Pub Life

I was looking forward to getting back to the pubs in Sydney, and I've done some field work in the last couple of weeks. So what's new?

Firstly, the number of beers on tap has increased markedly. Carlton Draft has taken over a huge slice of the market and I for one am glad of that. The boutique breweries have also found a place on the bar, and I'm still working through all of those. The end result is that you've got anywhere up to a dozen different beers available on tap. If variety is the spice of life, then... I don't know. But I'm sure there's a very clever way to alter the homily, and I'm sure it involves drinking a lot of beer.

Then there's the non-smoking culture. At over $10.00 a packet of fags, not many people are bothering these days and the laws are changing to outlaw public smoking altogether. Which suits me just fine; I wanted to quit anyway. But it's not as extreme as I'd been led to believe. There are still lots of people puffing away, despite the increasingly gruesome advertising campaigns they run here. In the latest one they've got a woman with mouth cancer talking to the camera. Geez. Can you imagine what the brainstorming sessions are like with the anti-smoking advertising folk?

The last thing I've noticed about Sydney pubs is the total sensory overload. Between watching the football and listening to the jukebox or the DJ and keeping an eye on the little buzzer they give you for when your meal is ready and my mobile and etc and so on... it's tough to carry on a coherent conversation. Don't we ever just talk anymore?