Today is officially the first day of winter in Australia. It is also the first day of the great pub reopening. Oh; also the libraries are reopening today but that is not as important…

Early Start

The (so called) relaxed “lockdown” rules have allowed the pubs to open their doors to the public once more. The actual rule was for today, 1st June. Some even opened at 7am this morning. I saw one open at 9am after dropping Dani at school and did think about popping in but that was too early even for me. There were already a few die-hards in there however.

I am not a regular user of pubs these days but at times like this it is quite odd. You really miss things the most when they are taken away from you.

Plan of Attack

My plan was to go for a couple of drinks before picking Dani up from school. So just around lunch time I headed for the pub in my shorts and T-shirt – as you do on the first day of winter.

And I should have known better. The pub I headed for was not open. They currently operate one room as a bistro serving food and of course drinks but they do not think the limitations warrant a full opening. They are waiting for the maximum limit (currently 50 people) to be lifted. Bloody typical. Sadly this could be a theme in certain larger pubs.

Plan B

I wasted no time going back to the one that I knew was open. The staff were clearly happy to be working again. Not even wearing face masks. Just getting on with the job of serving beer. They were even accepting cash payments. All good stuff. The customers were in good spirits – as you can imagine. There were no more than fifty customers. Probably about 30 but there could have been more. Some looked like they intended making a full day of it.

They did not have all the usual beers on tap – as I suspected – but there were certainly enough. I had a couple of pale ales and decided that I had better go and pick Dani up from school. Mission accomplished.

One odd thing was that they asked all customers to sign their name and give a phone number. I guess it must be some kind of tracking thing if there is a virus outbreak related to the pub. I should have used a false name and/or number but didn’t. then again I doubt they would be able to read my writing.

The Fifty People Rule

The one problem with all this is clearly that stupid ‘maximum fifty person’ rule that has been imposed. Large pubs can and will hold many more. It remains to be seen how long that rule stays in place or even if it is followed. Will there be some official walking around a bustling pub counting people? If you go in a busy looking pub my advice would be to keep moving. Just in case some busy-body of a council worker is trying to count the number of drinkers. Don’t give the bastards a chance hahahaa…

Not quite back to normal just yet but getting there. Still, get your beer from an open pub while you still can. I am sure if too many people start enjoying life someone in authority will come up with another stupid reason for closing them again.

And the libraries…

The libraries are not exactly open. I checked before going for a refreshing beverage. There are people working there but they do not plan to reopen fully to the public for another few weeks. I really don’t get it but that is what I was told. I did manage to hand my book back however. Two months and a day overdue.