One of the incidental pleasures of my sabbatical has been deciding what to have for lunch each day. Over the last couple of months, I’ve enjoyed the following lunchtime delicacies, usually accompanied by a nice cup of tea, and rounded off with an apple (Cox’s Orange Pippin for preference):

Tahini, cheese and lettuce sandwich
Egg mayonnaise sandwich
VLT sandwich (vegemite, lettuce and tomato; for a deluxe version, spread the non-vegemite slice of bread with mayonnaise)
Toasted cheese and mustard sandwich
Toasted cheese and tomato sandwich
Soft boiled egg and toast
Poached egg on toast
Baked beans on toast (with a generous swirl of HP sauce)
Mushrooms on toast (for added excitement, try mushrooms on vegemite on toast)
Leftover homemade green lentil soup
Homemade onion soup
Jacket potato with baked beans and a little grated cheese

Hm, not much salad here, but it’s still the middle of winter. Soundtrack: Radio 4 or Radio 3. Reading matter: latest issue of the London Review of Books, or a once-recent issue of a poetry or literary magazine. Then, back upstairs for another stint at my desk.