How at the start of term, in freshers week, I managed to soak the Dean. The Head of College and quite a few of the Senior Lecturers in beer, from a seven party pack can, getting a chipped tooth in the process.
I had only been at Thames Polytechnic a few days, when part way through freshers week, about too days after we had all been officially signed on to the course, the whole class had been invited to attend a welcome buffet with drinks that evening, to meet the various lecturers, heads of departments, the head of the faculty, and the dean of the college.
Well we all turned dressed smart casual, which for most of the students meant they were dressed in their best jeans and denim jacket, the official’s had not yet arrived so most of us headed straight for the free bar, it was the free part that caused most of the mayhem that was to follow later.
The lecturers, heads of departments, the head of the faculty, and the dean all arrived in their college gowns and Mortar Board hats, with name badges and position held in the hierarchy.
They all waited in a line to be introduced to the gaggle of students that were still hanging around the free bar. But one by one the students went over to be introduced to the officials, some more steady on their legs than others.
Once the introductions were over we, the students were led to some chairs that had been laid out in a semi-circle so that the Dean could formerly welcome us to the college and then the head of year informed us where where we should go and what we should do the following day to finalise the modules we would be taking in the first year of the degree course and where to go on the Monday to make sure we all went to the correct lecture rooms for the various subjects we were taking.
Once the introductions and formalities were over everybody returned to the bar to continue the introductions and further drinks were drunk.
In fact so much drink was drunk that the supplies of alcohol soon run low and a couple of lab technicians who were acting as bar staff, were told to go out and urgently collect some more supplies. Now the fact that they were told to urgently collect further supplies is what probably led to what happened next.