Tasha was my first proper girlfriend. She was the older sister of a schoolfriend. She thought it was time to lose her virginity. I was seventeen and a virgin too, in the penetrative sense, living in my parents’ London flat. They were out. She had come round. It was a matter of practicality and nervous anticipation. Sensing her impatience, I could barely get it up. Instructions were issued. I had to wank a while, in embarrassment. Eventually it happened. It was hard work. There was blood on the sheet. When it came to laundry, I said I’d cut my finger.
Nine months later, I was taking A Levels. It was History, out at Ealing, the morning of the day that the Stones were due to play Hyde Park. On the way back, I met a couple of friends at Paddington tube. By the time we got there on foot, the crowd spread out a quarter of a mile from the stage that was set up by the Serpentine… The rest is history, of course.
