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The London Hemp Fair 1-3 Oct 2004 Readers please check for Vipernet.biz Interactive Imaging
Liverpool At ten to 5-00am I'd had enough. Which ever way I turned my back was aching. Let me tell you now a nights kip on the floor really doesn't do it any favours. I'd decided to stop the night at an American mates who lived just a few minutes away from Hamilton Square. I had to go to London on the train this time. It was to leave Liverpool Lime Street at 6:27am & arrive in London Euston 8:55am. I needed to be on the first train from Hamilton Square to Lime Street to be on time. I had a half hour or so to wait before leaving so I took out my pipe & started working on the piece of first quality bubbling Moroccan I had. Fucks to doing the journey straight. I wasn't sure what opportunities to toke would afford themselves later that day. My head was pretty good considering that the night before we'd been out for a few ciders & finished off with shots of Jamaican overproof infused with hash. The original plan had been to go down in a mini-bus with the lads at Liverbuds & come back on the train, but something had gone wrong. I left them sorting out their travel arrangements Thursday afternoon & headed to Lime Street to make my own, "See you down there.", I said. When I got to Lime Street the train was already waiting to be boarded so I got on & made myself comfortable. I was pleasantly caned & full of anticipation. I woke up just a few minutes before the train pulled into Euston, still stoned enough to feel comfortable. I had to cross London now, twice. Once to get to where I was staying so I could drop off my baggage, Surrey way, & then again to get to Wembley.
London I arrived at my hosts, old, old family freinds, & enjoyed an English breakfast before firing myself over to Wembley. As I unpacked my bag I sneaked a few stealth tokes out the window & topped myself up. That was better. I was firing on four cylinders again instead of three. It took me about an hour & a half to get over to Wembley & find the Exhibition Centre. I had to go to Victoria first, change for Green Park & then change again to Wembley. Somehow I fucked up & added a couple of extra stops & changes between Victoria & Oxford Circus ending up on a train going in the right direction anyway. I took it as a good omen & continued to wonder who I'd see there today. I wondered if Lee Harris would be there, or even have a stand. Would Sensi Seeds be sending Eagle Bill & the vapouriser ? Would Cannabis College be represented by Lorna Clay ? Who was coming from the Pollinator Co. ? Would Tessa Lee be on the Homegrown Fantaseeds stall ? I saw no advertising for the event at all in or around London as I traveled across it. None, except for the few flyers I scattered across the underground system myself on the way there. I saw no likely punters either. Gossip was rife before the event with a lot of people expecting the whole thing to be a giant set up for a bust. To be straight I myself half expected to see the familiar 'tit heads' of Babylon patroling outside the venue. Hell, I half expected them to be walking around the stalls enforcing the 'No Smoking' restrictions. All the way along from Wembley Central I'd been hitting stealth tokes from my Proto-Pipe expecting there to be little smoking inside the event, at least first day. So eventualy I stood at the gates of history. I saw no 'tit heads' at all. Well that wasn't so reasuring, I'd observed how well camera'd the whole area was. It seemed like every lamp post had an evil eye attached to it. They didn't need to be present, not until everyone was there & the party was in full swing that was. Paranoid, maybe; but I certainly was not alone in these ideas. As I would later discover many if not most of the venders had very similar thoughts. Especially the Amsterdam folken.
Wembley Exhibition Centre I took out my camera & took my first shot. A big bald guy who wanted to be in the shot made sure that he was, choosing the very second I hit the button to pass me. There's always one ...........! Inside the Exhibition Hall I headed straight for the bogs to unload the coffee I'd had with my breakfast. The first stall I passed was the Pollinator Co.. I squinted over as I passed but couldn't pick out anyone I recognised at that distance. Letting loose the coffee I observed how there seemed to be an awful lot of 'cleaners' fussing about in the toilets & another had followed me in. No great suprises so far. I attempted to look as innoccent as possible & left to begin my first lap of the stalls. The first guy I got talking to was Paul Jenkinson of Yorkshire Hemp.
