No more balancing a burger and chips on your knees for lunch. Forget about wrestling with a kebab as you walk. The days of juggling sushi and hot pho on a cold park bench are over.
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Food courts with real tables and real chairs are back.
It may not be the opening of the Berlin Wall in terms of events to change history but the opening of the Woden venue brought relief - even mild rejoicing.
"It's making a big difference for me," Dan Fasch said as he sat over his MacBook with a coffee.
He was waiting to have his car serviced nearby. "It allows me to do some work while I'm waiting. There's nowhere else to sit.
"It's got WiFi and I can grab a coffee and still be productive.
"And with COVID, I've got to be extra productive."
Food courts in shopping centres have re-opened for sit-down, dine-in customers. Until now, the tables and chairs have been roped off.
Store-holders in Woden's Westfield centre were relieved that the seating for their customers was back, albeit spaced out at a COVID-safe distance.
But it wasn't enough to lift their plight, according to Hemant Tate.
"The real problem isn't the tables," he said as he laid out vegetable samosas for the lunchtime rush.
"So many of the retail shops are still closed."
He reckoned his trade was down to 30 per cent of normal times.
"It's very hard. Our biggest concern is the rent."
He said the hospitality industry depended on students and people on temporary visas who weren't entitled to JobKeeper payments. If he closed, he said, his staff wouldn't be able to feed themselves.
One of those students, Jiwan Pal Singh, said, "I'm wholly dependent on this food court."
Take-away had been allowed and hungry shoppers had often bought and then eaten with curry, kebabs, sushi and all the other delights of food courts perched on their laps.
The rule now is sitting is allowed but only one person per four square metres. Tables can have no more than six customers.
Seventeen-year-old Jared Nissen was tucking into a Sausage McMuffin with a vengeance, gulping it down before heading to a job interview.
"I'm only having it today because I need a breakfast before an interview."
Joe Philavanh and Linda Boontasin own a Thai restaurant (Joe's Thai in Wanniassa) - but they come to the Woden food court for lunch!
"We like to get out and support everybody," he said. "It's nice to share."
Makayla Rummukainen, who was tucking into mega chips, said she was "very pleased" the food court was back.
"It's nice not to have to walk around. We had to sit outside."
Her lunch mate, Jack Potter, liked the social distancing. "I like the fact that people don't sit right next to you."
Each table has a means of recording visitors. Many were using it.
You check in with your phone pointing to the QR code on the table and enter your time of entry. You leave an email address and a phone number online so your presence has been registered in case someone near you is later found to be infected.