Now you can't even puff away in the warmth of a pub or chain smoke as you sip coffee in a cafe.

In fact, huddled uncomfortably under a bit of shed erected especially for smokers outside my local was when I first began to question whether or not I was still enjoying smoking. Or at least enjoying it enough to warrant the death sentence it was signing me up to.

British winter weather puts a serious dampener (quite literally) on smoking outdoors.

Being herded into the smoking 'pig pens' (as my friends call them) with a stamp on your hand to prove you've paid your entry fee is not the most appealing part of a night out at a club.

Plus, as another smoking pal pointed out to me, overnight the ban made smoking in public more or less unacceptable.

So here I am, 32 days after taking the big, sadistic step of giving up smoking, the weather is getting worse and I am finally starting to see some of the benefits of being smoke-free.

In contrast to my long term argument that it's non-smokers who are anti-social, I have come to accept that it is now smokers who interrupt social events to go outdoors for a smoke and return smelling like a wet ashtray.

My advice to anyone thinking of quitting is do it now while the weather is grim.

Having barely seen the inside of any pub since the smoking ban booted smokers outdoors in July, I think I actually enjoyed myself as I sipped mulled wine by the fire place at the Paper Mill pub in Apsley last night, watching a smoker shiver in the wind outside.