Paul gave me sample tastes of just about everything. I was very impressed by the roasted hemp snacks in five flavours. Paul deals in all hemp seed products; oils, soaps, massage oil, essential oils, de-husked hemp seed, perfume & much much more. After speaking with Paul I checked out the Kulu Trading stall & began making my way around at leisure taking some photo's.
I decided I'd try & do the stalls methodically. That way I'd be sure not to miss anyone. So I made my way along the back wall & got chatting with the folks at Kannabia who had come over from Spain ahead of next weeks Spanish Hemp Fair. Then I got talking to Tom the Seedman & carried along breifly stopping at Spannabis (High Times) Magazine before coming across a Hydro stall that had a rather curious device with fish swimming inside it. The device is used to root cuttings & generates carbon dioxide. Multi jet sprays provide constant moisture to developing root systems & matured rooted plants alike. A couple of stands down I came across my first familiar faces, Homegrown Fantaseeds & Sagamatha Seeds were sharing a stall.
They both looked pleased to see me, breaking out big smiles & warm greetings. While I was chatting a hand went on my shoulder from behind & a voice spoke, "Alright Viper ? Hows it going ?".
It was Gary from EDIT sucking down a beer & looking very 'relaxed'. We swaped news & I went over with Gary to the Edit stand.
I met the Edit Crew & had a cough while I had cover. I could occasionally smell the sacrament but I hadn't seen anyone openly toking. Although I had the power under Article 18 of the International Declaration of Human Rights 1948 to declare the event a spiritual gathering thereby protecting everybodys rights to personal possession, use & cultivation I was choosing to be circumspect about using what could be a Trump Card if needed. Although I was mentioning my recent ordination into the THC Ministry to a few of the venders I was not convinced that they truly understood what I was on about. Its the sort of thing that needs sleeping on & I was sure that come the morrow, & a few after fair drinks in the venders hotel bar that night, that the idea would take hold & spread. For now however, I was happy to stealth toke. I'd passed the Sensi Seeds stall & checked to see who was running the booths. I did not see Eagle Bill but was informed he was going to be along later. Would he bring the vapouriser with him I wondered ? Surely not, the' tit 'eads' would be on him like flies on shit, wouldn't they ........ ? While I pondered on this I gazed about me. The Edit stand was pretty much in the middle of the hall. It made sense to go speak to all the neighbours & spread the Ministerial word. First to catch my eye was the Weed World stand. So I made this my first call finally putting a face to the name Bob, & Eric, of Eric's Kitchen. We had a good talk & a few laughs over a rather lovely piece of chocolate whereupon I set Eric a challenge; some recipies for those of us with gluten free & dairy free lifestyles. I look forward to reading them in future Weed World editions. I even had a name for a suggested snack: ©Vipers Delight.
Then I saw the Braintree stand.
Braintree Hemp have been in business in the U.K. a couple of years now. I first came across them by simple chance when walking down the Portobello Road on my way to see Lee at Alchemy last summer. I got talking to Dean who was running the shop then but lost his contact info. John was looking after things here at the fair while Dean was manning the new shop. They had a great range of excellent quality very stylish clothes. From there I started to drift, & found myself over at Century Lighting ...........
While I was taking shots two girls went strolling past. They clocked me snapping away & were obviously curious. Out the corner of my eye I saw them stop breifly right in what was to be my next shot. One of the girls hurried out of frame around the corner after trying to drag her mate with her looking flustered. The second girl looked on & stood back against the wall. Whoever she was, she wanted in on the picture, so, here you are luv. You made it to special mention.
Wandering about I found myself confronted by the only thing to defeat me in the field of toking combat, the Volcano Vapouriser. Last time I came face to face with one I broke seven teeth. When I told the lads on the stand they broke up laughing, by the time I'd added my recomendations of providing clients with gum sheilds & full face helmets they were pissing themselves. Before I left they had me pose on their stand. Gods help us - Viper in the Volcano promo's.
I drifted a bit more & made my unhurried way to the Pollinator stand via LCA & World Wide Imports .....
