On the morning of the third day, I sat bolt upright in my sofabed sometime around 4 in the morning, wide awake, my normal sleep schedule having been disrupted by the transcontinental displacement. Rather than laying there, I got up and started blogging our first day in Mokum. Crash roused himself at around the same time and started loading the pipe with S5 Haze which he passed to me while I worked. In this manner we progressed for a few hours: Crash blearily packing a pipe with smokeables while I typed away. The S5 Haze was followed by combinations involving Nepal Annapourna, Durban Poison Hash, and Laughing Buddha. Crash thought that the Durban Poison tasted a bit like caramel to him with afternotes of sage. I should take a moment here to extol the virtues of coffeeshop Ocean's S5 Haze, a marvelous, supremely lemony, daytime smoke. Prior to the trip, I had been
casting about the board for cheap weed suggestions. It was originally my intention to stop by Chapiteau in Westerpark on day one, to obtain 5g of the Sour Diesel for €9/g, but we were running late to the T&T, and so, had to shelve those plans. The S5 Haze more than amply served as a fine substitute, and was cheaper to boot, at 2.5g for €20.
After awhile, Crash crashed and went back to sleep. I kept working and woke him around eight. Shortly afterwards, we returned to the same bakery as the previous day where I ordered a broodje gezond and Crash, a foccacia-type thing with which he was underwhelmed. We set our sights on 1e Hulp, where the slinkstress was already on duty. We ordered two koffie verkeerds and a gram of the Purple for €5. Li'l Ms. Slinky and I fell to chatting. She let me take some more pix and confessed to having her own blog. I won't reveal the URL in case she doesn't want it known where she works but here's an altered graphic so that you can glean some inkling of her captivating persona.
Copyrighted image above. Used without permission.
Will someone who reads Arabic, translate what's on the wall? Enquiring minds want to know.
Sadly, that was the last we saw of Her Slinkiness on this trip though I will always remember her sitting on the front stoop, gazing dreamily off into the distance. Crash and I finished up our coffees and caught a no. 13 tram to CS. We were due to meet gapie for our tour of
de Prael, one of the two remaining breweries left in Amsterdam, the other being Brouwerij t'IJ. As we crossed the threshold, we heard a yell and saw gapie enthusiastically waving us in. Despite having to deal with customers throughout the morning, we spent a lot of time talking about different types of beer. Unfortunately, he was the only one working that day and so, could not take us around for a tour. We had already occupied so much of his time that we didn't feel slighted in the least and took our leave for Hunters coffeeshop after purchasing a few bottles for under €4 altogether. gapie was coming to the T&T later so we would catch up with him again there.
I had made arrangements with another forum member for a meeting there but he never showed up. We did however, run into Gawdamit from the previous evening's session who invited us to sit down. He began rolling combo Bubblegum/White Widow joints to share while we offered him bonghits of S5 in return. By this time, we were getting the munchies so we persuaded him to join us, and after a few circumnambulations around the centrum, ended up on Oudebrugsteeg -- fast food alley. Crash chose to patronize Walk to Wok, where he ordered Rice Noodles with Beef in Bali Sauce while I contented myself with my second broodje gezond of the day, this time on ciabatta bread. Originally, we had intended to take food into deKuil, but upon entering, ran headlong into a sauna -- it was very warm and humid inside with no air circulation. Despite the barmaid's cheery welcome, we hastily made our apologies and
fled to the Bottle where they had both the door and the windows wide open. We stayed here for awhile, eating and trading joints and bowls while taking advantage of the free wifi, working ourselves into an nigh insensible state. Feeling my ass slowly turning into stone, I finally ventured the Green House Centrum as a possible next destination to which my companions amicably agreed. Once we arrived, Crash ordered some Super Lemon Haze which he had been itching to try while I picked up a gram of Hawaiian Snow and a lovely mint tea. We sat for awhile puffing away before Crash and I realized we were in danger of missing the T&T I had scheduled for that day. We took our leave of Gawdamit, who was flying home in a few hours, and made tracks for coffeeshop Paradox.
I was pleased to see my favorite budtender on duty who recognized me and welcomed me with an enormous grin while towering over me. First order of business was to order two tasty shakes: blackberry/banana 4 me and mango/banana 4 Crash, as well as 1.1g of Chocolope 4 €12. Thereupon I began making my very first joint with a newly purchased
Rollmate which I had picked up at the Baba Souvenir shop for €8 while we were looking for lunch. Being primarily a pipe smoker, I'm pretty crap at rolling. The product worked well enough and I was satisfied with the end result save for the fact that the paper was a bit slack and not as taut as an expertly-rolled joint. Ironically, that turned out to be the only time I ever rolled in the dam, since with a fellow like gapie around, there was no need to roll myself. Later, we found Rollmates for sale at the Homegrown Fantaseed Grow Shop off the NZV for two euros less.
