I grew up in the English countryside, watching Queer as Folk on TV and dreaming about the day I’d move to the city and get to be part of the gay world. At age 18, in the mid-noughties, I packed up and left for Manchester, moving into the university halls of residence. I was thrilled.
On my first night out, I went to a popular gay club night and got stupendously drunk. The university halls were only a five-minute walk away, but I was alone. Around 2am, I found myself propped against a wall outside a takeaway, unable to remember how to get back to my bed.
