Amsterdam Coffeeshop Directory Forums

Thursday September 29th

“What are you doing?” My mr asked. We were leaving for the airport in fifteen minutes, and I was at the sink, carefully filling two half-liter glass bottles with cold water.

“I’m bringing James water.”

“You’re what?” I could feel my husbands bafflement.

“I’m bringing James water. That’s what he wanted from Switzerland.” My husband snorted.

“Wow, he’s got game. Asking you for water.” He shook his head. “He couldn’t have asked you for anything more perfect. Clever man.”

I laughed, because he was so right.




Monday September 5th

“I’m so glad I will be back at the end of the month, it makes it a lot less sad to be leaving.” James and I were standing, side by side, at the short edge of the counter.

“It’s been sooo niiiice having you in the shop.” James reached his arm around to give me a squeeze. I slowly exhaled a tart skunky cloud of bas special then leaned my head on his shoulder.

“Can I bring you anything from Switzerland? Do you like cheese or chocolate? I wish I could bring you milk from the cows up the hill, but I don’t think it will travel well.”

James smiled and said, “I love presents. Would you bring me some of the water?”


Basjoe's Bas Special

Sunday September 4th

There were a cluster of customers at the bar when I walked in on Sunday night, but my favorite stool in the corner was free. James was in the back with the door closed. Leo Jr greeted me with a small smile. I asked him for a gram of the bas special, a latte, and a spa red.

I pulled out a beautiful nugget of G-13 I had bought earlier that day, when I had been there with 2rollingstoned, her mr, gapie, hasj, and piedpiperofvice. On the crawl I hadn’t been fully able to admire the lovely bud, which smelled of grapefruit, violet, and lemon thyme and was dense with resin and crystal. It was a pleasure to roll, fragrant and firm between my fingers.


Basjoe’s G13

A perfect latte appeared in front of me, and I took a moment to savor the happy relaxed vibe of the shop that evening. Every table was full, with a surprising number of groups of young cute women.

I sparked the G-13 and couldn’t contain my smile as I exhaled the surprisingly fresh –tasting grapefruit and orange blossom cloud. I immediately felt embraced by an expansive peaceful high. The caffeine from the latte was a lovely counterpoint and I sunk into Walt Whitman’s poetry as I puffed away.

“Song of Myself”
http://www.daypoems.net/poems/1900.html

The atmosphere is not a perfume, it has no taste of the
distillation, it is odorless,
It is for my mouth forever, I am in love with it,
I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked,
I am mad for it to be in contact with me.

I felt a warm hand on my shoulder and turned to see James’ warm brown eyes and big smile. I hopped off the stool to give him a hug.

“Where are all your friends? Are they coming by?”

“No, I’m flying solo tonight. I didn’t tell anyone where I’d be because I wanted some me time.”

James headed behind the bar Leo Jr headed out for a break. We chatted while I rolled myself a big joint of the bas special. James rolled a joint as well, a bit quicker than me, and when I finished. He picked up my joint, in one hand and a toothpick in the other, slathering it carefully with terminator.

He passed the joint across to me, his eyes sparkling mischievously as he then repeated the process with his joint. “Now we’ll be on the same level.”

“Yay!” My grin was huge as we both sparked up our joints. James barely got his lit before a steady stream of customers forced him to put it down. I drew a deep hit into my lungs. Closing my eyes as I exhaled in order to better savor the tart lemon and skunk flavor.


Basjoe's Bas Special

I watched the terminator begin to bubble and roll down my joint, becoming translucent like warm honey. That same sweetness oozed slowly through my body, moving first up my arms from my fingers, slow and warm. I only smoked the first third of the joint before I lost myself again in my poem.

The sound of the belch'd words of my voice loos'd to the eddies of
the wind,
A few light kisses, a few embraces, a reaching around of arms,
The play of shine and shade on the trees as the supple boughs wag,
The delight alone or in the rush of the streets, or along the fields
and hill-sides,
The feeling of health, the full-noon trill, the song of me rising
from bed and meeting the sun.

Have you reckon'd a thousand acres much? have you reckon'd the earth much?
Have you practis'd so long to learn to read?
Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?

It seemed like only minutes before Leo Jr was back. James came over, joint in hand, and said, “I am going to sit outside for a bit. Want to join me?” I picked up my joint and followed him out into the cool night.

The words that passed between us will remain so, but that was when I told him about the water in Switzerland.

