The End

This little blog is finished now, I'm back from Amsterdam and resting at home in London.

Amsterdam was a great experience and a shitty one at the same time. I met a ton of people from every walk of life, from the over 60's reminisching on their drug trips way back when, to kids that came there to try pot for the first time.
It's shown me that there is a good strong culture that takes great pride in cultivating and perfecting some truly spectacular marjuana out in the Netherlands and talking to people from Australia, Switzerland, Germany, USA and so forth I was pleased to see it blur international barriers and bring people together over the course of the Cup. Australia have, I believe, voted on a weed legalization motion whilst I was at the Cup.
The last day was spent in a homage to weed. I bought 1g of Superskunk, the weed I got so high on at University a few years ago, 1g of Diesel, the first weed to really impress me in Amsterdam and 2g of the Cup winner 2008, Super Lemon Haze. All from the Greehouse Effect. I rolled each bag into 1 joint, with a little extra hash, skuff and kiff to pep them up. The two first bags ended up in two identical cones, rolled in the traditional fashion, wide enough to use the whole paper and looking faintly ridiculous for all their girth. The third bag was all ground and put into a larger joint, twice the size of these and rolled in a cigar fashion to contain the lemon haze, with a huge cardboard roach.
It was halfway through my rolling that I noticed all the kit around, there was a portable mixing desk on the end of the table and a bunch of AV kit. tripods and cameras. Then I noticed the other cup on the table next to my coffee. I was drinking strong coffee to weather the weed and my small black ceramic cup was sitting freshly emptied on the table next to another. The base was a wooden block witha a brass stem fastened to it. The stem was a double-helix design with the brass streamers encircling one another, fastened to a brass cup. It was a bit tarnished but there was not doubting its pedigree, this was the real deal. The Cannabis Cup.
I fought back the urge to paw it, steal it or order a coffee in it and got a few photos instead. They interviewed the guys from some Italian TV show with me sitting next to the owner, just out of eyeshot. I have no idea what he was saying but he managed to hold this Cup level with his face and mug with it for an impressive 20 minutes whilst spouting a torrent of Italian without seeming to stop for breath.
An American woman sat down, one of the growers and we chatted about weed for a bit while I put the finishing touches to the Super Lemon Haze cigar creation. It had been a good year for the growers too and she seemed pretty happy. We chatted over the joint and soon I was left holding an oily chunk of paper and card, drained of its weedy goodness. I looked at my watch and left for the airport.
Wandering along the streets on a massive euphoric high I realised that I am simply not able to enjoy weed in moderation. In fact I pointedly don't and often aim straight for oblivion or as wasted and I can be and still walk. Sure I enjoy it but weed hasn't done a lot for me. A number of years ago I formed some very good friendships through weed but for the last few years it's been a vice that's slowly slipped out of control. Occasionally to knock back clouds of depression but more commonly for me to simply stop myself getting bored when I'm on my own. I'm looking forward to being sober. To remembering all of this in due course. To having more of a social life and enjoying myself when sober. I look forward to all these things.

Thanks for the wonderful people of Amsterdam for being so welcoming and thanks for all the fellow tourists that I was able to share this trip with.