working place and a tourist resort. It is at the head of a gulf festooned with myriad small islands and reefs, and has been a major fishing centre for many decades - one of France's largest ports in terms of the tonnage of fish landed. On one side of the harbour are rows of storehouses, chandlers, boatyards and repair shops for engines. On the other side is the old town, surrounded by ramparts built by Vauban to defend the site against invasion (which generally, in Brittany, means by the English). Seven-eighths of the ramparts drop straight into the sea, with the eighth part opening onto land via a bridge. This old town - the ville close or 'enclosed town' - is now little more than a tourist attraction with lines of shops selling tourist goods (which generally means stuff that one doesn't need) along with bars and restaurants, but it has a very relaxed atmosphere with no one hustling aggressively for custom. Outside the ville close, and on the other side of the harbour from the fish quays, lies the 'normal' town with its banks, regular shops, big square holding a major market on Fridays, and car parks. And beyond that, along the indented coast to the west and north-west there are beaches, large and small, of clean white sand, swept by the tide twice a day and allowing anyone access to either the sand or the rock pools. There is a broad promenade with sign boards providing interesting details on the history of Concarneau and of the various localities. One of the earliest marine research facilities in the world is still operating here, and another sign tells of a Russian ship carrying cement that capsized in the bay and permitted the extension of the promenade using the solidified and otherwise unusable cement barrels as a foundation. So I have very much enjoyed visiting Concarneau.
But on a fine day when everyone wants to outdoors Concarneau has the same problem as many many places around the world - or certainly around Europe. Smokers.
Sitting in bright sunshine outside a bar for a coffee on market day, with tables close together, a family of four came to sit at the next table: two children - perhaps 2 and 5 years old - with their parents. Before they had ordered their drinks the mother lit up a cigarette, and the father followed suit a few minutes later - with the smoke blowing directly away from their table towards the one at which I was seated.
It's now later that same day. We are on the terrace of an idyllic restaurant looking over the sea; our table is one row back from the balustrade beyond which is a 5 metre drop to the beach. Thirty minutes after we arrive a couple of well-dressed women take the table next to the balustrade diagonally across from ours (fortunately not the one next to ours). Over the next two-and-a-half hours (it's a good, long French meal, taking all evening) one of the women proceeds to smoke 8 cigarettes, but her companion (perhaps a bit of a lightweight) can only manage 6. The light breeze blowing in from the sea spreads the smoke over a good part of the restaurant - although there are one or two other smokers at these outside tables, adding to the haze. Nevertheless, the majority of diners are non-smokers who are affected by the actions of these women. How can a non-smoker avoid the pall of cigarette smoke? Only by asking for a table inside in the otherwise deserted restaurant from which the setting sun and the rising moon, wonderful sights from the outdoor tables, would both be invisible.
The pollution of outdoor eating and drinking spaces by smoke is not, of course, confined to Concarneau: it happens everywhere. With smoking bans indoors in most European countries outdoor seating has become the refuge or preserve of the smokers. Perhaps us non-smokers should leave them to it and stay inside, but that would deprive us of the chance of fresh air (I say 'chance' for obvious reasons) and enjoyment of the scenery. And in even the countries with the heaviest smoking rates non-smokers are in the majority.
Years ago I remember being asked by a student why life expectancies at birth for women in some European countries were no longer increasing (the normal circumstance elsewhere). When I looked into it, the answer was the increased smoking rate among women, leading to the familiar range of smoking-related diseases. According to the latest data, smoking rates are generally dropping but in some cases the levels are still remarkably high - and particularly for women. I have sometimes joked that according to my observation of what happens there, in Greece it seems to be compulsory for women to smoke - so when I looked the most recent data up I wasn't surprised to find that in 2007 Greece actually topped the world league table for the average number of cigarettes smoked each year per adult - over 2700. (In the present circumstances it might seem nice for the Greeks to be top of something, but this surely can't be a record to be proud of.) I remember when Greece introduced a smoking ban in restaurants, but then declared that it would not be enforced because bar-owners and restaurateurs complained that they would go out of business if their clients couldn't smoke indoors. The awful atmosphere in some cafes, restaurants and bars is one reason for non-smokers not to go to Greece.
It's over 30 years since France required bars to identify a zone for non-smokers (general initially close to the toilets) and later that extended to a total ban on indoor smoking. The UK has banned smoking inside pubs and restaurants for some years. It's interesting that in Switzerland it was the Italian-speaking Ticino canton that first introduced an indoor smoking ban, rather than the German or French speaking cantons. Switzerland still has much higher cigarette consumption than either France or the UK, where average cigarette use is around one quarter that of the Greeks.
But what I am arguing for here, albeit in a small way, is the extension of indoor bans on smoking to outdoor areas of restaurants, bars and cafes. Let's not have the air of the majority polluted by the habits of the minority. Everywhere: not just in Concarneau.
