I had no idea that residents of my former home town of Halifax, Nova Scotia have such a problem with the drink... and ice skating:

Selling beer at the oval was not part of the sponsorship deal or any of the discussions leading up to it, Mayor Peter Kelly said Wednesday. “I wouldn’t think (we) would ever want it to be part of the discussion,” the mayor said. “It certainly was not part of the sponsorship agreement approved by council ... and I don’t believe council would consider going there.” Although the BMO Centre in Bedford serves beer, Coun. Linda Mosher (Purcells Cove-Armdale) said she thinks the two venues cater to different crowds and different events. Grabbing a beer during a hockey game is socially acceptable, she said. But when you’re skating? Not so much. “You don’t want to get people skating half-cut,” Coun. Jerry Blumenthal (Halifax North End) said.

"Half-cut" is such a good old Halifax phrase for being smashed. One is never, as far as I recall, cut. And I am never sure what receives the cutting. But, in any event, it is a dangerous state of affairs and one that can, apparently, be triggered by outdoor skating in a way that people who skate indoors can never fully appreciate. Is it the view of the arc of the sky that sends east coast folk into that maddened state that they can never stop at one... or maybe two?

My recollections of the port town - that centuries old North Atlantic navy town - was that there was no need of an excuse and no obstacle that could not be circumvented to get to one's beer. But maybe outdoor ice skating is it, that socially unacceptable behaviour that must exclude beer for Nova Scotians. I knew there had to be one thing hypothetically, theoretically. Never really expected to actually scientifically identify it.