Defense de fumer

Remember when you couldn't come to Paris without feeling that you had smoked three packs a day? People smoked absolutely everywhere, at all times and more ferociously the less ventilated the place.
Believe it or not, those days are over. They still smoke like fiends, but they cannot do it everywhere anymore. There are now non smoking sections in restaurants (usually forlorn). It is now forbidden to smoke in class, thank God. There is no smoking in indoor public areas. People will still smoke their heads off in bars and outdoors, but you don't come home smelling like an ashtray. It is delightful. I'm sure they are loathe to admit it, but even they must secretly like it.