There's something (no longer) in the air...
I arrived in Berlin on Monday of this week, and in the evening I went into a bar. Actually I went into a few bars, staying only a few seconds in the first two because they seemed a bit too loud and trendy for my taste. But with such a basis for comparison, a pattern jumped out at me. Something quite unexpected and completely at odds with my previous experience of Berlin.
I could breathe.
That's right, since I was last here over a year ago, some legislation has obviously been passed. Legislation with surprisingly sharp teeth: most bars, cafes and restaurants are now forbidden to allow smoking except in special rooms that are effectively closed off from the rest. This is very different from what I've seen in Zürich, where one will occasionally find a single "non-smoking table" in a corner of the room, surrounded by smokers who sit less than a meter away. I've always thought it symbolic of how much trouble smokers seem to have taking non-smokers seriously. But the tide is clearly changing: first the US, then Italy, Britain, now Germany... there's evidently no stopping the onset of the 21st century. Even in Germany, a country where someone once told me that 50% of all doctors smoke. I'd have had trouble imagining it before I saw it.
People in Europe, unlike Americans these days, seem very much accustomed to dealing with smoke in public places... even many of the non-smokers I've spoken to say it doesn't bother them at all. I'll admit that in the past few months, I've also made great progress in my tolerance. There are even one or two people I'm quite close to who smoke. In fact, I've come to think there are some situations in which smoke seems appropriate, is an important part of the ambient experience... in the right mood, I can enjoy having it around me. But let's get real: people will feel nostalgiac for smoky bars just as they are nostalgiac about the middle ages --- there was something cool about it, but life now is better in innumerable practical ways. The past week in Berlin has reminded me that I will always be happier without the smoke.
And to all smokers who have trouble believing that what they're doing could seriously be disturbing or harmful to anyone other than themselves, I have the following message:
Surely you don't mind stepping outside, do you?
What, you find it cold in Berlin in February?
*evil laugh*
I'm a very compassionate and sympathetic person, you know.
The only disadvantage is that now I have to fight back the urge to spend all my time and money in cafes.
I could breathe.
That's right, since I was last here over a year ago, some legislation has obviously been passed. Legislation with surprisingly sharp teeth: most bars, cafes and restaurants are now forbidden to allow smoking except in special rooms that are effectively closed off from the rest. This is very different from what I've seen in Zürich, where one will occasionally find a single "non-smoking table" in a corner of the room, surrounded by smokers who sit less than a meter away. I've always thought it symbolic of how much trouble smokers seem to have taking non-smokers seriously. But the tide is clearly changing: first the US, then Italy, Britain, now Germany... there's evidently no stopping the onset of the 21st century. Even in Germany, a country where someone once told me that 50% of all doctors smoke. I'd have had trouble imagining it before I saw it.
People in Europe, unlike Americans these days, seem very much accustomed to dealing with smoke in public places... even many of the non-smokers I've spoken to say it doesn't bother them at all. I'll admit that in the past few months, I've also made great progress in my tolerance. There are even one or two people I'm quite close to who smoke. In fact, I've come to think there are some situations in which smoke seems appropriate, is an important part of the ambient experience... in the right mood, I can enjoy having it around me. But let's get real: people will feel nostalgiac for smoky bars just as they are nostalgiac about the middle ages --- there was something cool about it, but life now is better in innumerable practical ways. The past week in Berlin has reminded me that I will always be happier without the smoke.
And to all smokers who have trouble believing that what they're doing could seriously be disturbing or harmful to anyone other than themselves, I have the following message:
Surely you don't mind stepping outside, do you?
What, you find it cold in Berlin in February?
*evil laugh*
I'm a very compassionate and sympathetic person, you know.
The only disadvantage is that now I have to fight back the urge to spend all my time and money in cafes.