The BWS store and BYO

The store in the background is a BWS store (Beer Wine Spirits). We go there, buy a bottle of wine for "normal" price and then take it into the restaurant. Beer too. The restaurant charges a $2 corking fee - but it's still cheaper. Not all restaurants are BYO - but many are. Especially in neighborhoods. Locals have special insulated bags that keep the bottles cold. It's just another thing we really like about living here.

Oh yeah - we were celebrating last night because we got our apartment. It's at Manly Beach and has two guest rooms and great views of the water. Let's start booking trips over, okay? I hate to see the rooms sit empty. We move in 22-Nov. We did not have to do the open house scramble for this one (see other blog post). There is another way - your company hires a "relocation consultant" who has secret connections and sets up secret, private meetings (interview? audition?) with the owners before the property is listed. I tried to hide the black hair on the back of my hands during the interview. Seriously. He was looking at it. For real. It's a sign of my Portugese descent and, believe me, around here that is about as diverse as it gets. I think he was trying to figure out how Mediterranean I was ... Turkish? no, Greek? no, Lebanese? I must have passed the screening - whatever he came up with.

Ken and Beth will be our first visitors (that we know of anyway) 16-Dec. and we go on our New Zealand cruise Christmas week. Ken IS a follower of the blog who marked himself "private" so we can't see him. He doesn't believe in online social networking. I guess there are several people following who are marked "private". We don't like that because we want to see who is out there reading.