In the autumn of 1986, on a busy London road, my embarrassed student self learned that size really does matter
I see many things at this time of year that take me back to the uncertainties of going off to university. This week it was an advert for condoms, which made a big deal of the range of sizes available. I was transported back to the autumn of 1986. I was 19 and, to my shame and embarrassment, somewhat sexually inexperienced. A second-year student had taken a shine to me and sexual intercourse, to my alarm, appeared imminent.
There was nothing for it: I was going to have to buy some condoms. I got the bus to Swiss Cottage, north London, where I walked into, and straight out of, Boots the chemist, too embarrassed for words. Pathetic, I know. I wandered back up the Finchley Road towards my college, almost working up the courage to go into each chemist. As the road is a main route out of London, I’ve relived this walk of shame many times.
