https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0993210767
The author was arrested for cannabis and sent to prison for ten
years. This book reflects his personal experience and serves as a
valuable comparison of prison regimes, how prison can damage and how
prison can repair. HMP Norwich, Cardiff, Whitemoor and Blantyre House
1991 to 1995.
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https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/191631077X
The Arrival 1972 Al found himself naked in a strange bed, in a strange room, alone As he rubbed his eyes, trying to escape from the nightmare and deal with this new reality, he felt lost. He had no idea where he was or even when he was. Yet somehow he felt sort of younger. He looked around the small room, seeking out his clothes and his phone. Nowhere to be seen. Strangely enough he saw a pair of spectacles on the bedside table.
They reminded him of the heavy glass dark-rimmed ones he used to wear. He put them on. He could see through them clearly! He spotted an open wardrobe and grabbed himself a clean pair of jeans and shirt, underwear and socks. It fitted well. He’d lost a lot of weight. Several stone in fact. Probably all that climbing he thought, but no, wait a minute, that was just a dream.
He left the room and quickly found a toilet where he emptied his now bursting bladder and then his bowels.
That made him feel better and sort of brought him more back to reality. Then he looked in the mirror over a sink. He saw himself and was shocked! His hair was long and dark again as was his beard. His face was thinner and he looked, well he looked like a 21 year-old again, not the 78-year-old man he had been. Surely another dream.
Al wondered how he could wake himself up again and where he would find himself. His last memory, although vague and unreal in itself, was of 2028 in Leeds. What had he been trying to do. He had been with the wheelchair-bound Daniel, a man in his 80’s and his elderly but beautiful wife, Rachel or was it Rebecca? Something about Daniel wanting to be healed. Something about a car crash. Something about a new life for the couple, before they died, Daniel had said.
Al left the bathroom, feeling very unsure and shaky about what was happening and went down the stairs towards the music and voices he could hear. It sounded like Pink Floyd. As he entered the kitchen dining room he saw three people, two young men and a pretty young woman with long red hair. One of the men had long black hair and a long straggly beard. He other man looked a little older and remarkably like the younger version of Al’s friend, Paddy, whom he had known for decades.
He looked at Al and smiled and said “At last, you’re awake. Want a pipe?” and passed Al a small metal pipe containing a smouldering residue or what was obviously cannabis resin. That smell was so familiar to Al, but the ‘older Al’, he real Al back, or rather forward, in 2028, had not toked for years. But this was just a dream so why not.
So as Paddy busied himself preparing a breakfast of bacon and eggs, toast, fruit pancakes and lots of tea and coffee, the four of them passed along the hash pipe which Paddy filled again as soon as it was burned out. Al got high, very high, and it felt so good again, but did not ease his feeling that this was all just a dream.
Although this man who said his name was Paddy, looked and sounded like the Paddy Al had known in the 1970’s, of course he couldn’t be. Whatever it looked like, Al knew he was in his bed dreaming in Leeds 2028. But then again, he wondered what was real and what was a dream. Maybe his whole life was a dream. Maybe he was dying and reliving it, as people said one’s life flashed before one’s eyes at the end. Otherwise he had, in fact, travelled backwards in time. That made him think he had read about time travel for the super-rich in 2028, a means of revisiting the past. But he could never have afforded that. The other two people, Daniel and Becky, as Daniel called her, said little but laughed a lot, saying how they remembered this or that track from the several music albums Paddy was playing on an old vinyl LP record player.
As well as Pink Floyd, there was Fleetwood Mac, Caravan, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchel and Bob Dylan. It was just SO good being stoned with these people, enjoying these classic sounds and even singing along to some. Foxey Lady was one of Al’s all-time favourites; memories started to flood back into Al's still foggy brain; it reminded him of an old girlfriend from the time he had travelled to India in 1972, by the name of Diane; and Joni Mitchell reminding him of his Canadian girl friend, he had met in Afghanistan and travelled from Lahore to Delhi with, Miriam. He had not seen either girl since 1972 but had often wondered what had happened to them. They’d be grannies now, probably, if they were still alive. He half expected one of them to walk into this dream room.
Al remembered now that he had written the story of his overland trip to India and back in his book, self-published in 2014, called ‘All About My Hat, the Hippy Trail, 1972’.
