---
title: Smoking in Birmingham
dream: dated
date: 2020-12-19
---

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.