[petewho]

Since I'm still pretty new to the leaf, it's been only the past two weeks that I've had a lunchtime cigar, maybe two or three times a week.I'd been walking down to a 20 acre grass field type park that's outlined with a paved path and the occasional bench here and there. I've always entered and exited the park from the same side, taken a seat on the same bench in the shade, and fired up. I've never been given the stink-eye from passers-by.

Here in California smoking is VERY unpopular, and I'm a courteous person. So when families with small kids walk by, I take that time to stand up, stretch my legs, and walk away from the path, letting them pass by far away from me & my odor.

Today I saw a guy walking the path with a lunch bag in his hand, looking for an open bench (most were occupied with people sleeping on them). When he sat down next to me I got up and decided to have a walk for the remainder of my cigar, figuring this guy would like to eat his sandwich without smoke. Once I was up and walking around, I saw something that nearly made me swallow my cigar - a big fat NO SMOKING sign RIGHT above the very bench I'd been sitting on the last two weeks for my lunchtime cigar!

Ugh. I took a walk and finished my stick standing around in an empty parking lot. I can't believe I'd been sitting right under a no smoking sign... Even more unbelievable is that nobody called me on it.