It had been fun writing but it had never been a best seller. It was supposed to have been written by the hat that Al had been given by a barber in Greece and Al had worn it to India and back to the UK to Norwich. Al wondered where that hat was now. He also wondered if he had written it, would write it, or whether that was just another dream within a dream? How could he be here and on his way to India at the same time?
Al decided to ask dream Paddy what was going on. It was seeming strange that he was dreaming, if he was dreaming, yet knowing it was a dream and it had all started to become very real.
What was the dream? Going to India or being here. Had he been to India and come back and then come here? Or had he never actually been to India at all. Did he live here or in Norwich? And if this was Leeds, was it 1972 or 2028. Was it some sort of joke or scam?
Who was this Paddy? The Paddy he knew, or thought he knew, died in 2014 or so, aged about 75. Was he, Al, really just 22, or a 78-year-old man dreaming? Would he wake up? How could he make himself wake up? This was all doing his head in, especially after the pipes of hash. Maybe he was in some sort of mental asylum.
“Paddy, I am really confused! I am not sure what I am doing here. I’m not even sure that I am here at all!
“Are you the same Paddy I met in Norwich in 1974? What’s going on? Paddy chuckled:
“That I don’t know, I’m no prophet, man! I don’t know the future, only what you visitors tell me and that ain’t much.
“Anyway it’s only 1972 so I don’t even know about next year. I never met you before Al, but I do live in Norwich sometimes. Is that where you’re from, ‘cos that’s where Daniel and Becky are going? They can’t stay here. They can’t risk meeting their other selves or anyone that knows them, that could be a disaster, who know what could happen, man. But if you lived in Norwich, well you can’t go there. Have you ever lived here, in Leeds?” “
No,” said Al, “Never been in Leeds, except one for an afternoon in about 2004. You trying to tell me it’s 1972 again? I went to India in 1972, left Norwich in February for about nine months. How can I be here if I’m heading for India? What’s the date anyway, what day is it supposed to be?”
“Yep, 1972, Leeds it is, to be sure, Friday 26th of May.
“Leeds just beat Arsenal one nil in the FA Cup Final a few weeks ago. That was a good match. I went to Wembley to see it.
“Your other self is probably off to India about now, what date did you leave?
“But you can’t go there now anyway, people would think it strange if you’ve left then turn up again and if you haven’t left there’ll be two of you to be sure!”
Al was even more confused.
“If it’s end of the May 1972, I should be in Afghanistan or somewhere, with Keith, smoking chillums! So I wouldn’t be in Norwich anyway, or Leeds.”
Al started to remember more. He had been an old man, seventy-eight years of age, living in Norwich where he had met an older Daniel and Rebecca. He had gone to Leeds with them and been somehow sent back in time to 1972. He started to remember his long life bother before and after 1972, some of the many places that he had visited and people that he had met. It was like his life was flashing before his eyes, like he was dying.
“You’d better spend your seventy-two hours here then man.,” continued Paddy. “I’ll give you some money and you can explore the city. There’s a music festival on in the Roundhay park about two miles out, you can walk it or get a bus from near the station. Daniel and Becky were going to drive to Norwich with you but you can’t go now.
“Maybe they’d better not go there either, they might meet people who know the other you!”
Al stood up and said, rather loudly:
“So I’m back in time, I can change the future! Just can’t remember much about between now and 2028 which I think it was yesterday. How do I know what to change? I can’t remember what date we left Norwich in the van, there were five of us.” said Al rather enthusiastically.
“I don’t know nothing about Leeds? Can I phone my parents?”
“No you can’t change anything, man, too many complications. Better not phone anyone.
“You’ll like it here, Leeds ain’t bad. Roundhay Park is massive and there’ll be a band playing. It’s got lakes and woods and a couple of little cafés, even an outdoor swimming pool. It’s over five hundred acres to wander. And you can nip into Woolies, you know Woolworth's, there’s a nice little café and a record lounge place. And there’s Seacroft Market, I often go there, buy some grub when I’m in Leeds. And the river Aire is good in places too.
“I’ll give you a street map. You can check out the music bar in Woolies. It’s on High Street, just up the road, easy to find.
“And Donovan’s on at the University tomorrow.”
“I’m going to give you fifty quid spending money, should last you. You can crash here for the nights if you want. Just make sure you’re back before midnight on Sunday or you may turn into a pumpkin.
“Seriously though, if you miss the deadline you might not get back at all.”
