smoking

Smoking is still pretty common here; and cheap - 20 cigarettes are about 35 - 40 roubles (under £1) even for imported brands. But although it is still allowed in public places people tend to smoke outside, or at least (as in our building) by an open window in the stairwell. So, while there may be a bit of a fug in a restaurant or bar, its nothing compared to what it used to be like everywhere.

In fact I have just been watching the classic Cracker British TV series on DVD - written mainly by Jimmy McGovern and made in the early 90s - with the magnificent big-in-every-way Robbie Coltrane as the hard drinking, chain-smoking criminal psychologist. And you can hardly see the actors for the smoke. This, of course, in a gritty Manchester sort of way, not your Mad Men ironic, post-modern kind of smoking action. Made me quite nostalgic.