I popped out to the Bottle shop to get a case of beer at 7:10pm tonite. Not a worry, they don't shut until 8pm. When I get there, they are shut, completely, shutters down lights out... gone.

So I go to the next nearest bottle shop, by this time its 7:15pm and they don't shut until 8:00pm so no problem....

Their shutters are 90% down, I can see some lights on, but the only way I'd get served is to crawl under the shutters, slide open the door and scream I WANT BEER!

So instead I head to a third bottle shop in Birkdale, again it says it shuts at 8pm. Now you'll have to believe me on this next bit.

It appears open and prepared to do buisiness. So I go in. First wierd thing, the guy behind the till is filling in his timesheet, and he has already written 8pm as his finishing time.

Second thing, the till is turned off. Third thing is he looks really pissed off that I have come in at 7:25pm to a shop that 'closes' at 8pm.

I think I made his day buy giving him the exact money for the beer. So it didn't have to go through the till, or indeed the owner.

Its such a different concept here, when a shop shuts at 8pm, it means don't annoy us after 7pm we're shutting up. In the UK if a shopt shuts at 8pm, you can nip in a buy something a 7:59pm

JTL

They must do it just to annoy you I bet they all rang ahead and said Quick, JTL is on the way, shut the shop

I went to the pet shop at 8:10pm - they shut at 8 too, but she let me in because she was still cashing up.

No its is definitely an Australian thing. When a shop says it shuts at 8pm it means, the last employee is leaving and locking the door at 8pm. The till is probably totalled up by by 7:45, the staff have got their coats on, and they are off. I've had shops refused to serve me 15 minutes before their closing time.

So a shop, lets say a corner shop, says its open until 8pm.

And then some one walks in a 7:59.... you are joking:curse: We are leaving, till is closed, piss off.

JTL

You? The right money? That's the gag, right?

Please lie on the couch and relax.

Now Mr.Lad.

Tell me, how often do you get this recurring dream of Bottle shops ?

My Dad used to brew his own,you win both ways,first you save money and then don't have to hand over cash at the bottle shop to staff who can't be assed and secondly you'll always have a supply handy!!!!hehe:

Hey...Relax...Its Queensland

Last weekend I bought a Coopers microbrewing kit from Kmart. It does 23 litres (30 long neck or 60 stubbies) worth of beer in one go.

I'm never gonna have to worry about closing time ever again

That sounds pretty good. I like Coopers. How much was it? Do you have to let it ferment for months?

Remind me to never to go drinking with JTL,unless im already drunk before i set off for Birkdale

$87 for the kit which included everything you need to do your first 23 litres. Then it's about $15 for every 23 litres after that which breaks down roughly as :

• The goo which you ferment coming in a giant can from coles for about $10
  
• a kilo of sugar

You do the first fermentation over about 10 days (which makes it alcoholic). Then you bottle it and keep it for a minimum of 3 weeks. The longer you leave it the better it becomes, but if you are really desperate you could drink it a couple of weeks after bottling.

The bottles also come with the kit. They're PVC which I have to admit - doesn't feel as good as glass. Still, I've been saving beer bottles which I'll reuse.

No, it's not just you - the two hardware shops in Camperdown did this to me on my birthday - Knowing they have 8-5 scrawled all over their walls, I strolled down at 4:35 to get some gubbins for my fancy dress costume, and they were both shut - and completely shut at that - not just half shut with people inside doing the closing routine, but shut, lights off and shutters down!


S

I bought across the counter take away beer, at a pub in Adelaide at 1am, The Hackney hotel to be exact...this surprised the hell out of me.

It may not sound much, but it really pleased me, and puts everything North of Sydney into it's proper light.

Conversely my last trip to Port Macquarie, not the smallest town in Aus. We committed the ultimate sin of going to a restaurant at 7.45 pm on a Thursday.... It was the local curry house (at least they have one I guess) at exactly 8pm the owners started putting the chairs on the table around us. I doubt If I will ever visit that town again.

I'll save my Tourist dollars for a place where there is a bit of Life after 8pm.... Surprisingly Adelaide is one of those places.


Good on yah Adelaide

Or if your REALLY desperate,you could add the goo and sugar to your cereal in the morning

It's a funny old place Queensland.....

I've experienced this many times. Standard rule of thumb is to subtract 30 minutes from stated closing time to get actual closing time.