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Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

Smoke ’em while you got ’em

On June 1st — that’s less than two weeks away — Accordion City’s bars, billiard halls, bingo palaces, casinos and racetracks go smoke-free.

I’m looking forward not to depriving my friends of thier little
sucker’s habit (and it is a sucker’s habit, despite their protestations
and misguided belief that they are some kind of oppressed minority),
but to the ability to breathe inside bars and clubs, lower dry cleaning
bills and no longer getting burned by some fool accidentally butting
out on me.

6 replies on “Smoke ’em while you got ’em”

YAY!
I love the smokefreeness here in Ottawa.
You WILL notice how dirty the establishments are when you can actually see them – but being able to see the stage from across the bar is kinda cool too!

Man oh man. First you can’t smoke in government buildings, then you can’t smoke in bars. If we’re not careful, they’re going to pass a law against pissing in public swimming pools, or waste our valuable tax dollars making sure restaurant chefs wash their hands after going to the bathroom.
Of course, I’m biased. The last time the Merf Herder was in town, we went out to Kickass Karaoke. For about two minutes. Then she couldn’t breathe anymore thanks to the smoke, and we had to leave because suffocation is for losers.

This includes restaurants I hope? I love smoke-free Boston, Cambridge, Somerville – it’s so nice to come home after a night out and be able to stand the smell of yourself and your…whomever. Even if you might smell like fried taters instead.

Here in Ireland, smoking was banned in all workplaces a couple of months ago – everywhere from pubs to gig venues to company cars even. I can finally enjoy myself when I go out now! No more cough-cough-splutter! And I don’t stink o’ tobaccy when I gets home, neither.

Rochester went smoke-free before NY state did. It’s nice to go to bars and restaurants but now there’s always a throng of smokers outside the entrances that you have to negotiate in order to go inside.
One interesting side effect: nicotine stains used to be the mark of a working guitar that had spent its life in clubs. Now that will someday be a thing of the past. But I’d bet things were worse for accordians, given they actually “breathe” when working.

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