So I am in Bloomington.
This fact became immediately apparent Saturday morning when I went to Target with a friend, and the friend, an IU fanatic, headed straight to the electronics department in order to listen to the conclusion of the IU-Purdue basketball game. There we joined about 15 other fanatics (customers and employees) listening to the radio since the game wasn’t being shown on Target’s wall-o-televisions. The tension was palpable as we listened to the Hoosiers beat Purdue in the last minute of the second over time.
One of the things I was most interested in during my quick trip through Bloomington was the after effects of the new smoking ban. As of January 1st, smoking was finally banned in all of Bloomington’s public spaces-including the bars.
The bars were the last public spaces to have smoking banned in Bloomington, and according to yesterday’s Herald-Tribune, this has been met with mixed appreciation. Apparently out at the Office Lounge, there’s a list of complainers along with the notation that the complainers are now facing a life-time ban from the hospitality of the bar.
On the other hand, I stopped by Nick’s for an early dinner tonight (no lunch-I forgot to eat), and I was quite pleased to discover how nice it was to eat there-without smoke. It was nice having a Nick Burger and enjoying the environment that is authentic Bloomington-to have been in Bloomington without having been in Nicks, is to not have been in Bloomington.
I kind of liked the notion of banning smoking everywhere EXCEPT bars. To me, going to a bar meant that I would expect to have smoke being blown in my face. Not to mention, if the smokers were confined to bars, you would definately know where NOT to go looking for a date. 🙂
I agree with bans on smoking in restaraunts… nothing worse that eating a meal and having some fool blow second hand smoke at you thereby destroying the taste of the meal.
Hooray for the smoking ban! I can’t imagine ButtWrinkle’s finally being smoke-free :).
Vancouver’s been smoke-free (bars too) for quite some time…