This time I recognised everybody on the stand. Eyes lit up & warm greetings were exchanged & some LHF gossip went with it. While I was talking away, slating King George II & commenting on the nice t-shirt Tall Paul was wearing I was introduced to a lovely twenty something blonde who worked for The Hemp Trading Company which was where the t-shirt in question originated. I went over there with .............. sorry memory loss, forgot your name sweetie......... & bought myself one.
T-shirt from THTC with little bag of industrial hemp seed. Having completed my business I ambled away from the stand & found myself passing the Edit stand again. So I dropped in for a natter & got talking to Paul who was shooting footage for a forth coming Edit DVD release, "Would you be prepared to go on camera later ... ?", Gods - here we go again LOL ! While passing the time of day with Space I spotted Eagle Bill looking for a pocket pipe. Bill looked well but a little thin after his recovery from a recent heart attack. "Hi Bill." "Hey how you doing ? You coming over for a vapouriser hit ?" "You got it with you ?" "Yeah, I just got here so I haven't had it working yet.", it was very late afternoon by now, & although the smell of consumed sacrament had risen considerably, helped along by my good self, I still hadn't actually seen anybody toking openly. I felt honoured to be the first to use the vapouriser at this event & made the proclamation that the event was now a spiritual one so long as I remained present in my official capacity as THC Minister & Care Giver. For me this was the Official Opening Ceremony. Bill loaded up the bowl & attached the heat gun while I sucked for England struggling to keep up with the volume of fumes being powered into the big expansion chamber of the huge glass bong. I took a massive hit & the world grew distant & I steadied myself on the table finally letting out the hit that I'd waited for all day. The world came back as I exhaled & I declared the event well & truely open. Now we were a festival, full on & proper.
Opening Ceremony Bill showed me his book about 'forty two years in the business'. I got talking to the guy stood next to me who had taken the second hit. He was from Liverpool too. I meant to catch up with him the day after with the Liverbuds but forgot which stand he was on.
I went & circulated the good news eventually completing a circle which led me back to the Sensi Seeds stand where I started the first of what would become a series of conversations with Lawence Cherniak. Lawrence was on a mission to sticker everybody with images from his collected works of graphic leafs.
While we spoke who should appear but none other than Zoe. I had not expected to see her but wasted little time in questioning her more about what happened earlier in the year regarding ICMag & the 420 Festival. Zoe didn't want to talk about it & alarm bells started ringing all over my brain. Zoe disapeared to see somebody else. Maybe its because I'm on home turf, perhaps because I wasn't anywhere near as blasted as in Amsterdam, but I was beginning to see some of the Amsterdam folken a little clearer than I ever had before. Roll up, roll up, the carnival has come to town ! I had two more days yet, & I'd been left feeling like Humpty-fuckin'-Dumped-on-&-Used. Knight to King Bishop three. I circulated once more saying my 'Goodnights' & picked up more positive feedback than Poison Ivy's guitar about the days turn of events. Everybody was feeling good. It was way past half past seven & my mind kept telling me about the bar I'd passed halfway between Wemley Exhibition Centre & Wembley Central Station. I debated with myself about paying a visit before opting to catch the 8:04pm train at Wembley Park instead. But at turned quarter past the fucking thing had failed to appear so I began making my way towards the bar that I should already have been killing my first pint in. Thinking of that first pint made me realise that I hadn't taken any food or drink since arriving & sampling the stuff at Yorkshire Hemp. That had to have been just after two. No wonder I was spitting feathers. Talking is thirsty work. At length I reached the little bar called Eddie's & enjoyed that first cider like a man just walked out of the desert. Thinking back over the day I checked the time which was fast advancing on 9:00pm. I had to cross London yet & I still hadn't eaten so I talked myself out of a second pint in order to get as far as Piccadilly Circus & see if I could find Greek Street again. I must be improving because I did find it & pretty quickly too. Unfortunatly it was packed to the gills, so I moved on & found a Thai place in the next street all painted pink. There was a Thai couple at the next table, always a good sign I thought, & was not disapointed, except with the amount of chillies used in my meal. NOT ENOUGH. I finished up & headed back towards the Underground calling in at two pubs because the first didn't have any cider !? I made it to Victoria with just ten minutes to make use of the bar before my train departed at 22:45pm. Just time for one pint then. __________________________ Day 2: Oct 2nd 2004 The next day began with a series of calls to the lads coming down from Liverbuds. The mini-bus had fallen through. They were coming down by car, but they had forgotten the T-shirts & the business cards .............. ! On the way I stopped for a quick cider at Eddie's. The Irish lad that had been on the night before was on again & didn't need telling what to pour. When I arrived the lads were arguing over why they had left the business cards & t-shirts behind & whose fault it was, good naturedly. I introduced them to the folken at the Pollinator Co & recieved a massive blast on an electric vapouriser devise. "Fuckin' 'ell Vernie ! Look its coming out his ears.", they said while I kept taking the hit. Eventually I let it out, primed for the day ahead.
