It's been a quiet week - no meetings, which is good, because I've had no voice for most of the week, due to a chest infection. And despite the fact that it had no effect on my typing, I've had a bad week in terms of internet connections - the council system doesn't want to let me in and my home dial up is increasingly patchy, though I'm inclined to think the latter is about a secret campaign to get me to switch to broadband.

One of the topics of conversation in the Council House this week has been the issue of smoking, after an email was sent out telling people that we could no longer smoke in the courtyard or outside the public entrances to the building - prompting The Lord Mayor to take a stand in the press. He's got a point; I've no problem with smoking being banned within the building and boundaries of the Council House, but if you are going to prevent people from smoking outside the entrances to the Council House, then surely you would have to ban everyone from smoking in the public outdoor spaces around the Council House? The question needs to be asked, because we're not that far down the line yet..

I've smoked for several years, and I think I'm in a minority of smokers who agree with the concept of banning smoking in public places. I've seen how such bans have worked in other cities, and I think the inconvenience of not being able to smoke in pubs or restaurants probably helps people to decide to give up. Personally, I'd rather make the choice to give up when I'm just being inconvenienced, rather than when I'm forced to because smoking is made either illegal or so prohibitively expensive that I can no longer afford to smoke.

Anyway, the issue at this point is academic for me, as I spent yesterday afternoon at the Stop Smoking Service in the city centre. Having spent most of the week trying, very much against my will, to cough up my lungs, I decided to try and use my illness induced aversion to smoking as a basis for a serious attempt to give up. So I'm on Day One today, with the patches, and feeling quite confident. I'll see how long it lasts..