It was positively Samurai. I’ve never seen the likes of it before or since. Allow me to set the scene. It is Summer. Long, school holiday, Summer. Each day drifting into each other. Long bright nights. Lifetime friendships forged at days on the shore. Relationships torn apart by a misplaced whisper. Mended with a phonecall. Love, true love experienced. Then thrown away like a used coffee cup.

I was fifteen and not very grown up at all. Although if you’d asked me I would have told you I knew everything there was to know. That was before the exchange student from far off mystical Ireland arrived.

His name was Barry. His hair was lead singer in a rock band long. His uniform was grunge. I recognised it instantly. It was like looking at a character in a Music Museum.