Sean of Liverbuds Exhaling The Sacrament Saturday was busier than the day before & I rushed the lads around everyone I'd met yesterday & many more besides. They kept asking for coffee breaks to rest their feet. I have to say I was somewhat merciless with them. This was their first major cannabis festival & there were a lot of people they wanted to meet & see.
At one point we sat & watched the fashion show. I saw Zoe with her lawyer boyfreind, an elderly buffalo sized pigtailed stereo typical hippie in one of Zoe's painted shirts. Zoe kept avoiding my gaze until it suited her to catch my attention some half hour or so later. Nods & shit eating grins were exchanged across the catwalk with Buffalo Hippie.
I was quite enjoying the show but the Liverbud filming the show got rather pissed off with comments made by the pervert posing as a camera man sat next to him, & so we packed our shit & left. We went in search of Mr Liverbud & found him on his return from Eagle Bill's vapouriser beaming radiently.
John
We dropped in to see John at Avalon & had quite a good chat. "How nice it is to be able to put a name to a face.", said John echoing a sentiment I'd heard a couple of dozen times by then. One I'd hear only minutes later again as I got talking to the first Australian representative I'd come across. Although it emerged he'd been at the Cannabis Cup last year.
At one point we were at the Edit stand when Paul of the Edit Crew asked me to go on camera. To be honest I was a bit stoned by then & I'm not sure just what nonsense I talked although I'm assured I'll get the chance to view it. All two or three minutes of it. We made our way around to the side Seedsman was on & stopped in for a chat. Moving on we came to The Hydroponic Centre & had fun with the fish before popping next door at Hydrolight to look at the grow units designed for students.
Then we came across the Grow Tent. An inventive device designed for student grow ops & fitted with ventilation & access pannels.
I got the Liverbuds around everyone & just when they thought they had done & were picking up stuff they had bought earlier & preparing to leave I introduced them to Luc of Paradise Seeds. "How do you do it ?", they asked me in the car park knowing what sort of day I had had the day before, & what sort of day they had, & that I still had one to go. "I'm a professional.", I said taking a hit on my pipe. When I got to Eddie's the Irish lad didn't require telling what I wanted. He was pouring before I reached the bar. While I sat reflecting on the day Thin Lizzy's 'Whiskey In The Jar' started playing on the bar juke. So I stayed for another pint. I'd knocked off at 5:00pm tonight so I had plenty of time to enjoy it. I made my way into China Town & eventually found a place where there was no que of people out the door waiting for a table & ended the night in the Whispering Moon taking a long swallow of cider. __________________________________________ Day 3: Oct 3rd 2004 I came awake later this morning & relaxed into a hot shower before breakfast. All the hard work was done now, today was for tying up loose ends. For some reason I ended up getting out at the Wembley Park Station this time. Now I realize that I should have ignored the signs & followed the throng, but I followed the signs instead & ended up circling the Wembley complex & aproaching the right gate from the oposite direction than the previous two days. I'd been wondering about Lee Harris as I aproached. Lee opened the very first Headshop in the country over thirty years ago. If anyone should be here it was him. In fact if it had not been for Lee it might be this event never would have taken place. Lee broke the virgin ground everyone else has since bandwagoned upon. It seemed to me Leee should be getting some recognition here, but it was also abundantly clear that the event had been rush organised & that such sublties had been over looked. I entered the fair & checked in with the Pollinator folken who put me onto the free coffee at the Homegrow stand, where I got talking shop all over again. I moved on saying my 'Goodmornings' as I went. Passing the Basil Bush stand, "Hello Vern." , who should I run into but Lee Harris.
