In my dream I was a girl preparing to go to boarding school for the first time. Mother took me to a specialist uniform shop, where all the essentials, from socks to hair ribbons, could be bought, plus a trunk to store all of this.

A kindly shop assistant helped me choose a skirt in a correct length. My mother said: “I thought, the rule is that the skirt should reach the floor when she kneels.”

“Never mind that,” said the shop assistant. “The main thing is for the skirt to cover enough when she is touching her toes for the cane. The first-formers are allowed to keep their skirts down; well, just make sure it reaches far enough down. Would you like to try, dear?”

And so I tried on endless skirts, bending over with my back to the mirror, considering the view I would present from the back. In my chest, there ran a secret, naughty thrill: I was a big girl, going to a big school where they used the cane.