Actually, I just wandered into a cafe in the park on my way home today and lit up. I met another smoker, too. He just came up to me and we had a great time chatting. I got a work commission from the owner too.
I know it'sn not always the cleverest thing to do (use your own common sense and assess the individual ares, the people around you, the time etc) but I literally forget pot is illegal sometimes... I know, dumb... But people are usually a litle taken aback by how casual I am, get to know me and think 'this pot smoker is a sweet little girl... i guess it's not so bad'. I tend to do the anti alcohol/cigarettes/hard drugs talk and medical cannabis history factdrop and by the end of it they are wondering why they never smoked before. I know you can't always trust people these days but I've been fine so far, smoking at the pub, down the road, at the bus stop etc. Now what I wouldn't ever do is smoke somewhere it's not recommended to smoke at all, like the crazy man I saw with a cigarette on the bus. I was so paranoid the entire time thinking MY GOD, HE'S SMOKING ON A BUS, WTF ARE YOU NUTS?' When I see people smoke on train platforms and around kids I get edgy like I'm going to get in trouble for it. Like the others said, if there is a smoking ban in that place anyway, don't freaking do it.
There were people blazing at a Reggae festival in Wembley Arena London last year... you could smell it, but I wouldn't ever light up INSIDE an event venue. We wen't across the road to the massive multi-story car park think and got completely fucked, walked back in to the concert, passed sniffer dogs and sat back down. THen weh we came out again this guy says we should smoke EVERYTHING now quickly in case they catch us on the way back in XD I didn't, thinking we were far more likely to get caught smelling of freshly blazed zoot, looking very stoned and not being able to walk in a straight line.
One thing I've noticed though; on the few occasions i've been to clubs as opposed to bars/pubs, they are militant. I think they have a zero-tolerance policy for fear of people pushing the boundaries to do harder stuff on their premises and the fact they don't want the legal responsibility for anything that goes down under their roof.
I don't say and do these things because I think I'm cool and untouchable, but because I smoke weed all day in the place of cigarettes, I don't see it as any worse than a cigarette and when people see me not making a big deal out of it, they usually smile and wave, I let them have a toke (which I've had returned a few times) or they don't make a big deal out of it either. They can see I'm not causing any trouble.
You've already heard my stories about the police, who actually went into my bag to retrieve my ID whilst I was IN the station............