Back 2 Smoking

When we stopped by our salon on Saturday to make an appointment for Chris to get his hair cut, the receptionist, who knows how much I hate smoking, asked if we heard the news. "What news?" I replied. Turns out the politicians in Munich are going to be reversing the smoking ban in Munich come June or July - if not sooner. Apparently, it was a (pardon my French) a "cluster fuck."

This isn't a big surprise. For starters, when the city enacted the smoking ban on January 1, 2008, they left room for interpretation. Meaning, if you wanted to declare yourself a "smoking club," patrons could smoke (for example, on Saturday night, we had to finish dinner by 11:00 as our restaurant became a smoking club where either membership is required or you sign a roster declaring your participation). The problem with this little loophole is that it created an unfair playing field - giving some establishments the advantage over the others. So, complaining began. As a result, we now must say "bye-bye" to a smoke-free Munich as I'm sure most places will revert back to their original ways.

Paris did it. London did it. New York did it. But apparently, Munich couldn't pull off a smoke free city. How sad.