Spain Bans Smoking

Hallelujah!
After suffering from second-hand smoke on and off for 9 years, Spain finally banned it in all bars, restaurants, hospitals, work place, outside schools, parks where kids are, basically everywhere that bothers people. It is a miracle if you know spanish people. Everyone here smokes and that isn't an exaggeration. I'm so lucky Pablo doesn't smoke.
It has been quite an up hill battle to finally ban smoking. They know nothing else and to take it away seems, to them, is like cutting off their left hand or taking away one of their kids...... outrageous!
Perspective: When Pablo was born in 1978 anyone could smoke in the hospitals. He came out of the womb smelling second hand smoke. People here don't notice the smoke and how much there really is. They honestly don't believe second-hand smoke is harmful. They don't know a world without smoke and therefore don't see a problem with it. Then I came along and started complaining about it and people around us started to be a little more respectful, which is nice but the problem was still there. If you knew the numerous times I came home smelling like an ashtray you'd probably want throw up! I smelled so horrible! Every time I came home I felt like I lost at least 3 years off my life.
Until 7 years ago, 2003 you could smoke in hospitals, malls, at work! (can you imagine working with smoke everywhere??), grocery stores, anywhere and everywhere. 7 years ago started the first of the bans that included work places and hospitals. The ban on bars and restaurants had a big loophole and many got around it. But finally, as of January 2, 2011, they banned smoking almost everywhere! This is huge!
7 days into the ban things are going well. On the news they show the extreme cases of a few jerk-bar owners who still allow smoking and have started a money collection to pay off the tickets the police will give him. But overall people are doing quite well with the ban. No one is smoking and go outside if they have to. They complain but comply. One thing I have learned about living in Spain is Spanish people are always looking for the trick, the loophole, the free pass, anyway to get around the laws, the rules, to get something they want. So to actually go to a bar and see the people are actually following the rules is amazing, surprise and much appreciated! I hope this continues!