Made up lives day 2: Stuart

Physical descripion:

• Height: 6 foot
• Short brown hair
• Early 30s

• Eyes focused at the ground

Stuart is on his lunchbreak, walking to Hammersmith to buy a sandwich in Pret and maybe, if he's feeling hungry, a piece of cake. Or some crisps. Thinking about it he's more in the mood for crisps.

He's taking a shorter lunchtime today because he needs to leave work early. At 5:30 he's catching a train to Suffolk where his younger sister is due to have a baby in the next few days. Stuart is looking forward to being an uncle and hopes that he'll be regarded as one of the cool ones - the sort of uncle that the kid will call and talk to just because they want to (when they're older, of course). He thinks his sister is going to have a girl.

His excitement at the impending birth is tempered by the fact that he'll be seeing his parents for the first time in three years. He anticipates some awkward conversation, particularly with his father, and hopes to avoid any protracted time with them for the duration of his stay. He can't recall any one particular moment that marked a deterioration in his relationship with his parents, just that he never had much in common with his father, and tired of his mother's ongoing desire to know when he was going to find someone to settle down with. He has never told her that he shares his flat in Fulham with a man named Daniel. His sister knows, but they have never discussed the true extent of the relationship, although Stuart is pretty certain she has a fair idea what is going on.

As he walks in the rain he keeps his eyes to the ground, wary of exchanging gazes with passing strangers. He thinks again of how he wants to be a positive influence in the baby's life, and hopes the child will accept him for who he is.