The other Saturday I was just sitting in the hallway of the library, making sure I had got everything packed in my bag before leaving, when a young lad came out to take a call on his mobile. He cant have been a day over 14. Really. This is not a policemen are getting younger moment
So I am minding my own business when I realise what he has just said. Yes, a friend of mine wants some weed, if I can get hold of some. Ive got a fiver. Then Great, Ill see you this evening then
Then yesterday, walking home about 7pm on a still gloriously sunny day, I pass a couple of twenty somethings sitting on a wall. The young man, who had one of those very carrying voices, was also talking on his mobile. Well I tried [2 local pubs] but neither of them will let me have a tab. Thing is I dont get paid till Monday
What is the world coming to, I ask myself
But then I realised he must have been talking debt, not drugs. To pay for his weekend booze binge, presumably
The thing is, when people know you were a student in the sixties, they know you must have been on drugs. But we werent. Sure, teenage drug taking was becoming a 'problem' - purple hearts, cannabis, LSD on the wilder fringes. But it was those who were in work, had a weekly wage packet, who could afford them. As far as I know, I was never even in the same room with drugs. Certainly nobody ever offered me any
I was once discussing this with someone with the same experience. She had just recently said as much at home
Whereupon daughters boyfriends hand went to his pocket. Oh - do you want some? he said
