There has recently been some discussion concerning the quirky law that bans the sale of alcohol in supermarkets and restaurants from 2pm to 5pm and also before 11am.
I am ancient enough to remember when it was originally introduced in 1972 at the time of the Thanom/Prapass regime which was cracking down on a society it thought had become too liberal. Among measures the regime ordered through "Revolutionary Party" decrees was the afternoon drinking ban designed to stop students buying alcohol and also to discourage officials taking extended lunches.
There was simultaneously a purge on nightlife with many bars, clubs and coffee shops, including the celebrated Thermae, either closed down or ordered to shut at midnight. It sparked many entertaining "police crackdown" tales including a raid on a Phetchaburi Road hotel where patrons escaped by smashing through an entire wall into the lobby.
There was even a ban on night markets, making life very difficult for citizens who worked late hours and relied on such places for night snacks. The absurd situation was highlighted when three Korean visitors were arrested simply for eating at a food stall at 1.30am.
The story made the front page of the Bangkok Post with the memorable headline "Koreans arrested for eating". It was a headline that went around the world.
One for the road
A former colleague tells me he was in the Thermae just after finishing work at the Post during one of the 1972 raids. He had just been served a beer when the police came charging in waving their torches and ordered everybody to leave. He recalls ending up along with other customers finishing his beer sitting on the traffic island in the middle of Sukhumvit Road. Those were the days.
The Thanom/Prapass regime was overthrown in October 1973 and successive governments claimed they would repeal the afternoon drinking ban but none of them actually got around to it. So it comes down to a decree issued more than 50 years ago. Well, there's no need to rush things.
'Six o'clock swill'
When I joined the Post there were several New Zealand colleagues who never complained about the sometimes erratic closing times in Thailand. This was a result of experiences in their own country and the infamous "six o'clock swill" which had become embedded in Kiwi culture.
Up to October 1967 the closing time for pubs in New Zealand was 6pm. It had been introduced as a temporary wartime measure in 1917 but wasn't repealed until 50 years later. There had been a similar situation in Australia although most states relaxed the drinking hours some years earlier apart from Victoria (1966) and South Australia (1967).
According to my Kiwi colleagues, when offices closed at 5pm there would be a sprint by nearly every male worker to the nearest hotel or pub where everyone would consume as many drinks as they could squeeze into that precious hour.
It was always packed out and many bars had sawdust on the floor to soak up the considerable spillage. Rowdy and messy it frankly didn't sound particularly enjoyable. After supping up they would lurch home.
The Atlas Obscura website summed it up nicely as "an hour of drunken anarchy".
Pub with no beer
All this talk of Antipodean pubs sparks memories of the 1957 Slim Dusty recording "A Pub With No Beer" written by Gordon Parsons and adapted from a poem by Dan Sheahan. Dusty was an Aussie but this song was a big hit around the world. I recall it being very popular in England, reaching No 3 in the hit parade and Dusty becoming the first Aussie to make the UK charts.
The tune was ordinary but the lyrics gave the song its appeal: "There is nothing so lonesome, morbid or drear/than to stand at the bar of a pub with no beer."
It was the first Australian single to become a gold record. The song proved particularly popular in Canada as it coincided with a 1958 strike by brewers resulting in pubs literally not having any beer and radio deejays could not resist playing the song.
Well done Jimmy
I am pleased to say there was no shortage of the amber liquid last weekend at the 80th birthday party of an old football teammate and pal Jimmy Howard. Jimmy is something of a legend amongst football and rugby circles in Southeast Asia as witnessed by the large numbers who showed up at the British Club to mark this landmark with him and his lovely daughters.
Thanks to Jimmy I met up with many former teammates some of whom I hadn't seen for years. However, apologies to the chap who I greeted and babbled on about how great it was to see him again after all these years when I slowly realised he hadn't a clue who I was.
Well, at my age I am allowed the occasional case of mistaken identity.
Head scratcher
Back to the afternoon alcohol ban. I recall being in a Khon Kaen supermarket with a friend a few years ago and being told we couldn't buy six cans of beer because it was only 4pm and thus illegal… but it would be perfectly okay if we bought a whole case. There's some logic in that somewhere but nothing immediately springs to mind.
We bought the whole case.