Doublethink - "to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them..." (George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty Four)
These past couple of weeks I have had a good dose of doublethink! First there was the sudden appearance of the "officious commandant" at one of the institutions I go to sporadically to visit an adult orphan who has been deemed incapable of independent living.
"Who have you come as?" she demanded. "Only relatives can visit".
When I pointed out that, being an orphan, my friend didn't have any relatives to visit her, her answer was:
"I know she's an orphan, that's why she's here. Only relatives can visit!"
Then there was the cafe my friend and I stopped in to the other day after a huge craving for a hamburger. The hamburger was, as I expected, NOT satisfying, but it was probably all worth it for my next installment of doublethink. We seated ourselves and then noticed that all around us people were smoking and there were ash trays on every table as far as the eye could see. Calling the waiter over we asked where the non-smoking section was.
"There is no non-smoking section" she explained.
We thought that a bit much, especially given that according to the law, smoking is not even allowed in cafes and restaurants.
"So what about that sign?" we asked, pointing at the large NO SMOKING ALLOWED signs posted at regular intervals along the walls.
"No smoking allowed. That's the law. That's why we don't have a special non-smoking section".
{shrug}
I guess all cafes are smoke free, its just that some are more smoke-free than others!
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