It’s my lunch hour so I go for a walk among the locals. It’s Hounslow high street and not that you could tell but lunch hour is over and not that you could tell but I skipped breakfast and I got up late and I stormed out of the house to escape, find space and breathe. It’s my lunch hour.

First. I forgot my watch at home.

Second. I don’t actually go for a walk. I’m standing. Hand in the pocket of my faded navy parka, head in the pocket of my fluffy hood (the one that makes me look like Kenny from South Park or Sajid from East is East depending on your what you grew up on). I’m standing still. I’ve escaped, there’s not much space and I’m trying to breathe. It’s my lunch hour.

Third. I’m not even hungry. My stomach is full of anger and my chest is full of anxiety. I guess I didn’t skip breakfast.

Then onto the locals. Crumpled brown bags of fast food, coffee in cups that you can’t even recycle, and in my hand, a warm vegan sausage roll. It’s new. From Greggs. I didn’t expect to see it at Greggs in Hounslow high street (I guess there are vegans around here now) so maybe that’s why it ended up in my hand.

Yes onto the locals. In front of me a clown of sorts in a fluorescent orange, green, pink, yellow suit. Holding balloon swords or balloon poodles, I can’t quite tell, but it isn’t because of the distance between us. Holding ambiguous balloon items. And next to the clown of sorts a Mickey Mouse of sorts. In a tailcoat. Holding holographic balloon faces. A Sonic the Hedgehog or Batman, I can’t quite tell, but it is definitely the knock off copy cat mickey sorts we see around here.

I take an awkward photo with my phone, capturing these locals of sorts between golden arches and a green mermaid.

I don’t know how long I stand there for, I left my watch at home. It’s still my lunch hour. I eat my vegan sausage roll cold.

Two very talented and wonderful best friends of mine are also exceptional writers and performers. We’ve made intentions this year to get into good writing habits and inshallah get published. We got together on a chilly Sunday evening this month with word docs, a pen and paper, and mac n cheese. Making our way through Writing Maps by Sean Levin, we wrote and wrote and wrote. This piece is inspired by Frank O’Hara’s book Lunch Poems.