Smoking in Birmingham

I was working in a health food shop in a run down area that looked a little like Birmingham. My house was nearby and I had a room that opened up to an area of forest land but a lot of other people had rooms that opened to the same forest in similar styled housing.

At the time, I was unaware of this however every week the shop would be shaken down for 70 pounds by a gang of youths. When I learned of this, I physically threatened a few of the gang members and later informed the village elder who put a stop to this.

I was ultimately not accepted into the village but a young girl aged about 8 was always nice to me and I’d give her food and drinks and be generally nice to her in return.

There was an activity where you smoked something from a hollow stick that was smouldering in open fire like a long cigar or pipe. Some of the young boys would try to trick me into smoking using bad sticks but the girl would always let me know if this happened.

Outside my house there was a market stall run by a poor Turkish family who would complain about their living conditions and how their ramshackle housing would leak when it rained.