Concarneau is a delightful town in southern Brittany - a real mix of a working place and a tourist resort. It is at the head of a gulf festooned with myriad small islands and reefs, and has been a major fishing centre for many decades - one of France's largest ports in terms of the tonnage of fish landed. On one side of the harbour are rows of storehouses, chandlers, boatyards and repair shops for engines. On the other side is the old town, surrounded by ramparts built by Vauban to defend the site against invasion (which generally, in Brittany, means by the English). Seven-eighths of the ramparts drop straight into the sea, with the eighth part opening onto land via a bridge. This old town - the ville close or 'enclosed town' - is now little more than a tourist attraction with lines of shops selling tourist goods (which generally means stuff that one doesn't need) along with bars and restaurants, but it has a very relaxed atmosphere with no one hustling aggressively for custom. Outside the ville close, and on the other side of the harbour from the fish quays, lies the 'normal' town with its banks, regular shops, big square holding a major market on Fridays, and car parks. And beyond that, along the indented coast to the west and north-west there are beaches, large and small, of clean white sand, swept by the tide twice a day and allowing anyone access to either the sand or the rock pools. There is a broad promenade with sign boards providing interesting details on the history of Concarneau and of the various localities. One of the earliest marine research facilities in the world is still operating here, and another sign tells of a Russian ship carrying cement that capsized in the bay and permitted the extension of the promenade using the solidified and otherwise unusable cement barrels as a foundation. So I have very much enjoyed visiting Concarneau.
But on a fine day when everyone wants to outdoors Concarneau has the same problem as many many places around the world - or certainly around Europe. Smokers.
Sitting in bright sunshine outside a bar for a coffee on market day, with tables close together, a family of four came to sit at the next table: two children - perhaps 2 and 5 years old - with their parents. Before they had ordered their drinks the mother lit up a cigarette, and the father followed suit a few minutes later - with the smoke blowing directly away from their table towards the one at which I was seated.
It's now later that same day. We are on the terrace of an idyllic restaurant looking over the sea; our table is one row back from the balustrade beyond which is a 5 metre drop to the beach. Thirty minutes after we arrive a couple of well-dressed women take the table next to the balustrade diagonally across from ours (fortunately not the one next to ours). Over the next two-and-a-half hours (it's a good, long French meal, taking all evening) one of the women proceeds to smoke 8 cigarettes, but her companion (perhaps a bit of a lightweight) can only manage 6. The light breeze blowing in from the sea spreads the smoke over a good part of the restaurant - although there are one or two other smokers at these outside tables, adding to the haze. Nevertheless, the majority of diners are non-smokers who are affected by the actions of these women. How can a non-smoker avoid the pall of cigarette smoke? Only by asking for a table inside in the otherwise deserted restaurant from which the setting sun and the rising moon, wonderful sights from the outdoor tables, would both be invisible.
The pollution of outdoor eating and drinking spaces by smoke is not, of course, confined to Concarneau: it happens everywhere. With smoking bans indoors in most European countries outdoor seating has become the refuge or preserve of the smokers. Perhaps us non-smokers should leave them to it and stay inside, but that would deprive us of the chance of fresh air (I say 'chance' for obvious reasons) and enjoyment of the scenery. And in even the countries with the heaviest smoking rates non-smokers are in the majority.
Years ago I remember being asked by a student why life expectancies at birth for women in some European countries were no longer increasing (the normal circumstance elsewhere). When I looked into it, the answer was the increased smoking rate among women, leading to the familiar range of smoking-related diseases. According to the latest data, smoking rates are generally dropping but in some cases the levels are still remarkably high - and particularly for women. I have sometimes joked that according to my observation of what happens there, in Greece it seems to be compulsory for women to smoke - so when I looked the most recent data up I wasn't surprised to find that in 2007 Greece actually topped the world league table for the average number of cigarettes smoked each year per adult - over 2700. (In the present circumstances it might seem nice for the Greeks to be top of something, but this surely can't be a record to be proud of.) I remember when Greece introduced a smoking ban in restaurants, but then declared that it would not be enforced because bar-owners and restaurateurs complained that they would go out of business if their clients couldn't smoke indoors. The awful atmosphere in some cafes, restaurants and bars is one reason for non-smokers not to go to Greece.
It's over 30 years since France required bars to identify a zone for non-smokers (general initially close to the toilets) and later that extended to a total ban on indoor smoking. The UK has banned smoking inside pubs and restaurants for some years. It's interesting that in Switzerland it was the Italian-speaking Ticino canton that first introduced an indoor smoking ban, rather than the German or French speaking cantons. Switzerland still has much higher cigarette consumption than either France or the UK, where average cigarette use is around one quarter that of the Greeks.
But what I am arguing for here, albeit in a small way, is the extension of indoor bans on smoking to outdoor areas of restaurants, bars and cafes. Let's not have the air of the majority polluted by the habits of the minority. Everywhere: not just in Concarneau.
