Before I went home to Cape Town in July 2009, having to endure fellow patrons smoking in my favourite watering hole was quite a chore.  However, when I returned to Hong Kong in September, most (granted in some places at the time, not all) had changed and smokers were banished to the sidewalk.  There were even dedicated smoking areas in “sitting out areas,” public parks and outside company offices. 

However, these days we non-smokers have to contend with street corners filled with smokers gathered around garbish bins equipped with ashtrays.  Some puffers don’t even need ashtray bins, they just gather on street corners and flicking their stompies*  in the nearest drain!

Having said all that, recently I came across a copy of a radio advertisement for a famous South African cigarette brand from waaay back and I have to confess, it brought a nostalgic smile to my face! 

Hearing it took me back to the (segregated) cinemas of my youth where cigarettes adverts were still the order of the day. The same adverts that made the likes of the Rupert family filthy rich! In fact so rich that they even own Shanghai Tang. 

The days when, in addition to Bruce Lee karate classics, all we could watch were cowboy (Western) movies with a big, bearded guy called Bud Spencer moering*  thinner, considerably smaller okes.   There were also the Afrikaans classics featuring a bloke called Lieb Bester, running through Boland vineyards, singing and chasing after Afrikaans doedies*!  I still remember Bester’s penchant for khaki outfits!

Let’s see what you make of this:

Colloquialisms:

* Stompies – Afrikaans word meaning cigarette butts

* moering – Afrikaans word for hitting

* doedies – Afrikaans word for girls

Below: The ubiquitous Hong Kong smokers’ hangout (Pic: Mike Jansen)