Smoke Gets in My Eyes

Last time I tried to open our old-fashioned one-pane windows three of them came down with the force of Goliat and the poor one-panes scattered when wood met wood. Most of the windows, except for a few courageous and stubborn pieces fell six floors down and was further decimated when the glass pieces hit the concrete garden below. Such a tragic ending to a beginning I had never known.

This time I vowed on Hunter S. Thompson's scattered ashes that I would be more careful. So I pushed the bottom window as far up as I could and secured it with the string from the venetian shades. I wanted to catch the first spring rays in the flesh and have nothing between myself and the setting Californian sun. I rarely do same brutal mistake twice, hmm, and succeeded with my amateurish engineering venture.

All that work on a Sunday was inspired by an article in the latest issue of The Economist which I subscribe to but rarely read. The article that caught my attention was about the latest European ban - no smoking in several different public places in Spain. A rather shocking political stupidity by the current Socialist government. I can only concur with the owner of Madrid's La Broche restaurant: To have an armagnac without a cigar is unthinkable.

So in pure sympathy I grabbed my humidor, the cutter and a cigar match to indulge in the occasional 45-minute pleasure of smoking a puro in sympathy with all other hedonists in the world. It seems that Europe is in agreement with the US in enforcing medieval limitations on life, do anything to avoid the inexpensive and natural pleasures of life.

I don't think we need to have more anxieties in life or feel more fearful than we already do. The relentless feeding of people's fears to get everyone to sing the same tune, walk in the same pace and path and sharing the very same dream is just the worst recipe for happiness. But happiness has never been a priority in politics - only greed and fear.