What the Jobsworths Don't Know...

A Rare Privilege

It was a pleasant night in the Village yesterday. It was rounded of in fine style in a local pub that is a bit off my usual well-beaten path and I shall not name it, or even pseudoname it for reasons that will soon become apparent.

Not only was the drink sensibly priced by local standards, but once the crowd had dwindled to a half a dozen and three staff, the doors were locked and curtains closed. Not because it had reached the end of it's licensed hours, but it was about to become 'no longer a public space'. Ashtrays appeared and everyone, including the staff lit up.

I'm not entirely sure if the manager's interpretation of the law was correct, but nobody was going to complain and it was a strange delight to enjoy a cigarette in the time-honoured manner, knowing that what you were doing would drive some small minded jobsworth at the local council offices in to a fit of apoplexy if they knew.

In tribute to this act of common sense, I've temporarily abandoned my policy of only using images from sources where no copyright has been asserted, and have instead lifted the image for this posting right off the 'new anti-smoking laws' page from the local borough council's website. Sod it, I pay enough to them.

All nit-picking, jobsworth, killjoys can go and...well, pick your own favourite epithet for these sad individuals.