I dreamt that the summer was drawing to its end. It was getting colder by the day, and many of my friends were getting jittery because they could not smoke inside cafés and restaurants any longer. The law banning smoking in public places was introduced at the beginning of the summer, when most people would spend a good portion of their time outdoors. Café and restaurant terraces were jammed. But it was getting too cold for sitting outside. The new law started biting, and many people turned ever more jumpy. I remember thinking about the fact that I would not be able to smoke a cigar anywhere but home, but that was fine with me. A cigar a day was all I needed, anyway. Even that was something I could give up without much trouble, or so I calmed myself down. But many of my friends were real smokers, and it was time for them to either stop smoking, or to continue suffering the cold many times a day. When I woke up, the dream struck me as rather pedestrian. It will come literally true in a couple of short months.

Addendum (September 13, 2009)

As it turns out, my dream was not destined to come true, literally or otherwise.  The new law, the goal of which is to save thousands of lives, was recently changed.  Actually, it was unceremoniously dropped because many café and restaurant owners complained about it to the government.  Their business was down.  Besides, the government’s income from tobacco tax was also down, which was difficult to live with through the economic crisis.  At any rate, Croatia is likely to be the only country in the entire world where such a law has been revoked.  If it has to lead in something, legal chaos is not a bad start.