Riding when contraception was hard to come by in Ireland.

Depended on the part of the country you lived.

...had morals?

I was a kid back then......so all I got to ride was my bike!!

Well if you were a student there was always the German option.

In the 80s Germany was a thriving economy with a massive labour shortage and this was in the days before every assembly line was automated with computers and robots. So loads of summer work available.

Also, the Germans were very into sales automation even back then so there were loads of vending machines selling chocolate, coffee, peanuts.....and johnnies.

Also, for the younger generation, this was long before the euro so we used Irish punts and the Germans used DeutscheMarks. Amazingly, if very stupidly, the 1DM coin was exactly the same size and weight of the old Irish 5p piece. But the DM was worth between 30 and 34p depending on market fluctuations at the time. So every June, Irish banks had to be sure to stock up on a few gazillion 5ps as they just knew grubby students would be coming in to get a fiver or tenners worth of such coins in advance of heading off to Germany for the summer. So they could phone home to their mammies, like. (Pre mobile phone days)

Worked a treat. A year's supply of Johnnies (about a packet in my case) for a few p. Just had to make sure you used them by the sell-by date.

EE we had it tough when I were a lad!!

Sure the women always had an answer. There were even books about it.

Throwing them into slavery?

Living on the border it was never an issue. Just pop into the local northern pharmacy and ride like hell.

How romantic

I don't know if they're romantic. See for yourself - https://www.condomjungle.com/naturalamb/ - bit pricy though

Morals did exist back then and had nothing to do with religion. Fair do's to those that followed them. Usually single and aware. This is a topic I can completely relate to as I became sexually active in 1987 and used a condom from a friends parents bedroom drawer. Most likely those condoms were got on prescription as they were married. If we fast forward into the early 90s, lots of girls as in teenagers had access to the pill once their parents consented to it. The pill was widely accessible back then. Of course lots of girls were tricked into the act by lads that didn't give a fook with BS like, "I'll pull out". Yeah right. Most likely a case of no communication from parents that had experienced religious oppression and were comfortable ignoring the reality. Quite simply they weren't told anything about the options that local doctors would happily prescribe. Even the morning after pill was available in Well Women Centres.

I came of age during a time where the availability of contraception crossed over from prescription to condom machines in pub toilets. Now we can buy them in our local petrol station and rightly so. However from my perspective the late 80s to the early 90s, was no excuse either if parental guidance/support was offered. These days couples still have unplanned pregnacies despite the widespread contraceptive options. I guess it may be down to a still existent situation of absolute carelessness and ignorance. No excuse these days but hey it still happens.

Billy describes it best....

......if you couldn't get your hands on Cling film in an emergency :-)