What time does your evening start? That last chunk of the day, after work and after you've travelled home. The good bit, before bedtime. Do you start your evening early and enjoy several hours of quality time? Or do you traipse home late and tumble almost immediately into bed?
Maybe Friday isn't the best day to ask this question. Many people try to start their Friday evenings a little earlier than on other weekdays, often in an alcoholic establishment close to their place of work. But consider a typical weekday earlier in the week. What time does your evening start? Please post a brief comment in the appropriate box below, and let us know.
I'm lucky, my evenings generally start at four-something. I get into work early so that I can get out early, and only have to face a half-hour commute to get home. By five o'clock I'm usually changed into non-work clothes, slouching round the flat and making myself a cup of tea. And that leaves several hours before bedtime to do with what I will. I suspect that most of you are not so fortunate.
I noticed a big differential in work-finish times yesterday when another company invited me to a meeting that started at 5pm. To me, a meeting starting at 5pm is pretty much taboo. But to employees of the organisation I was visiting it seemed almost normal. I headed round to their offices after (my) work, to find their offices still heaving with people, still working. By the time our meeting finished, around half past six, their workplace was a lot quieter but still not completely dead. It's not an atmosphere I recognise. If you're still at work at half past six at my place, the cleaners glare as they hoover round you.
After my late meeting I travelled home via Canary Wharf, passing through the tube station at around 7pm. Here the platforms were still swarming with commuters, only recently escaped from the office, and there was even a queue at the top of the escalator as even more attempted to follow them down. Outside in the piazza the bars and restaurants were packed with merry suited workers, quaffing copious amounts of alcohol with their colleagues before finally deciding to make their way home later in the evening. Many of these financial whizzkids had long commutes ahead of them, on the slow train out to Essex or across town to the distant suburbs, and wouldn't be getting home before nine at the very earliest. Not long then until bedtime, and less than 12 hours before they'd have to be back at their desks bright and early to start all over again. It's not a lifestyle I'd enjoy. Sooner them than me.
So I'm mighty glad that my current line of work (usually) allows me to make a proper evening of it, most nights of the week. I get a long swathe of free pm time to fill, and enjoy a very decent after-office quality of life. My apologies if you don't. My apologies if you stay at work late, and face a hellishly long journey home, and have to devote what little time you have left to cooking or helping the kids with their homework or even getting your laptop out and catching up with yet more work. I know, I am blessed. You can't put a price on a good long evening, can you?