Paddy continued.: “You know Jackie Charlton plays for Leeds United. He was in the sixty-six world cup team. Maybe he’s in town and you can get his autograph, post it anonymously to yourself, ha! You’re other self wouldn’t know who sent it.
“But Daniel said he wanted to change things so he would avoid a nasty car crash that cripples him in the 1980’s but he can’t do that, I told him already. They’re driving to Norwich in my red Triumph Herald. I’ll pick it up next week when I get back. I’ll go on the train.
“See, man, there’s two of him now, the one living in Leeds that will crash and the one in the house now and going to Norwich. And two Becky's too. It may be that our Daniel may avoid a crash and avoid being crippled. They’ll be living new lives for sure but we don’t know what’s going to happen. He mustn’t try to stop the other Daniel’s crash; that could mean he never had any reason to come back and won’t be here to stop it. We just don’t know enough about that type of paradox. If he had stopped it, you wouldn’t be here either. Fuck it’s complicated. “
Maybe he’ll crash anyway, maybe he’ll never get to Norwich. Maybe he’ll stay with Becky, maybe he won’t. None of us know our futures. I don’t know yours any more than you do. I just know that they came for a new life and you came for seventy-two hours. God, if I knew more I’d be a millionaire.
“You people that I host never tell me nothing much. It’s up to you what you do. If you’re going back to wherever you come from, you got to be back here by midnight February, it’s the 26h now and you’ve been here eleven hours already. Just enjoy it and don’t make any contact with anyone you know!”
Of course, Al from 2028 knew far more about Paddy than Paddy knew about himself. He knew, for instance, that Paddy had sadly passed away over a decade earlier, after suffering from Prostate Cancer for several years. He’d better now tell Paddy that, he thought. In 2010 they had been to, or would go to, Luxor together with another friend, for two weeks. They had stayed in a small bungalow. By then they had been good friends for decades in the grounds of a hotel on Kings Island. When they had arrived, in February, the temperature was a lovely 23 degrees. A week later it was 38, too hot to move, but before then had managed to visit the Temples of Luxor and Karnak, which was one of if not the largest temples in the world, built by various pharaohs over a thousand years. They went to the Sound and Light show. They also visited the Souk, and had crossed the Nile to the West Bank to see the great mortuary temple of Hatshepsut, the Ramasseum and several tombs in the Valley of the Kings.
At the hotel they both ate copiously in the serve-yourself buffet three times a day.
Paddy had taken with him a small piece of Moroccan hash so each evening they had a smoke, using an upturned glass over smouldering hash on a pin.
Al remembered that when he had first met Paddy, in 1974. Al was looking for somewhere else to live and Paddy arrived at a mutual friend’s house, saying he had a house for rent. Without further ado, Paddy became Al’s landlord for a five-bedroomed house for six months or so. There are many tales to tell of what went on in that house, but that’s for some other time. Paddy had been running one of the two 24-hour cafes in Norwich but had closed it. It had been on Kings Street. An apt name. For most of the time that Al knew Paddy, he lived on a converted coach and travelled between Morocco, Spain, France, England and the Ireland. Eventually, in the early twenty-first century, he was “set up” and arrested in Morocco at the point of exporting a large amount of cannabis on his bus. He spent a couple of years there in prison in Tangiers, also suffering from prostate cancer. Paddy had five children, with three mothers. he looked after them all. So Al decided to go out and stroll round the area and find his bearings, something he usually did when he arrived in a new place. They had actually been in a flat above a small ironmongers shop on a busy main road.
So Al just strolled down the street and when he saw a bus stop, took a bus to the city centre. The fare was remarkably little. It took about an hour, but was quite boring. The bus stopped at the main railway station and Al got off. The streets were noisy and crowded with both people and traffic. Just a big busy city.
Leeds, he knew, had been and maybe still was one of the biggest cities in England after London and maybe Birmingham. It had been an important city at least since the times of the Industrial Revolution with its products carried along the lengthy Leeds and Liverpool canal. It was hardly used for that purpose any more, but he thought it may be possible to take a boat along it, or else walk some way. He could see on the map that the canal went close to the station. In earlier times, Leeds was important for wool and flax and then had lots of cotton mills and other factories. It was quite a warm and dry day, warm, so strolling round was an option.
