5 Pm

[Dhondy]

Tick tock...tick tock...Have you ever thought what happens at 5 PM everyday?

 

If you were in space, listening to the earth with a giant stethoscope, you could hear approximately one third of the men and women who are in the same time zone, push back their chairs as they finish work for the day.

 

The discerning diaphragm might also pick up the familiar sound of MS Windows shutting down, the keys turning in their mortice as the doors are locked for the final time.

 

The spying eye high in space would suddenly see an entire longitude plunge into darkness as the office lights are turned off.

 

The stethoscope would pick up the cheery babble of people as they said goodbyes for the day, relieved to be going back to their home and hearth.

 

And then...silence. The profound silence of deserted buildings and empty carparks.

 

Why does it have to be 5 PM? Well, because 5 PM comes between 4 PM and 6 PM.

 

The civilized society views the world in thirds. This third is mine, the other third is yours. A pack of bread has twelve loaves, to be had in fours. People like to have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

 

No surprise then, that the day has 24 hours, divided into three equal eights. Eight for sleeping, eight for working, eight for fun.

 

If 5 PM was 4 PM, you would have to start at 8 AM. Too early. Too dark in many parts of the world.

 

Finish at 6, and you have the mortification of getting home at seven. There's a kind of watershed feeling about seven. It's the peak hour. TV channels start their best shows at 7, Classic FM put in the connoisseur's hour, Channel 4 start the news and the latest feed about Big Brother...you don't want to be getting home at seven. It's got a kinda... missed the boat sort of feeling.

 

Therefore it has to be 5.

 

Or does it?

 

I always view 5'o clock with some satisfaction, but for somewhat different reasons. For me, it's the start of the grace hour, the unpaid hour I put in when I can, freed from the burden of having to work for a living, having to fulfil my obligation to my employers. It's got the refreshing whiff of going the extra mile, of claiming the high moral ground, of the satisfaction of making my colleagues feel slightly guilty as they slam their doors on their way home.

 

Five PM is a familiar hour on Saturdays. As you tune the radio in to Five Live, you hear that same unmistakable voice reading out the football scores as it has done for the last 20 years...Manchester City 1, Aston Villa nil....Bolton nil, Charlton nil...Hibernian 1, Dundee 1....

 

As if anybody cares about Hibernian and Dundee. Really!

 

But you can see where he is coming from, can't you? It's 5 PM and he has to live the tradition. There will be crushingly boring accounts of the five-nations rugby coming up, with lurid descriptions of how France mauled Italy in their backyard, but you don't switch off. You can't.

 

It's 5 PM. And it's Saturday. Switching off takes a break.

[ecoli]

SFN is NOT a blog. Make a point, or this thread will be closed.

[Dhondy]

This is "everything goes" section isn't it? Have a look at the desription of the subsection.

 

And now you can bugger off to your sad existence, my friend.

[insane_alien]

though ecoli does have a sad existence he does have the power to ban your ass for violating the rules.

[Sayonara]

If 5 PM was 4 PM, you would have to start at 8 AM. Too early. Too dark in many parts of the world.

I start at 0800 and finish at 1600.

 

So you are going to have to start over.

[the tree]

There is no "anything goes" section on SFN, pointlessness is not acceptable.

[ecoli]

This is "everything goes" section isn't it? Have a look at the desription of the subsection.

 

And now you can bugger off to your sad existence, my friend.

No... this is a general discussion thread. Since your post is not really promoting discussion for anything that I can tell, it had no purpose here... or anywhere on this forum.

 

 

And "sad existence"?? What's that about?

[Dhondy]

Oh, delete the bloody thing if it bothers you that much.

 

It's not as if it's gonna win the Pulitzer for me, is it? ;-)

[Sayonara]

It might if nobody else gets nominated.

[insane_alien]

dunno i could enter some of the posts i wrote while heavily intoxicated(expect a few more soon ) they'd probably win.

[Phi for All]

And now you can bugger off to your sad existence, my friend.

Nice introduction. Welcome to SFN.

 

So if someone pulls an Andy Rooney and wants to edify and expound rather than dissect and discuss, should we just leave them to it and ignore their post instead of asking what the point is? Is asking for an explanation like kicking a carefully crafted sand castle or mustaching the diva's poster? Is a curmudgeon an ill-tempered person full of resentment and stubborn notions or a crusty irascible cantankerous old person who refuses to follow otherwise accepted guidelines?

 

Gotta go, I'm missing my soap operas.