Drinks o'clock

Someone once said to me "I'm dreading going back to Uni - at work you can just turn up 9-5 and then forget about it. At Uni you've always got something to do".

I always found the opposite to be true - there's no 5am starts at Uni, and any coding at midnight or emails on a Sunday afternoon are strictly for fun.

There's also another key difference between work and University - one which will take a lot of adaptation as I go back for my final year. I'm only just used to the professional way of doing things, and soon I'll be back to the academic method. This difference relates to the ancient tradition of drinking.

Morning drinks

At University, it's perfectly acceptable to drink in the morning for a variety of reasons. Here's a range of potentials:

• Hangover cure


• You've found some interesting liquid in a glass from the night before


• Sink's full of washing and you want to throw away half empty cans


• Exams are over


• Exams are coming up

..and on, you get the idea.

In the professional sphere however, you can only drink in the morning if you're in the upper echelons of management and still have a drinks cabinet. The move towards open plan offices makes this perk even more special nowadays, and I feel this is having a significant impact on morale. Terrible.

Cocktails at lunch

Lunch (known as 'dinner' to the uneducated plebians of the north) should always be accompanied by a variety of intoxicating beverages in the working world. This is especially true when the corporate expense account is paying - yet another reason to schedule customer meetings around the 12pm mark.

Students on the other hand, are much less likely to drink at lunchtime. With the journey from University back to home too strenuous, and the foresight to bring a packed lunch still lacking, lunch must be a bought meal. This expenditure places a strain on the fragile student budget and must be compensated for by a cheap drink - generally a can of something as part of a 'Meal Deal'.

A late afternoon tipple

As the hour approaches that magical 6pm mark, when it's socially acceptable to be drinking in public places other than students unions and restaurants, both of our sets of subjects are likely to be found with a glass in hand - but for differing reasons.

6pm is time for students to begin the night's drinking (at home, naturally), generally with some card or shouting based drinking games. It's also the hour when professional types can nip out for a couple of beers before coming home late to their wife, lamenting how late they had to stay in the office, working away.

Nightcap

As we're all aware, both groups will stop drinking at this point and head off to bed, to be up bright and early for a good day's work/learning.