“It is a bit hard for me there, which is why I come here so much. It is a rough fit culturally. Too many bankers. Lots of rules. Too grim and materialistic. Very quiet. But at the same time we are so lucky to be there doing work we love. It’s safe. It’s beautiful, and so clean. I never thought “clean” would be something I cared much about, but it’s just pristine. You can see the trout in the bottom of the river in the very heart of the city. And the water tastes amazing. There are water fountains for drinking every block or so. And the lake is so beautiful.”



to be continued

Awesome read, thanks for sharing!

Thanks Catt and Slo!

Honestly, this wasn't a story I ever planned on sharing, but it does the best job of expressing why James' Basjoe was so special to me.

Catt, I sent you a pm with some details about my move. A California TnT would be awesome!

More soon. Keep rolling my party peoples!

geekymonkey wrote:Honestly, this wasn't a story I ever planned on sharing, but it does the best job of expressing why James' Basjoe was so special to me.

Gald you did!! Keep'em coming!!

SloWhite wrote:

geekymonkey wrote:Honestly, this wasn't a story I ever planned on sharing, but it does the best job of expressing why James' Basjoe was so special to me.

Gald you did!! Keep'em coming!!

IM glad you did also! It was so awesome.

Basjoe's Amensia Haze

Friday September 30th

When Cisco left to head toward Club Media, I pulled the two glass bottles out of my bag and walked to the back of the shop. James was talking with a pair of customers so I set the bottles on the edge of the counter and headed for the ladies room.

James was still deep in conversation when I came back out, so I sat back down and pulled out some things to roll. Everything was warm and glowing from the Amnesia Haze joint that I’m now fairly certain Cisco and I shared. I watched the people pass by outside in the radiant sunshine. The purposeful stride of the locals making a sharp contrast to the excited happy wanderings and large eyes of lucky visitors.

Absentmindedly, I started to roll another joint. The tight frosty little nuggets of cheese were quickly ground releasing an oily cheddary funk that tickled my nose. I carefully narrowed the rolling paper like I had seen Cisco do earlier at Voyagers before arranging the sparkly bud along the seam.


Basjoe's Cheese V

“Is that water from Switzerland?” James’ eyes were sparkling and his hand warm on my shoulder.

I turned to smile up at him. “Ja, ja. Freshly bottled at the source, my kitchen sink.”

“Thank you.” He started to say something else, but then the shop door opened. A scowl briefly flickered across his face as another group of customers entered. He returned to the bar, and when I looked down, there was a little baggie of isolator sitting on the edge of the table.

Smiling at the unexpected gift, I carefully pinched the end of a filter into a little scoop and laced the isolator into the cheese. A well-timed text message came from my mr right as I was sealing the joint with my tongue, so I tucked it into my bag and headed over to James for my until-later hug.


Basjoe's Isolator

It was quite awhile later before my husband and I got around to smoking that joint, after an intense amnesia haze fueled romp. My mr dozed and I cut up some excellent dutch cheeses, apples, and avocado as my mind drifted happily.

My mr’s eyes lit up when I carried the platter to the bed, a bottle of fizzy water tucked under my arm. I once heard the secret keeping a happy man crudely described as “Keep his balls empty and his stomach full.” Check and Check. I would add “And joint freshly rolled.” Which, on this fine day it was.



Glad that I had had the foresight to start coffee before we had gotten so distracted, I took one more trip to the kitchen to return with two steaming cups in my hands. Curling up next to my very happy husband, I picked up the joint of isolator and cheese. The rich oily flavor filled my mouth while my eyes grew heavy and warm. My second hit brought a warm rush of light though my body, leaving everything in the room brighter and more vivid.



Tuesday October 4th

“On your own again today?”

“Only for a few hours. My husband woke up wanting to write this morning, so I decided to run errands.”

“Errands?” James squinted his eyes at me.

“Well, I desperately needed coffee first, of course.” James chuckled. “He knows I probably won’t manage to make it anywhere else.”

“Oh, so he knows you’re here.”

“Of course. He knows this is my favorite place. He’s the one who buys my tickets to Amsterdam every time he has to travel. Plus, he knows I’m in good hands here.”

James beamed at that. “So, a latte for you then?”

“Sounds good.”


Club Media's Pot of Gold

He went to work behind the massive espresso machine and I pulled out some of Club Media’s Pot of Gold to roll a joint. Automatically, I lifted the bag to my nose and closed my eyes as I savored the rich aroma of caraway and gouda. At this point in the week, my fingers had the rolling rhythm down pat. James and I continued to chat and before I knew it I had a beautiful joint waiting to be lit and James was setting a steaming latte down in front of me.

“I have a few more things to do to get the shop set up, but then we can have a sit, if you want.” He said.