He bought a copy of the local paper but soon lost it, as he strolled around the crowded train station where he went to see some old steam engines. There were still some pulling passenger and goods trains back then as well as diesels. But it was too crowded and he soon left back out on to the street. He could see by the map that the City square was one side of the station and the River Aire was on the other, so he went to the Square first, thinking it would be quaint. Then he went back and left on the other side of the station and walked down Princess Street towards the river. It was not far.
The people he saw seemed all in a rush, many carrying large bags of shopping and most looked unfriendly and miserable. He was not enjoying this city at all. He wondered why on Earth of all places he had chosen to come to Leeds. But then maybe he hadn’t been given a choice as that is where Daniel and Rebecca were coming to and they were paying for him. But since arriving here they had kept themselves to themselves and left him to do his own thing. Paddy was friendly, jolly and hospitable but that did not include acting as a guide or showing him the city. Maybe Paddy didn’t like Leeds much either.
It would be good if I could find some company, he thought, but I’ll have to be careful. I’’m supposed to know about the last 20 years or so but not the next 56! I mustn’t even hint at future events, not that I can remember much detail. Stay away from politics. Don’t mention Thatcher or Bush or Bin Laden, or the Twin Towers and the wars. In 1972 they’re still worried about World Wars and Vietnam, let alone Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Korea. Half the world was starving and the Cold War was far from over. It’s only nine years since Kennedy was killed and they don’t yet know who did it. And of course time travel was limited to fiction. I am going to say as little as I can. After a very brief look at the river, he went back to the station again for a cup of tea in the station canteen.
Then he visited a small outdoor market not far from the station. Cheap items that would be almost antiques in 2028, if he could take them back. Collectables like Dinky Cars, old tins, silver jewellery, so much more. He saw a sign at a petrol station that read 35P a Gallon. He decided to head for Hyde Park. Paddy had said that was an area popular with students. It was an area between the University and a district called Headingley.
He passed the City Square and saw the Town Hall and the entrance to the City Museum but he did not go in. But when he got there it wasn’t a park at all. It was streets of Victorian back-to-back terraced housing, almost a slum. He decided to check out the prices in a local food store. Bread, ten pence a loaf. English money was already decimalised.
The coins were halfpenny, one pence, two pence, five and tens and a fifty pence coin. Notes were £1, £5 and £10. Probably larger denominations but not so common.
Milk was five pence; a jar of coffee for thirty pence; a box of Cornflakes for eleven pence; a dozen eggs for twenty; two pounds of sugar ten pence; crisps were three pence a bag. He bought a bag. It had the old little blue bag of salt in. But then again, he thought, I had only earned twenty pounds a week for five days and Saturday morning. His grant at UEA had been ten pounds a week and his rent three of four. And that was just for thirty weeks each year; he had to be looked after by his parents or find a summer job. Out of that he had to buy his food and drink, clothes, transport, books and entertainment. But he had gotten through it. He went back to the train station to drink some more tea.
As he sat there sipping, he thought he heard two women talking. One was saying “Elaine Silver it was, said some guy from the future was here. If we can find him we can get the soccer results and get rich. Bet he knows a thing or two that’ll come in handy.”
With that he left to get a green bus away from the crowds. Were they talking about him or Daniel or were there others here. After all, others must have come back even from beyond 2028; if everyone was supposed to keep the secrets who would know? But then again, there’s always one to break the fucking rules. And who made the rules anyway and did anyone police them?
Were there Time Police? Were they watching him. As he sat on the bus he spotted a discarded local Leeds newspaper. That gave him an idea. He could sort of change the future past without really changing anything.
When he got off the bus he found a post office on the High Street. He tore off some newspaper which included the top of the front page with the date and name of the paper. He got an air mail envelope from the counter and put a ten pound note inside the newspaper and into the envelope. He sealed the envelope and wrote on the front his own name and Poste Restante, New Delhi, India. That was one way to send mail to somebody abroad, so they could pick it up at the main post office in the city it was sent to. He asked the price of a first class stamp and was told it cost three pence. In 2028 it was almost three pounds! It wasn’t even changing anything at all because, he remembered, he did receive a ten pound note from Leeds in New Delhi and it had helped him tremendously when he had no money at all. That was still a month or so away in 1972 time but in his memories it had already happened. That was one of the two ten pound notes he collected, or had collected, or would collect, or whatever, that day. One had been from a friend in Norwich and the other, well he had always wondered who he knew in Leeds that had sent it. That was a 56 year old mystery solved. He briefly thought of buying some stuff now and burying it so he could dig it up again in 2028, if he ever actually got back. He wouldn’t tell Paddy though.
