Tuesday 19 January 2021

How times change!

 

BR pub for sale

It's not that long ago that alcohol used to be an accepted part of the working scene. I remember an old railwayman telling me "until about the 1980s the railway ran on beer. After that, if you were caught so much as operating a photo-copier after having had a drink you were sacked". In my own career (computing) I remember that a lunchtime pint or three (especially on a Friday) was the norm for most of us working in our software house, and the boss often put money behind the bar. When I was invited to presentations by computer and software manufacturers a buffet lunch with endless bottles of wine was the norm. Later, as we expanded through getting taken over, our Wavendon Tower site near Milton Keynes had a cosy bar in part of the old manor house. That went when we were taken over by a giant US corporation, though strangely the Paris office retained their miniature bottles of wine with their canteen lunch! In my latter years in the industry it was all fizzy water and hurry back to work. I'm not usually one for hankering after the past but it seems the workplace was more fun back then.

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