BS: Folklore: The Six-o-Clock Swill

Subject: BS: Folklore: The Six-o-Clock Swill
From: Jack Campin
Date: 11 Oct 17 - 12:37 PM

Another piece of Kiwiana. Non-Kiwis, and New Zealanders even just a few years younger than me, will find this pretty bizarre.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/97221204/paul-christoffel-calling-time-on-the-6-oclock-swill

I was once watching out of an upper floor window in Auckland and saw somebody stagger out of a pub at 6pm and make his way to his car. He was so sloshed he couldn't manage to find and get a grip on the doorhandle for a few minutes, but finally got in and drove off.

Subject: RE: BS: Folklore: The Six-o-Clock Swill
From: vectis
Date: 12 Oct 17 - 03:04 AM

I read about this in some of Barry Crump's books. Sounded a bit bizarre but the article explains it pretty well.

Subject: RE: BS: Folklore: The Six-o-Clock Swill
From: Mr Red
Date: 12 Oct 17 - 04:27 AM

in NZ, by 1988 it seems the early finish at work on Fridays was the time to open the 'fridge. Being a cider drinker I never seemed to join in on these.
And in about 1987 I was stopped by a Traffic Officer (remember them?) who asked if I had drunk anything. He was not amused when I said "yes" (pause) "coffee".

Kiwi humour is (was) different and involved Pomes - when Coconuts (Fiji, Somoa, PNJ etc) would not fit. Unless it was a "Ozzie" joke (aka Irish, Belgie, Polac etc).

Subject: RE: BS: Folklore: The Six-o-Clock Swill
From: JennieG
Date: 14 Oct 17 - 08:55 PM

It also happened in Oz. Some info here

In the early 1980s Himself and I were renovating the kitchen of our house and under the lino was a treasure trove of newspapers published when the house was built in 1954; the referendum on late closing was the main local news story at the time, and it was interesting reading about it. It would have passed me by at the time, I was just a small child.

Subject: RE: BS: Folklore: The Six-o-Clock Swill
From: Jack Campin
Date: 15 Oct 17 - 05:51 AM

I had just started university at the time of the 1967 referendum. The advocates of early closing had posters all over the city centre saying "STICK TO SIX". Anywhere near the university, those were modified with three small horizontal strokes of paint.