osutoraria

Yuki and Kumiko were walking up Pitt Street. They'd just left Yuki's apartment on Liverpool Street and were exploring some of the shops in what is known as the Korean quarter of the CBD of Sydney.

Many of the shops displayed signs in both Korean and English. One sign in particular caught Yuki's attention. It was on the corner of an alley and lead to a really nice Korean restaurant with wooden walls and many tables. Yuki decided she would have to have a meal there sometime.

They continued up Pitt Street until they reached Park Street and turned right. Then another block up, past McDonald's, and they were in front of the New Windsor Hotel.

Yuki pulled the straps back over her shoulder for the fourth time in as many minutes. "I think this is too big," she complained.
"It was the smallest size they had," replied Kumiko. She pulled out her purse and rummaged through the many tiny pockets. Pinned to the brown lining were a few tiny silver saftey pins. She removed one and grabbed a bunch of material from the back of Yuki's waist. "Here you go," she said, folding a pleat in the dress and pinning it tightly. The fold concealed the pin.
"Wow, that's great!" Yuki said, as the dress suddenly felt more comfortable.

A lone man stood in front of the bar doors and looked at them both expectantly. Kumiko pulled out her ID and Yuki showed her passport. The bouncer smiled and ushered them inside.

The New Windsor Hotel had been recently refurbished. Sparkling metal accentuated the lines of the bar while tall wooden tables with similar tall wooden stools sat a short distance from it. Several wooden drinking bench tops were flush with the wall to wall windows, broken only by plaster columns featuring a small dim light. From the street level the view was very clear. They could see everyone and everything.

Yuki started. "It's very open, isn't it? Is there somewhere, where we can be more private?"
"This is the style, Yuki. People who drink, like to watch the world go by. The bigger the windows, the better the pub!
Yuki saw a metal staircase with wooden steps leading up. "Let's check the place out!"

Kumiko looked around. "There's not many people here at the moment and I don't recognise anyone, yet," she said. "Let's explore."

Upstairs was a small restaurant and several pool tables. There was also a bar with a tall blonde girl drying glasses. There were a couple of guys and a very big woman playing pool in the far corner. Otherwise, there was no one else.

"Why is it so quiet?" asked Yuki.
"Some pubs don't get busy until 8.30pm on some nights. We're probably a bit early"

They took the stairs back down and followed a series of steps to the lower ground floor. Underneath the ground level was another bar and a poker machine area. There were a few people here pressing buttons and the room was filled with the pleasing and fun sound of the machines.

They went back up to ground level and looked about. There was a lounge area around the corner from the bar that Yuki hadn't noticed before. There were a few people watching horse racing on the screens.

There were lots of screens! Just about every available space above head height had an LCD TV screen hanging from it, playing a different type of sport.

"It's a bit like the 200 yen beer bar in Shibuya, isn't it?" said Yuki.
Kumiko nodded. She chose one of the four round tables in the middle of the room and put her jacket on one of the stools. Yuki went to put her handbag down on a stool but Kumiko stopped her.

"Yuki, only in Japan can you leave your handbag somewhere and it'll be safe. No other place in the world, not even Sydney.
"Oh," Yuki replied, "Okay." She put her jacket on the stool too and joined Kumiko at the bar.

A young looking man was pushing a drainer of glasses into a dish washer. He was just under 6 foot - tall, lanky, with unkempt hair and a serious face. He seemed to be trying to look cool and not being comfortable doing it. He noticed them and smiled and Yuki smiled back.
"Hello, ladies. What would you like?"
"VB!" both Yuki and Kumiko said simultaneously, then laughed.
"I'd love to help you but we're out of VB!"
"Sorry?" asked Yuki.
"Um. We don't have any VB at the moment. We'll have more in about half an hour. I'm waiting for someone to change the keg. How about a Toohey's New? Same price!"
"Sure, that's fine!" said Kumiko.
"Schooner or middie?" asked the barman.
"Schooners." Kumiko replied.
Yuki was completely lost by this interchange and had no idea what a schooner or middie was. Kumiko quickly explained that a schooner was the standard size beer and a middie was a small beer. If you wanted to order a Guinness you got it in a pint.
The barman filled their glasses quickly and put them on the barmat in front of them, then gave Yuki a wink. Kumiko paid and they headed back to their table.

Yuki was wondering what the wink meant.
"He's just being friendly. A lot of barman are like that. But everyone knows that they can't take out the customers. Bad for business. But they're really good at giving advice so have a chat with him sometime!"

"Do you know him?"
"His name's James and he gave me some good advice awhile back. Oh, look. Here's Matt."

Yuki saw him and all she could say was "Oh..."