Skyberries and Voidmelons or Voidberries and Skymelons

A small child who looked a bit like me was colouring something in, or maybe reading, although I do not remember what now. A bear landed in the garden, by the pond, and the child who looked a bit like me was alarmed and started screaming, "a bear! a bear! there's a bear!". The child's mother rushed into the room, but when she saw the bear, she was convinced she saw a heron flying away, as bears were not often seen in gardens in the south of England. Not at that time of year, anyway.

I wondered which Southampton was more real - the city with sunsets, glistening pools and colourful street art that I had taken photos of, or the Southampton from my undergrad days, when I spent my days and nights in front of a computer or standing on my head in lecture theatres, or at the Dungeon, drinking and dancing and kissing pretty long-haired guys, or the more recent version: days spent in offices gazing out of windows looking for rainbows, occasional evenings spent in random pubs having long conversations with fascinating people, and weekends sometimes containing art exhibitions and exploring the city, but more often than not, trying to escape. Perhaps none of them were the Southampton I lived in really.