I stand outside the main door of Club Carrero and stare at the sinister blacked-out building with significant trepidation, like I am walking into the lion’s den. My heart in my mouth and my hands wringing one another nervously as I try to find the courage to walk on up. I feel like I have run a marathon, even though I only walked for twenty minutes.

It looks the same as it did all those months ago, yet it seems alien to me now. It is so much larger and more imposing. I have been ...