So I’ve been ill. Really, really ill. I sat down on Wednesday evening for a quiet night in front of my current game. I’d been looking forward to it all day. In fact I spend a great deal of my life looking forward to a quiet evening playing a game that’s not for work. I spend my days working, doing chores, carrying out the daily duties of life that we all must. So I sat down, heaved a big relaxed sigh, fired up my game and in between running around doing sidequests I chomped on my Szechuan prawns from my favourite Chinese takeaway. I think you might know what’s coming next. I didn’t… right up until I had to run to the toilet. A full three days later I began to feel a little better as my body finally accepted that there was no longer vibrio parahaemolyticus bacteria in my body. In that three days I was given the chance to do what I constantly long for - play games all day long with no other responsibilities other than visiting the bathroom occasionally.

Once I was in the situation though it proved to be rather a disappointment. Admittedly the stomach cramps had never been a part of my vision for a gaming holiday, but it was more than that. Between collecting accessories from caves in Lost Odyssey, I found myself wishing I was outside in the sun and fresh air. My first thought after the elation of hitting a brilliant Eagle chip in shot in Everybody’s Gold World Tour was that I wished I could not switch it off on a high and get on with some work or go for coffee with my friends. As cool as it was to do a gaming marathon Guinness World Record, and as lucky as I am to have a hobby like gaming to get me through illness, I realise that I’m not a gaming holiday type anymore. What I was hankering after was probably just a bit of a rest and that’s not really something you can equate with food poisoning.