Then Al went back to Paddy’s flat. Paddy cooked a good meal of fish, pasta and vegetables with a bottle of good red wine. Then they went in Paddy’s car to a pub called The Fforde Grene on Roundhay Road. It was a drive of about half an hour. The pub, a large and old building, had a rock band playing and it was crowded.
It was very smoky. This was well before the smoking ban in public places. People were smoking joints as well as cigarettes. Paddy knew one of the barmen who also brought the beers up from the cellar, name of Jimmy and Al drank a couple of pints of his old favourite, Newcastle brown beer. Al saw that Guinness and Newcastle Brown were twenty pence a pint each and most of the other beers like Double Diamond, which he also used to drink, were eighteen.
Paddy filled and lit a hash pipe, he took a puff and passed it to Al. He also took a puff. It felt so good. It was good hash in these days. There was a jukebox and when the band finished playing Paddy put some coins in. The song ‘Metal Guru’ by T. Rex which was apparently number 1 in the charts. Al remembered his ‘other self’ or was it just him, had seen them at UEA in Norwich a couple of years earlier when they were still called Tyrannosaurus Rex. He had seen lots of good bands in those days at UEA. That was one of the best few hours that Al had in Leeds until then. They went back to “Paddy’s Pad”, as he called it and smoked several hash pipes.
“How does it work, Paddy?” asked Al, “Bringing us back here through time like this?” “I don’t really know,” he replied, “it’s something to do with genetic code, so I was told, something about sending the essential person back though a time tunnel and reassembling them here with a machine called a 4D printer that they sent back the instructions for. Then they build a new body and bring you here in the night. It’s beyond me, I am not a scientist. I was told that at the start they just buried messages so somebody in the future could work it all out. Then, when it’s time for you to go back, you take a sleeping potion and they come and pick you up and send you back. I don’t get to see any of that. They said they can’t send me to the future because the future me would have to come back here first and they won’t tell me anything about the future. I might be dead by 2028.”
Al went to sleep, his mind still reeling, still wondering at the miracle of time travel.
The next morning, Saturday May 27, Al awoke early enough, about eight o’clock. He had been dreaming again, a very surreal dream where he was in India with his friend Suomi. He thought it weird. They were both young again. He wondered briefly what was real and what was a dream. Now it felt dreamy but real. He pinched himself. Yes, he felt that, so he got out of bed. He was alone. He suddenly remembered he was really in 2028. Then he remembered he was in 1972, in Leeds and had come backwards through time and was young again. Then he remembered that Paddy had said there were now two of him, this one and the other ‘original’ Al who was on his way to India. That didn’t make sense.
Paddy had said this Al had to go back to 2028 and that was tomorrow, Sunday. Al figured that if he left the bedroom and found Paddy, he’d know what was real and what was a dream. Yet a few times before, he remembered, this Al had awoken from a dream only to find that he was still dreaming, and it was said that life itself was just a dream, just an illusion, some sort of trip. Maybe that was it. That was it, he was in some sort of dream trip, layer on layer and that made him feel lost, out of control, living a dream life at the whim of some sort of supernatural comic controller.
He felt weird. He’d never felt like this is all his 78 years, with or without drugs. He washed in a basin on the table in the room using the water from a large jug and dressed quickly then went to the kitchen where Paddy was sat reading the paper besides a massive pot of tea on the table. Paddy made eggs and toast and beans and they drank tea and chatted. Daniel and Becky appeared about nine o’clock and chatted a while and then set off in the Triumph. They had decided to go to India, overland instead of Norwich, where they could just disappear. First they would go to London and get some money together then they would catch the ‘Magic Bus’ Al didn’t want to tell him that his other self was in fact on his way to India; partly because he was not sure that he was, or whether he was just here in Leeds, or in Leeds and in Afghanistan at the same time, or if there were now two of him!. He thought again of his friend John Sullivan.
Was John dead or was he still alive? The Al in Afghanistan would not yet have known, yet the AL from 2028 now in 1972, did! Paddy told Al that America had just launched a spaceship to Venus, called the Varana 8. Al also learned that Edward Heath was the Tory Prime Minister, not that he cared. That was, after all, just history and he could do nothing about it, even if he wanted to. They smoked a couple of hash pipes and Al was stoned again.
Al mused that here in 1972, there were no household computers and few colour TV’s. No internet and no mobile phones, Ipods or Ipads.
