Nights out, nights in, famous sights, all were captured on disposable cameras and sent to actual film processing places to develop. Somehow, that seemed to make the memories more precious, despite the poor quality of the images. While Facebook meant that she’d reconnected with quite a lot of her university friends, it was still nice to see pictures of them all as they once were. One particular shot that made her smile was their recreation of an iconic scene from Friends, with each of them looking around the door frame of one of their hall’s bedrooms.

Reaching for another pile of photographs, she furrowed her brow, trying to remember when they were taken. They were mostly of London landmarks, and many were blurry and out of focus. She couldn’t remember ever going to London when she was at university, as it was quite a trek from York, and for a moment she was confused. Were these her photographs or had she picked up someone else’s when she’d cleared out her room for the last time? Goodness knows things were very hectic at the end of that last summer term, and she and her friends were always leaving stuff in each other’s rooms. But as she flipped through them, she was brought up short by a very familiar face and her heart started to flutter as the spreading brushstrokes of recognition filtered across the blank page of her memory. Something she’d forgotten about. Someone she’d forgotten about. For nearly a decade and a half. As the brushstrokes joined together, her heart started to hammer. It couldn’t be… could it?

‘Oh my God…’ she muttered. There, standing by the sign for Great Portland Street Underground station, dressed in a badly fitting maroon blazer and a pair of fawn chinos, tie askew and looking as though he’d had a drink or two, either that or the photo had been taken after a very late night, was someone with a very familiar smile. Very familiar indeed.

Vivian Renton looked over her daughter’s shoulder and grinned. ‘That must have been taken when you went to that student conference,’ she said. ‘I remember you talking about some bloke you’d met there. What was his name?’