“That would be super! Oh yeah, I also need some weed. How’s the AK 47?”

“Not strong enough for you right now.” I felt a swell of pride at that assessment.

“Something else?” He shook his head at me. “It’s ok if it’s not strong, I have hash I want to smoke anyway. I just need something clean to roll it with.”


Basjoe’s Hash

“You have hash you want to smoke.” James laughed, clearly finding that funny. “Of course you do. I have really great weed coming in later today.” He looked pointedly at the baggie with over a gram of Pot of Gold still in front of me.

“Seriously, you’re going to make me go somewhere else for some weed?” I tried to squint my eyes at him in some semblance of a glare.

James started flipping though a little plastic basket full of baggies and pulled out a baggie full of about 4 grams of shake that was mostly crystal. I smelled it and recognized the musky lemony skunk smell of the excellent cheese I had been enjoying so much. “Use this, the last of the cheese I was saving for myself.”

“I’m really glad you gave this to me, because I brought this for you.” I picked up my pen and scrawled “Media/ Pot of Gold” on scrap of filter in front of me. Tucking it into the bag, I passed it across to him. “It’s my favorite indica I found this trip so far besides yours. It’s tasty, soil grown, classic old-school. Not really fancy but yummy and warm. Almost as good as yours.”

“I love presents.” He beamed.

To be continued.

geekymonkey wrote:“Thank you.” He started to say something else, but then the shop door opened. A scowl briefly flickered across his face as another group of customers entered. He returned to the bar, and when I looked down, there was a little baggie of isolator sitting on the edge of the table.

did I read that right. James scowled because customers came in?!?! Seems like some of the people that got shot down for complaining about rude service in here could have been justified?!?!

Great report though

Hotdog wrote:
did I read that right. James scowled because customers came in?!?! Seems like some of the people that got shot down for complaining about rude service in here could have been justified?!?!

Great report though

Seriously, you take my story and go there with it?

I don't really think it means that at all.

Thanks for the input though. Is anyone actually enjoying this, or should I just stop?

geekymonkey wrote:

Hotdog wrote:
did I read that right. James scowled because customers came in?!?! Seems like some of the people that got shot down for complaining about rude service in here could have been justified?!?!

Great report though

Seriously, you take my story and go there with it?

I don't really think it means that at all.

Thanks for the input though.

Im sorry but you wrote the line, and to me the it stuck out like a sore thumb, thats why I asked if I had read it right.
What a surprise I question something to do with James era Basjoe, and lo and behold!!! still a good report though

Hotdog wrote:
Im sorry but you wrote the line, and to me the it stuck out like a sore thumb, thats why I asked if I had read it right.
What a surprise I question something to do with James era Basjoe, and lo and behold!!! still a good report though

[/quote]

lo and behold what? The super-secret evidence of James' assholitude?

Well spotted, sir. That WAS the hidden meaning of my story. I bet people are always telling you what a great reader you are, so I will reserve my additional praise lest it go to your head.

geekymonkey wrote:

Hotdog wrote:

geekymonkey wrote:
Im sorry but you wrote the line, and to me the it stuck out like a sore thumb, thats why I asked if I had read it right.
What a surprise I question something to do with James era Basjoe, and lo and behold!!! still a good report though

lo and behold what?

I get shot down (for questioning Basjoe)
I aint getting into a silly forum argument over things as trivial as this, bottom line you wrote that you saw james scowl because customers came in, I questioned it, end off. Blokes gone off to pastures new and fair play to him, he seemed like a good guy to me.

nb you edited your prev post before I had chance to send this, but cant be arsed anymore

Hotdog wrote:
lo and behold what?
I get shot down (for questioning Basjoe)
I aint getting into a silly forum argument over things as trivial as this, bottom line you wrote that you saw james scowl because customers came in, I questioned it, end off. Blokes gone off to pastures new and fair play to him, he seemed like a good guy to me.

You started this argument. On my thread. In the middle of my story. So, I'm glad you don't want to have it, we can just call it over then.

I think that if you had made a positive contribution on any of my trip reports so that I had some idea who you were, I might have responded differently.

geekymonkey wrote: Thanks for the input though. Is anyone actually enjoying this, or should I just stop?

I'm sure that the vast majority of us are enjoying this, I certainly am.
For me, your trip reports, writing style, and pics are among the very best I've read here.

I said I was enjoying the read, i'm not damning with faint praise here, but I questioned 1 thing, not start an argument, not take over a thread. Moving on.

Simply poetic writing style geeky, really feel how much love you feel for basjoes/James. Looking forward to the next instalment!