The room holds thirty-four people and there is no version of it that holds forty. We have measured. Four of the tables clear seventy centimetres underneath and the counter stools do not, which is a small number and it is the true one.
Most of what looks like a rule here is arithmetic. Laptops are welcome at breakfast and in the afternoon and not at lunch or supper, because between half eleven and half two a table with a laptop on it is a table nobody can eat at.
Nothing about that is a judgement on anybody working. It is thirty-four seats and two rushes a day.
