15 August 2006

All the time in the world

Now, I sometimes feel I could do with some extra time. Don't we all? And I think I've found a way of gaining at least one hour a day. One hour per working day.

You may, or may not know, that Norway has a ban on public smoking. Following Ireland, and with Britain tailing us. I don't know the exact details of their laws, but at least here, you're not allowed to smoke indoors in any public building, like in bars, restaurants, airports, or at work. (Even if everybody working there smokes and noone ever visits...) But smoking itself isn't illegal. Yet...

I don't smoke. So, I don't need to take breaks for smoking during a work day. Hey, wait! That's not fair?!


Smoking a cigarette takes, what, 6-7 minutes? And walking up and down to street level (all these people smoking on pavements outside public buildings may really be a health hazard...), to / from the stairs / lift, getting dressed to go out in, say, 20 below freezing (-4 F), must make that at least 15 minutes altogether.

An average smoker needs a good 4 cigarettes during a work day. This is perfectly legitimate still - and leaves said smokers 1 hour to themselves. Every work day.

Surely this means I'm allowed 1 hour of blogging during an 8 hour work day?

6 comments:

Just D said...

AMEN! I could use 4 separate 15 minute breaks each day! But what I could really use is to recieve all the money each week that smokers actually spend!

author said...

A least - I think even more!

Moncrief Speaks said...

Off topic, but could you have a look at this page http://www.kare11.com/company/bios/talent_article.aspx?storyid=126844 and click on the link (in the box at top) and listen to this guy speak Norwegian. How does he do? He's a local Norwegian American (i.e., American but evidently still in touch with his Norwegian relatives) and I'm curious if he does a passable job speaking Norwegian or not. This was a local advertisement here.

Moncrief Speaks said...

Wait, here's a link

Moncrief Speaks said...

Thanks for your reply on my blog! Interesting.

It must be weird seeing bits of your culture and surnames appearing in weird, incomplete, modified ways in the "New World", but then again I suppose Europeans have long been used to that.

Violet said...

I hate walking past smokers who are taking up space on the footpath. If I'm walking my daughter in the buggy, I'll cross the street to avoid the fumes.