One of the first to arrive on the scene was marco, who I was eager to meet, having exchanged posts with him on occasion. He warmly shook hands and was quite convivial. marco turned out to be slightly older than I expected but every bit as shrewd in person as he is online. We did not discuss personal details but I can easily envision him in some senior managerial capacity in IT, perhaps at the VP level or above. gapie, tuttiflutes, and ohm sweet ohm appeared shortly afterwards. Although I was unaware of it at the time, tutti was due to leave on a trip of her own very soon, so I now appreciate the time she took out of her busy schedule to attend my second T&T. As always, ohm was immaculately groomed with not a hair out of place, and all smiles. gapie was also meeting marco for the first time, who explained to us that the others and he were already close friends, having attended similar functions in the past. In lieu of the Sour D I had my eye upon, marco offered me a few drags of the Neville's Haze from Chapiteau laced with a hash I fail to recollect. This was eye-openingly good and I can heartily recommend it, even if it has recently been marked up from €7 to €9 per gram. gapie was very excited and produced a plastic bag full of weed much to our amazement. I can't be sure, but I would have guessed there was at least 40 - 60 grams which he proceeded to dole out among us in fistfuls.
You can imagine my surprise -- here was someone I had never met in person up until approximately 48 hours prior, who was now giving me fistfuls of weed for FREE. That's gapie though -- open-hearted and generous, sorta like Sensi Claus. I wish I had taken a picture of the bag, but somehow the long afternoon wreathed in smoke had pushed any thought of photography out of my mind for the rest of the day -- apologies. marco was happy to receive his share and started rolling there and then. The weed turned out to be an unknown outdoor strain that tasted a bit harsh. gapie admitted that the bulk was slated to be turned into ice-o-lator with a shop that will remain anonymous at his request
(no, it wasn't GA) and that he was to receive a portion thereof in the near future. Naturally, the gift of free weed elevated everyone's spirits and we were getting along famously. It was at that point that I learned that bleak who I had met for the first time on Wednesday, was also an accomplished composer and musician, and that he was scheduled to perform the very next day. What's more, the concert was FREE and food was going to be served for FREE. The ferry to reach the venue was also FREE. That's a lot of FREEs in one day. Whoever said Amsterdam was over-priced? Crash and I were originally scheduled to spend Saturday in the Leidseplein b4 attending Klinch, a weekly house party thrown by the Melkweg, but this was simply too good an opportunity to pass up. Moreover, one could smoke weed FREE-ly at the outdoor venue. Done deal.
O yea n dere was dat bit bout sportin bleaky
All too quickly the afternoon flew by and tuttiflutes and ohm rose to leave for a previously arranged engagement. marco was in the midst of a busy time at work and left as well. With the party breaking up, gapie, Crash, and I began to make our way to t'Nes by mutual agreement. On our way over, gapie asked us to meet him at the Grey Area the next day where he rolled joints for the Chiefs. I remembered him
posting about it in the GA thread b4, but had dismissed it as a joke and told him so. He was a bit miffed at the suggestion, but fortunately we were near the FEBO on Nieuwendijk, and Crash and I were starving. gapie stood a discreet distance away while we made our choices. Crash opted for familiarity and decided on a hamburger while I threw caution to the winds and dove straight for the frikadel, and a sate kroket.
Above images copyright FEBO Corporation. Used without permission.
gapie only shook his head when I told him what I had done. He politely declined to partake. I had re-read the old FEBO thread lately and the idea had infected me like a virus, doubtless much in the same way the actual products would. The kroket turned out to be a a salty ingot of vaguely peanut-flavored, pre-formed, purplish mush, coated in breadcrumbs and deep fried. Not terribly bad. OTOH, the frikadel had a strange spongy texture that was akin to eating a wet pencil eraser and wholly unlike any living creature on planet Earth. My drug-addled imagination tried in vain to conjure up some chimeric vision of cow, pig, and loofah that might explain the nondescript cylinder of quasi-meat I was cramming into my maw. At least it wasn't Taco Hell. Hunger pangs abated, we proceeded enroute to t'Nes.
DC was off-duty when we arrived so we settled into the terras outside after ordering drinks, as there was still some dying sunlight. One of the regulars came out to chat, who first made fun of my beer, then told of the sorority next door who would have nothing to do with the likes of him, or anyone else seen in t'Nes for that matter. Naturally, in order to test his theory, we had to spend the rest of the hour actually watching sorority girls emerge and blithely ignore us -- it felt like college all over again. We passed the time in this way, leisurely sipping our beers before DC came out and said hello. Eventually the need to roll joints on a flat surface drove us inside where everyone settled around the party table. DC coolly shared some of his Amnesia Haze and Chocolope with us. The former was some of the best Amnesia I've seen around the Dam; chunky buds colored a bright golden green with that distinctive whiff of anisette. gapie was equally impressed by the quality of DC's gear. We spent a few hours chatting and toking before gapie decided he needed to go home. Crash and I convinced gapie to stay with us to which he happily agreed. Taking our leave of DC, we headed out into the night happy and high with our sights set on 1eHulp as the next destination. We closed that coffeeshop down before heading home for a few spliffs. gapie found a spot on the floor and miraculously we were able to scrounge both a pillow and a bedsheet for him. We fell asleep. End day three.
Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.