Lee was suffering with a rather bad cold. He told me about a very exclusive party he'd been invited to in place of Alex James from Blur, who couldn't get a baby sitter on that night. It sounded like quite a party. Lee had gone with Youth, of Killing Joke fame. Then he introduced me to his daughter who was doing a stint on the Basil Bush stand before telling me about the Alchemy in Avalon upcomming event. We parted with intentions to share sacrament some time later & I drifted around at my leisure tying up loose ends & taking last chance photo's.
I came upon the Northern Lightz stand & found Jamie relaxing & enjoying the whole thing immensly. It was his first big cannabis festival & he was taking the relaxed aproach of the canny Scot, or 'trig cove' as the people of Lud might say, that he was. I like Jamie, had some good conversations on the phone with him. I find him to be a straight dealing straight speaking individual. A rare & treasurable thing these days. Carry on doing what you do mate. Right oposite was the Dutch Passion stand looking incredibly bare.
From here I went to see if Zoe was about, & ended up in long conversation with Lawrence Cherniak. Lawrence had a new magazine/comic/graphic book coming out & he was mercilessly persuing a mission to sticker everyone in the building with his leaf graphic stickers. Lawrence also has a range of very beautiful smokewares soon to be released with inlaid glass graphic leaves, & has plans for a range of clothing. I introduced him to John of Braintree Hemp & then to Jamie of Northern Lightz. Jamie started to point out the short comings of the comic Lawrence had illustrated with particular attention to some very similar characters in both publications. Oops ! A full blown row began developing & I left them to work it out between them. A while later I ran into Zoe again just as Dot from Bud Buddies put in an appearance at Eagle Bill'sVapouriser stand. Jeff had warned me about Dot the day before. Dot had a reputation for being able to smoke hardened experienced sesh heads under the table. She was 85 years young. Zoe loved her immediatly & we started joking about having Dot at the Cannabis Cup next month as a celebrity Judge. Then Zoe put herself out on a limb & asked Dot to come to the Cup as a personal guest of hers. Dot's helper reminded Zoe that Dot would require some help when, or if she went over. "No problem I'll do it. I'll look after her. It would be a pleasure ......... ect" I exchanged a glance with Dot's helper. It would indeed be lovely to see her there, but I fear the practicality of the task may prove a stumbling block as Amsterdam is not geared to the disabled. It was clear to me that Dot would need not just one helper but a team of full time assistants to fully enjoy the Cannabis Cup experience. That would take some organising, & I knew Zoe would be working at the Cup. With a little over six weeks to go I feel it is feasable to organise such a team & make it happen. I feel sure that once there Dot would recieve a tremendous welcome & that many would be prepared to 'help out' quite spontaneously.
Dot; Can Smoke You Under The Table ! If you think you may be able to assist in making Dot's trip a reality please get in touch with Jeff through www.budbuddies.com. Dot is well up for the experience, & I challenged her to a smoke out if she makes it over. "Any time.", replied Dot. I promise to take you up on that just as soon as I can arrange to get over to Rhyl. Finally Zoe was all mine. I had taken a great deal of stick on her behalf since asking questions & being banned from ICMag Forums & it was growing as an idea that I had been used in what was increasingly beginning to look like a private slanging match. This idea grew as she set about finding her lawyer boyfreind, Buffalo Hippie, whom she wanted to hear what I said. Zoe claimed not to have known that I'd published her comments regarding ICMag. Buffalo began listening to how I'd published Zoe's 'account' of the 420 Festival before cutting me short & asking, "How many read it ?". Now that was a good question. In truth; I have no idea. I have no hit counter on my site & if theres a way to find out via my web host I haven't yet discovered it. I began answering while I seriously considered the question, "A couple of hundred, ..................." "Oh, tut.", said Buffalo & waved a dismissive hand at me turning & walking away from me like I was a child on the Headmaster's rug. He hadn't let me finish. 'A couple of hundred to a few thousand' was what I'd been about to say. Along with, 'I get read internationally'. Hippie lawyer ? You work out what that means !
