No Smoking, No Eating, No Fun

You can't have a cigarette with your pint anymore.

Medical experts and those who don't want anyone smoking applied enough pressure to the politicians, and the smoke is now outdoors. Even the non-smokers head for the smoking section. The people out there tend to be more interesting, for some reason.

The New York Nannies have taken the control doctrine up a notch, however, and it's only a matter of time until some other government in some other part of the world sees it and thinks, Why, that's brilliant. We should follow New York's lead.

I've been in restaurants that provide a mound of cheese spread and crackers for patrons waiting for tables, or even for those who stop in for a drink. I've been in many a fine establishment that features a bowl of salted snacks at your left hand to pair with the beer in your right.

The New York City health police have decided that such communal food, left in the open as if it's all a big cocktail party, is not sanitary. There will be no free cheese and crackers any more. If you want nuts, you'll have to purchase a bag.

It's not as if someone has contracted some dread disease from eating the shared cheese or dipping fingers into a communal bowl of Chex Mix. What has the health police fired up is the possibility that such an event might occur.

A little more of the fun of a social evening has been removed by those who don't want us having too much fun in case we might laugh ourselves silly or bust a gut. A little more salt is removed from the bar and there goes the incentive to have another beer to quench a thirst.

Some people still resent the whole repeal of Prohibition thing, apparently. All that exuberance over demon alcohol...