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Summer is gone
Oct. 27th, 2005 04:02 pmThey say that the summers of your youth always seem hotter and longer than the ones of your adult years. Fuck that, 21C was something we could only dream of during a Doncaster August, never mind the end of October.
I made the mistake of going into Argos where they had their radiators on. Oh why oh why do I keep going back there; the place makes me feel irritable as soon as I step in the door. I queued up to use a card reader to pay for my goods which wouldn't read my card so I had to join the regular queue whose cashier then wouldn't let me sign with my card, only enter the unknown PIN. I thought technology was supposed to make things easier. Then comes the tedious wait whereby you can see your goods but no way are the minwage slaves gonna give you them. It doesn't help that whenever I make my annual purgatorial visit to 'Gos, someone in there is buying a foot-spa. Communism may have had its bad points (lack of personal freedom, state-licensed murder etc), but at least they didn't have foot spas.
Talking of personal liberties, I am miffed by the idiot "third way" compromise that the government has made with the smoking ban. When we were in Ireland it was blissful not to come out pubs stinking of ashtrays and in Sweden it was lovely to take a deep breath for a high note and not cough out a load of tar. The allowing cigs if the pub doesn't serve food thing has so many loopholes just waiting to be exploited. If they serve lunch between 12 and 3 and then tea between 6 and 9.30, does that mean people will be able to smoke in the meantime? If they buy in pre-packed sarnies, does that count as food? Crisps? Pork scratchings? If they serve food in a separate part of the pub with a closed door, will that mean people can smoke in the other areas? I can remember people (legally) smoking on the top deck of the bus and in the workplace; this is now taboo, so why can't pub-smoking be outlawed as well? People'd get used to it, just as they've had to get used to non-smoking planes, cinemas and restaurants. Smokers I've asked (not Richard) have said that if it encouraged them to give up, then they're for a total ban. It's hardly a class issue - at the Social Club last Saturday only 3 out of 100 or so people were 'avin a fag. I hate this wishy-washy stance of trying to please everyone but pleasing no-one - I can't help but suspect that the tobacco companies have put some lobbying pressure on the government. Personal freedom is about walking down the road without being harassed, it's not about smoking yersens to death.
I made the mistake of going into Argos where they had their radiators on. Oh why oh why do I keep going back there; the place makes me feel irritable as soon as I step in the door. I queued up to use a card reader to pay for my goods which wouldn't read my card so I had to join the regular queue whose cashier then wouldn't let me sign with my card, only enter the unknown PIN. I thought technology was supposed to make things easier. Then comes the tedious wait whereby you can see your goods but no way are the minwage slaves gonna give you them. It doesn't help that whenever I make my annual purgatorial visit to 'Gos, someone in there is buying a foot-spa. Communism may have had its bad points (lack of personal freedom, state-licensed murder etc), but at least they didn't have foot spas.
Talking of personal liberties, I am miffed by the idiot "third way" compromise that the government has made with the smoking ban. When we were in Ireland it was blissful not to come out pubs stinking of ashtrays and in Sweden it was lovely to take a deep breath for a high note and not cough out a load of tar. The allowing cigs if the pub doesn't serve food thing has so many loopholes just waiting to be exploited. If they serve lunch between 12 and 3 and then tea between 6 and 9.30, does that mean people will be able to smoke in the meantime? If they buy in pre-packed sarnies, does that count as food? Crisps? Pork scratchings? If they serve food in a separate part of the pub with a closed door, will that mean people can smoke in the other areas? I can remember people (legally) smoking on the top deck of the bus and in the workplace; this is now taboo, so why can't pub-smoking be outlawed as well? People'd get used to it, just as they've had to get used to non-smoking planes, cinemas and restaurants. Smokers I've asked (not Richard) have said that if it encouraged them to give up, then they're for a total ban. It's hardly a class issue - at the Social Club last Saturday only 3 out of 100 or so people were 'avin a fag. I hate this wishy-washy stance of trying to please everyone but pleasing no-one - I can't help but suspect that the tobacco companies have put some lobbying pressure on the government. Personal freedom is about walking down the road without being harassed, it's not about smoking yersens to death.