Cannabis College, Pure Sativa, & Magus Genetics all seemed to be sharing the same stand along with Luc of Paradise Seeds. I drifted over to chat with Tom over at his stand & while I was there Jeff Ditchfield of Beggars Belief presented me with an oportunity to get the photo I should have got yesterday when I spoke to him at length about his arrest, his shop, medical marijuana, Bud Buddies & a slew of other topics. Liverbuds were planning a visit in the near future. I'll be in touch soon Jeff.
While chatting over at Jeffs stand to some of his people I got talking to a lady using a wheelchair. Within a few minutes we had traded tales & symptoms. This was the very first person I'd ever met with the same illness as myself that had the same attitude to its management that I had. More, this person was also a practicing Wiccan & turned out to be Mary Jane from UK420. Somewhat suprised at the sudden rush of intelligence we began talking over past forum dificulties. I was about to question Mary Jane more about Wiccan teaching but just then somebody called her away & Ferra of the THC Ministry caught up with me. A little earlier I'd run into the guy from the LCA stand who was on a recruiting drive. When I mentioned the THC Ministry, "I just met one of your guys, Ferre.", he said unprepared for my suprised & somewhat excited reaction. We went in search but of course couldn't find him. We did see Lawrence doing his 'Olympic Run' around the venue hall though, & I bumped into Jamie looking irritable. The LCA man said he'd point Ferra in my direction when he saw him next. This he had obviously done while I made my way to the Kannabia stand. Zoe rushed past in a flap, "Oh Vern. Have you seen Dot ?" "No." "Do you think I bit off more than I can chew. Inviting Dot over I mean. You know me do you think I can cope ?", I looked her in the eye a moment & saw the penny was dropping for both of us. I sighed, "You going to do it all by yourself ?" "Yes." "Your going to be working this Cup arn't you ?" "Yes." "Well Zoe, you got think for a minute haven't you. Forget all the Cannabis Cup stuff for a moment & all the bullshit that goes with it. What you have to think about is an 85 year old lady in a wheelchair. If she goes to the Cup she's going to need help, you know what I mean. Never mind keeping her in smoke, thats incidental. If she comes over she won't run out, I'm sure. You know the layout of Amsterdam as well as I do, & you know the layout of the Melkweg, better than I do.........." "Melkweg ?" "Yes, the Melkweg. Its where they're holding all this years events. Now you tell me, do you think you can cope with all that by yourself ?", (the lights went on). "Where can I find Dot to talk about it ?" "Dot's part of Jeff's crew at Bud Buddies over there." "Who ?" I took her over, & this was where Ferre found me. As I got to know my Cardinal our little group expanded with the arrival of Lee Harris who I'd last seen after sharing a spiritual moment outside with myself & Tony of Sagamatha Seeds. Lee & Tony had never met before & I quickly filled in Tony who Lee was after we returned & Lee shot off in search of Free Rob Cannabis, who was due to speak. Tony & I fell to discussing a strain called Cheese & I began to laugh thinking of Lester Redd at last years Cannabis Cup. I told Tony what I knew & he told me what he knew. I knew just a little more about its origins. He knew a little more of its perfomance. But back at the Bud Buddies stand Ferra was making an impression. For some reason his repetion of what I'd told them the day before seemed to sink all the way in. I introduced him to Lee & Jeff. Every time I'd seen one of Jeff's crew since Saturday they'd shout over, "Hi Reverand.", I was too. It all started feeling like a cue for a Zodiac Mindwarp video to me at one point. Any bands out there interested in doing a cover of 'High Preist Of Love', or maybe 'Prime Mover' ? What d'ya reckon on the publicity angle, top ten appeal, new entry at No.1..... ? LOL ! I headed over to the Edit stand to introduce Ferre to the Edit Crew. A little earlier I'd called in & seen the perculiar vision of two battling cannabis leaves.
