I was walking through a small Valleys town yesterday. The weather was beautiful and very un-November like. I noticed that every cafe, and Pub had seating outside, even Greggs ! And I thought....oh how Continental ! How very gay, in the old sense of the word !
But then it suddenly dawned on me !....Nothing to do with us wanting to take on the habits of Montmartre, or La Croisette. Its the ruddy smokers !
I love the Cafe Culture, breakfast with good coffee ( not UK coffee) with sun on one"s back is unbeatable. However, you are correct, in that all the smokers have been banished to the outside tables, defeating the object of eating and drinking Al fresco.
I would imagine it must be worse for you in the Med. I haven't been to Spain for 40 years but the last 3 times I have been abroad, its been to Italy, and everybody seems to smoke there !
Bouncer...I would like to reclaim the word gay, back from our friends of Dorothy.............its a lovely word that people are afraid to use now, which is a pity.
Even Ukraine has now banned smoking in pubs, although it will soon be too chilly to sit outside :-)
In fairness I think outside seating started before the smoking ban, tho I agree that it's done nothing to discourage it
I always sit outside having my coffee (not English coffee!) even in the rain and cold so hopefully the ruddy smokers will bogg off elsewhere in the winter.
if people are sitting on the pavement they may have more pollution to contend with than comes from cigarettes.
You can say "gay" all you want, mikey. But because its meaning has changed substantially, you run the risk of being misunderstood, which is always a good reason for choosing words with care.