Morning coffee and afternoon tea

and seeing friends are not common  in my life right now. Well, they have never been that common.
I don't like the idea that I have always been "too busy" and that  going out to do it has often been financially beyond me. I could probably drink tea at home all week for the cost of one pot of tea in the local shopping centre. There's always another book I need to buy.
So, when did all this start? "Going out for coffee" was unheard of when I was a mere kitten. People didn't do it. There weren't places like that, just the occasional "milk bar" - and milk shakes were more common than coffee in such places. 
Even when I was at teachers' college tea was more commonly drunk than coffee - even though Nescafe was common enough. The students would crowd into the canteen at morning break and lunch time - those of them who could afford to buy such things bought tea and sticky "finger buns". Some of us simply took our lunch and a thermos flask. Most of us were too busy to simply "sit around and talk".  I had a job as a "junior housemistress" in a boarding school and, one day of each weekend, in a residential nursery school for the deaf. 
At university I had to be careful of my finances too, very careful. I was tutoring in order to eat. It did not leave much time for fun although I would try and take an afternoon off each weekend to go and see something - even if it was just the ducks in the park. There were plenty of other students in the same position. We had some good times - but we didn't sit in cafes drinking coffee.
The Senior Cat and I were talking about this yesterday. My aunt had called in. She had been to "have coffee" with an elderly friend and she talked about it too. 
We were all puzzled. When did this "have coffee" thing start? It has to have crept up on us gradually. None of us do it often.
I am doing it this morning - but for a specific purpose. There is work involved - and yes it really is work and we really do need to do it. It just happens that one of the coffee shops in the local shopping centre actually encourages people to have small meetings in there if people need it. There is free wi-fi for those who need it. (We won't.) There are tables which aren't crowded with other things so you can put papers out on them. (We will need to do that.) The place is busy - which is usually a good sign.
It will be useful today but I still don't feel as if I am part of the "have coffee" crowd,  those people who simply sit for an hour or more over coffee and chat or simply stare into space. There are always things I want to do.
I remember having lunch with a (now former) judge once. It was a working lunch. He would undoubtedly have taken me somewhere  pleasant had I wanted to go but we ended up with sandwiches and orange juice in a quiet courtyard. We did the work we needed to do and were both back at our own desks within an hour.  Some weeks later he introduced me to someone else saying, "Cat and I had a very simple lunch together the other  day. I enjoyed it." Compliment?  Yes, perhaps. It made me wonder though whether he was relieved to simply be able to get on with the job.
But, "having coffee" is obviously enjoyable for a lot of people. If we get our work done today - and we should - then it can serve a useful purpose.