While we chatted Brad appeared with his head in a mess. All his forehead was scabbed as a result of chaffing from the 'big leaf' suit. Don't ever say the Edit folken don't put themselves out to entertain you. Again Ferre repeated what I'd said over the last couple of days about the THC Ministry & Article 18, & again this time around it sunk all the way in. Progress.
While Ferre was chatting I took a snap of Echo. Echo had come up to us while we were having coffee with a shot of hash laced Jamaican Overproof with the 'Spanish kid' (sorry mate I forgot your name too) on the Kannabia stand. It had taken me over an hour to get the 'Spanish kid' a coffee during which time I'd met up with Ferre. I thought he deserved a bonus for the wait. Echo was also a member of the THC Ministry, but at the time I met her I couldn't get past; good looking lady aproaching me with love in her heart - oh happy day ! "This is Echo", said Ferre introducing us. "Echo, Echo, Echo, Echo, Echo .............?", I repeated grasping through my memory for which forum I knew her from. "From the Ministry.", nudged Ferre. Doh ! All too soon Ferre& Echo had to head for their home base in Kent. It was a pleasure to meet you both & I look forward to strengthening our bonds Cup time. I saw Jamie again who told me that he & Lawrence had just made up & that he was glad that I 'd introduced them to each other as the matter had needed sorting out & this had provided the opportunity for that to happen sooner than later. I felt somewhat relieved & turned to resume my course walking straight into Lawrence who told me all over again that he & Jamie had made up. Good stuff. I then met up with Basil Bush himself just back from a lengthy stay in Australia. We chatted about the Australian landscape & cuisine for a little while sharing a mutual apreciation for a fresh water fish called Baramundi. Before leaving Basil I took some snaps of something very new & not yet in the shops. This is a Viperslair.co.uk exclusive; Barney's Breakfast Bar have started their own Seed Co. called Barney's Farm & they will be providing three strains to the seed buying public. You can probably guess which.
I checked my watch, it had slid past 6:00pm without my notice. I decided it was time to say my 'Goodbye's' & began my final circuit of the weekend. By the time I was done it was past 7:30pm & half the stalls were already dismantled. It had been a huge success despite the complete media blackout. It suited us, we'd rather hear our own news. One thing is for certain, this is but the start of a very big thing. Next year will be bigger & better. I strolled up to Eddie's for a final Wembley pint & was suprised to find the Irish lad had the night off. It was late & I didn't fancy a trek around town to find somewhere I could get something to eat so I ended up in the Kentucky Chicken just a few doors down before moving on to catch my trains back to my Surrey base. Coming out of the train station I crossed the road & entered the Whispering Moon for a long swallow while I reflected on the weekend. Everyone who was anyone had been at LHF with two very obvious exceptions. Gypsy Nirvana's Seeds Direct/ICMag; rumoured to be in stressful times & a change of operational location to Northern California - allegedly - (glad to hear Eddie Lepp is out the jail house). Eddie was recently busted over the size of his medical garden. The other big name missing was Mr Nice. Back at base I was overcome by a case of munchies & raided my hosts fridge coming up with a little ham, some gluten free bread & a half finished giant packet of crisps. Result, food of kings ! I hooked the three tins of cider staring up at me too, & headed off to pack my bag. 
Viper 5th Oct 2004. ___________________________________________________________ All images & text ©Viperslair.co.uk 2004 All rights reserved. Any un-authorized publication of texts, parts of texts, or images, will result in legal action. Publishing permission can be obtained from Viperslair.co.uk by written request only. First Published 6/10/2004 by Viperslair.co.uk Re-Published 16/1/2005 Re-published 1/1/2006 Re-formatted for Disc 4/10/2006
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