I remember when my lunchtime consisted of carrying a small plastic box into a room FULL of people my age, finding some friends, sitting down and eating things in a specific order. This was of course, my infants school.

Sandwiches, chocolate, crisps, apple. In THAT order and no other order. Drink (fruit juice) could be consumed alongside this. It is true that one day I decided to rebel eat one of my sandwiches, followed by the chocolate. I was immediately pounced on by a dinner-lady who could probably have eaten me and asked just what I thought I was doing. I explained that today I was mixing things up a little. I was told not to EVER AGAIN.

On occasion, my Mum would give me some change to go get a sweet from the lunch ladies. I remember standing there, holding my tiny sports bag (of the size that action man would use on his way to the Gym) and counting out the coins. I would usually choose cake. You can't go wrong with cake.

But of course, there were times when lunchtime was spent away from friends, they had already eaten, the table was full and so on. On those days, in secondary school, I would stare into the lunchbox, imagining it as a strange cold war between the fruit and the crisps. With a huge red plastic partition wall. In those days I spent a lot of time imagining things into games and fantastic other worlds. In those days chocolate was a GOLD bar. So I thought of my stomach in two parts; the part for normal food and the GOLD BULLION SAFE for all the Gold bars I was eating.

In those days the real challenge was finding a place to put your lunchbox first thing in the morning so that you could find it again later. A skill that has helped me in numerous first person shooters since.

In Secondary School things were different. One had a CHOICE. Lunch could either be had in the form room or in the big hall. I will stress now I was never one to dine from dinner ladies. It was a packed lunch all the way for me. This suited me fine as I hated queuing in those days and we never had any money to buy anything from the machine. Snack machines were these mythical things that we hardly ever used. We never had any money to put in them. To begin with I dined with my form, assigned the curious role of 'monitor'. I had essentially to stop others wrecking the room. However, despite being a responsible sort I had no power to do so. I was in a form group who excelled at this kind of rebellion. There was one break spent ill-advisedly in a Design and Technology room.

In time I moved to a different room in a different block to hang out with my friends who were much less destructive. One of my friends designed an elaborate Civilization style game which we could all play. We simply told him our moves and waged war on each other. I published a weekly, often daily roundup called 'The Chronicle'. I got to satirise my peers for the first time in print and everyone was clamouring for the latest edition. I made copies, my mate made copies, we filled it full of our in-jokes and taught our bullies that we didn't give a fig what they thought.

In Sixth form, the first year was spent mainly with M in the quad. For some reason every other friend I had in the college was elsewhere in the Student Association, the smoking area or off getting drunk. So it was just me and M. We chatted about the world, music and life. He always, always kept me grounded and in that place I learned the important lesson.

'There is always someone more f*cked up than you'.

By the time my second year rolled around we were with the in-crowd and the new wing had been built, purely for the canteen. It was there we spent our free hours before class and at lunch.

One day, when the place was rammed, there was no way to move forward I was stuck with a friend Becky. She was like Teri Hatcher in minature; hobbit sized if you will. There was simply no way to get through so I picked her up and CARRIED her, ala Kevin Costner in the Bodyguard, stepping from table to table until we were clear. That got me in trouble but was worth it.

The other place I would always be was the Student Association office. Myself and Bailey ruling the roost. So much of my free time in my second year was spent there it was practically a home away from home.

So then I moved over to university where lunch became a much more nebuloous thing. Lunch could now be taken anywhere and at anytime around lunchtime. The common room was popular, as was Bloomsbury cafe, as was ULU. The best days however were sitting in Gordon Square in the sunshine and feeling so young and alive. When I studied for my Masters I would often eat lunch alone.

Now, at work I spend my lunchtimes reading by myself, usually in cafes but sometimes in the breakout areas and I wonder what (if anything) has changed. I still thing long, long thoughts, though rather than about what toys I was going to play with when I got home or what game we were going to play in the playground I think about the weekend, I think about S, I think about writing and my career. I still gesticulate (sure I no longer make monsters, planes and guns) but I have always been dextrous. I write a lot in my lunchbreaks; novels, poems, missions for larp, tabletop or just nonsense. I look at the sky and the tall buildings. I walk under the blind gaze of Lady Justice.

I wonder when I became a solitary lunchtime guy from those days when the most imperative thing was to sit with friends. We still go out for team lunches but I treasure my lunch breaks now as I did when I was first introduced to them. They are my time, they are when I relax and I do not have to think about work or school. They are too short. Unlike this post. If you have joined me on this journey I hope you remember some of your own stories and enjoy writing new ones.

2010. This year is going to be different.