1 July 2007 - a bad day for English Hobbits
 

As an English hobbit, I can no longer fulfill one of my cherished ambitions

For many years I have been determined that, one day, I would visit The Eagle and Child (The Bird and Baby) in Oxford, sit where Tolkien sat with the Inklings, enjoy a pint of good English ale and smoke a pipe of tobacco in the Professor's honour.

That dream has been snatched from me.

It is now illegal to smoke in any enclosed public or work place in England.
It may be good for my health but I feel that I am now deprived a part of my Hobbit cultural heritage.

:( :( :(
.

You could of course wait til after closing time and the stay behind as this is what happens in Ireland - the ashtrays come out from behind the bar come 11.30pm and the curtains being drawn - may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb eh? ;)

anyway, I've done it - well, it was ciggies and Magners cider instead of a pipe and English ale, but it was nevertheless marvellous. As was the landlord's beef stew and dumplings. :smokin:

In modern England, Tolkien would be classed as the height of evil, being someone who liked beer and fags! :rolleyes:

What's wrong with being a healthy Hobbit?!

cheers!
 

Oh, you are still free to smoke; you simply have to choose the right spot where only you will face the unhealthy recriminations/consequences.

It was a bit Sauron-like, smokers sullying the air and those around them not having any choice about breathing in carcinogens. I think Tolkien would have absolutely understood the issue of not contaminating other people's choices.

Sounds like you might want to fulfill even some part of the 'dream' while time, circumstances and the law permits ("The Chief doesn't hold with beer. Leastways that is how it started.") Could you 'smoke' the pipe without lighting it? Forgive my ignorance, but I can't understand the point of smoking to begin with (but to each its own), and so not sure if 'almost' would count.

Walked by the Inn one night, but didn't have time to go in. Not sure if I'll ever get back to Oxford, but for now it's enough to know that I walked the same roads as the Professor and Potter. ;)