Pride this year was hot and angry.

Assured young men in drag walked tall in heels, with folding knives tucked into their bodices – the ultimate booby trap. Handsome women broke out the hair clippers and chunky belt buckles. All around the city, hairdressers and piercing studios surfed the wave of Pride preparation. Cling film became Dublin’s hottest fashion accessory in the weeks before the date, the biggest pulling and political event of the gay calendar.

Plucked, preened, waxed, shaved, oiled and gelled, sales of coconut-scented lube and body glitter had their annual boon.