Smoke-free France!

When you think of France, what image do you conjure up in your mind of the average citizen? A Frenchman wearing a beret, riding a bike with a baguette and a necklace of garlic per chance? But what about a cigarette in their mouth?

I knew the French smoked a lot but I did not realise quite how much until I saw (or should I say smelt) it for myself on my Year Abroad. But now, January 1st 2008, France is officially smoke-free!

I have to admit when I read this story on the news I wondered whether it was actually April 1st and not January 1st...

Last year I was surprised that the first reform was implement that banned smoking from all workplaces. I remember reading at the time how companies had to adapt their work environments to the changes with some even installing smoking "chambers" which the smokers had to enter to have their fix.

I never thought it would last, but it has! So successfully in fact, that now smoking has now been banned in all cafés, bars, restaurants and nightclubs. The same ban has worked wonders here in the UK, so as a non-smoker and someone not wanting to contract cancer through other peoples' smoke, I am in favour of the move.

Charles Bremner on his excellent blog for the Times talks about the 'café-clope' ("the ritual expresso and smoke that gets you going in the morning"), a tradition that will surely die a slow death now - maybe it contracted lung cancer...

So will France be the same? I'm not so sure. Although I am in favour as a non-smoker, it just would not be the France I know without the smoke...