Everyone's world has been turned upside down by COVID19, it feels like we have been in hibernation or some wort of holding paatern for the last three months, but here in Australia we have thankfully avoided the real pain that we have seen overseas.
We locked down early and tight, and combined with lots of testing, and that fact that we are an island and put all returning travellers in quarantine we now have numbers like 10-15 new cases a day for the nation of 25 million, which are pretty good odds.
Now for this whole time the pubs (along with resturants, cafes, gyms, churches, sports, entertainment and bassically anywhere we people gather) have been closed but as of June 1st they have been reopened - which means we could return to our local.
Now the last beer I had in a pub was in mid March at my local - which is called Bobbie Peels - I remember the night well, the football season, we were in a time when things were still open but we were getting used to the concept of social distancing, things were odd, but Corona was a thing happening in China and Italy and not here.
Two days later everything got shut down, the football season was postponed (round two is going ahead in about a weeks time) and everyone bunked down.
But now we are back, but with weird rules - Pubs can only have 20 people in them, you can only drink alcohol if you are also eating a meal, you can't go to the bar as it's all table service and those tables have to be long way apart.
Oh and you have to 'sign in' so that they can contact you if someone who was there when you were gets sick (this on top of a tracking app most of us have on our phones which does the same thing).
Really the only normal things were that I got to have a great IPA, fresh, on draught for the first time in 3 months (and weirdly it was the same beer which was the last one I drank in Bobbie Peels - a Hargreaves Hill IPA - I'm assuming not the same keg.
And I got to have a Parma - which is a classic Australian pub meal - for you overseas people it's a chicken schnitzel which passata, ham and cheese on top - and it's amazing, and in great australian pub tradition - huge.
It was so good to be back at the local, just sitting there talking the crap you talk in pubs eating food which you could never buy elsewhere, and drinking fresh tap beer - so good.
As always this is my entry into #Beersaturday, which is the weekly beer contest organised by 