The Australian in me craves the sun after such a long winter, and even if I'm surrounded by noise and cars and people, I just need to be outside.
As much as I really do enjoy their company at lunch (and I do try to eat with them two or three times a week), I am trying to find excuses to escape my colleagues so I can lie on a park bench and read in the sun. It's a pity that I have to come up with excuses, but they simply don't understand that I might occasionally want to be by myself (and I must confess that after 5 years of explaining I just can't be bothered trying any more).
So far, I suspect that they think I meet my friends for lunch almost every day (only about half true), and that I go shopping all the time. Sooner or later they're going to get suspicious when they notice that I come back from lunch without any shopping bags. Not to mention that I'm a terrible liar.
I need to come up with some more alternative (and believable) excuses.
I so know what you mean about just 'being outside'. Maybe it's an oz/kiwi thing since we live such an outdoor lifestyle back home. I used to do that in Scotland, go and sit outside for my lunch breaks.
There is nothing like soaking up the sunshine with a good book, and in bare feet. Ahhh i love no shoes.
Must be frustrating that you have to come up with excuses though!
Here is some advice on this topic. I would have written earlier, but have only just discovered this blog. Nice job by the way!:)
Tell them you are exploring the true meaning of misanthropy.
Tell them you find Sartre's happiness in prison interesting and contrasting it with your happy life in the fresh air.
Whatever you tell them, infuse it with a dash of philosophy or intellectual mystery. Then just gaze sternly and silently, first at them, then into the middle distance.
They will never question you again.