Bernard O'Shea: 'I felt an intense burning sensation. Not adolescent lust, my testicles were on fire'

I wanted to call an ambulance, but my sister said, "What are you going to tell them ? Can you come and get me because I put baking soda on my privates?"

Bernard O'Shea. Photograph Moya Nolan

As Christmas approaches, nature displays its wintery clues about what's to come. 

The robin appears in the ditch. The evenings begin to close in. The trees lose their brown lustre...