1991. 16 year old me has an adventure and takes lots of drugs.
My first foray into the world of festivals was pretty special. I was 16 and in care, and I asked my social worker if I could go to the Reading festival with some mates. She refused point blank, funnily enough. I got pissed off and went to a pub in Paignton I knew would serve me, and while I was there bumped into some hobo guys I knew. One of them had an acid tab, and I ended up taking half of it with him, then joining them hitching to Camelford for the White Goddess Free Festival. All I had with me was the clothes I was wearing.

On the way there two of us bunked into Paignton Zoo through the gift shop, tried to explain apologetically to the elephant why it was in captivity, and climbed out over the wall to continue hitching. It ended up with five of us hitching together. One of the lifts was an old fashioned farmer and his young daughter, and I remember lying across everyone's laps in the back, as it was the only way we could fit in.

Our tent got nicked on the way, so I ended up crashing out in someone's bus. People were openly selling drugs - I remember the shout "hash for cash!" was a common one. I met a bloke who'd taken bad acid in the 60s and was still hallucinating. I saw a woman dancing manically while a police helicopter dropped off a crew right next to her. I don't think she noticed.

The guy whose bus I was in had a letter "E" from a pub sign and fucked with people's heads by wandering over to the rave bit, dropping it on the floor and saying "oh no! I dropped my E on the ground!" As people scrabbled round looking for a small white pill, he picked it up, said he'd found it and wandered off to the sound of heads imploding. More than a little dickish now I come to think of it, but funny at the time. Ah well at least he let me sleep in his bus.

The weekend actually lasted about two weeks. The police were patrolling around the outside but mostly left us alone. On the last day I was sat by a fire with the bus guy and a lady came up to us and gave us some acid - she had to get rid of it because the police were searching people as they left.

It was a nice ending, but I do wonder if there was something a bit weird about that particular acid - within the next 6 months, and totally independently of each other, all three of us had fairly intense spiritual experiences and got all Jesusy. I remember meeting the dealer many years later, when she was doing a church talk on the eeeevils of drugs. We ended up quite good mates for a while.

The people were amazing there. I had my 17th birthday at the festie, and I was mostly given drugs (man) but a nice waistcoat appeared from somewhere. I was very sad to leave, but didn't want to get arrested. I bummed a lift back with someone, and when I arrived back in Devon, I was in some trouble. They'd had the police looking for me in seven (seven!) counties, between Devon and Reading, but not Cornwall - ha!

I still love festivals, though I'm not so big on drugs galore these days. I found a massive stash of hallucinogenics in a baccy pouch at a festival last weekend, and I wasn't even tempted...

Edit - found a different write up of the same festival here
(teasus likes tea, Fri 26 Jun 2015, 13:49, 6 replies)

I still love drugs galore, though I'm not so big on festivals these days.

(Tugnut I got them all..., Fri 26 Jun 2015, 16:34, closed)

I like both but I'm going off the combination of the two.
In my dotage, I prefer to enjoy a comedown somewhere with my own bathroom.
(yo man river INVINCIBLE, Fri 26 Jun 2015, 17:23, closed)

And a well stocked cheese-board.

(Tugnut I got them all..., Fri 26 Jun 2015, 17:51, closed)

I fucking love cheese.

(yo man river INVINCIBLE, Sat 27 Jun 2015, 12:12, closed)