Even the list of chemical elements was shorter and there had been few space probes although men had supposedly walked on the Moon. They still had Apartheid and the Berlin Wall in 1972. He pondered, was the world a better place now or in 2028. What had changed?
Well, he thought, in 2028 there were a heck of a lot more people for starters. There was more money than ever, more super-rich and more desperately poor. There was more food but more starving people in 2028.
There were more police but more crime and more prisons. There were more schools, universities and teachers in 2028 and even on-line courses, but there were more illiterate people than ever before.
There were more doctors and hospitals but more sick people and more illnesses and even though people lived longer so many will become ill or disabled.
There was more automation but less jobs. There was more entertainment even indoors, but more suicides. There were more marriages either in Churches or civil, but more broken families and single parents. There was still famine, pestilence, plagues and wars.
There was probably more integration of races and cultures but just as much bigotry and racism. There were more commodities and consumables but more waste and pollution. By 2028, well long before, industrialists had realised the profitability of recycling and supposedly cleaning up the rivers and oceans.
They were putting so many chemicals in the tap water that water filters were essential in homes and eating places and bottled water was a major industry yet the poorest people suffered most. Organic food was common here in 1972 but in 2028 it had its own sections in the massive supermarkets that had replaced so many of the local shops and it all cost more. Al wondered what really changed in people? Nothing. In what ways were we better off in 2028 and in what ways were we worse off?
Sure people could travel faster, if they had the money, but everyone seemed to have less time and were rushing round like mad men.
Taken from my book "Back to the East, India, Nepal and Kashmir" 1985
When I read about people protesting or complaining about helping asylum seekers / genuine refugees (not the illegal immigrants that sneak into Britain) I feel ashamed of them When I travelled i always had help and compassion from people often themselves poor, when I needed it, I countries such as Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan
Memoirs of my travels in India 1972, India, Nepal and Kashmir in
1981 and 1985, and Egypt in 1989, 1990 and 2010, along with a murder
mystery and poems - includes the nitty-gritty from my previous books
"All About My Hat The Hippy Trail 1972", "Back to the East, India, Nepal
and Kashmir", and "Myhat in Egypt Through the Eyes of a God" - all in
one book.
It's a very different world today.
Alun Buffry
was born in Wales in 1950 and studied Chemistry at UEA. In 1972, he
travelled overland to India, with little money or support, becoming ill
in India and spending time in hospitals in Delhi, Kabul and Tehran.
After returning to the UK later that year, he became a follower of Prem
Rawat, then also known as Guru Maharaji, whom he still follows today. In
1991 he spent time in HMP for cannabis offences. After his release he
started writing his books which contain personal accounts of his life
experiences and travels, as well as poetry and science fiction..
In
1999 he co-founded the <a href="http://www.ccguide.org/lca/lca.php"Legalise Cannabis Alliance (LCA)</a> with Jack
Girling, He stood for Parliament in 2001and local council elections in
Norwich As well as many published letters, interviews and speeches, he
spoke in a debate on cannabis legalisation at the Oxford Union and
testified before A Select Committee in Parliament.
His other books are
"From
Dot to Cleopatra", a concise history of Ancient Egypt, "The Effie
Enigma, The Motherless Mothers" (Sci-fi), "Out of Joint, 20 Years of
Campaigning for Cannabis 1991 - 2010", "My Piece of Peace£, "Time for
Cannabis, The Prison Years", Inside my Hat and other Heads" (poetry with
others), "Words of Weed and Wisdom" (poetry with others), "An
Alliance-of Eyes" (poetry with others), "Damage and Humanity in Custody"
with William D Hutchinson, "If Only Suomi" time-travelling romance",
"Legalise and Utilise Commemorative Edition", "Cannabis: Challenging the
Criminal Justice System" with Don Barnard.
<a href="http:/www.buffry.org.uk/abefreepublishing.html">SEE HERE</a>
Autobiography of a Head
Before, after and in between the other books
All About My Hat, The Hippy Trail 1872
My journey to India: drugs, illness and the start of my journey within
Back to the East, India, Nepal, Kashmir1981 and 1985
Two holidays remembered: houseboat and trekking in Kashmir, Camel riding in Jaiselmir desert ...
My Piece of Peace, 1972-present day
Becoming a follower of Prem Rawat and looking within
MyHat in Egypt, Through the Eyes of a God: 1989, 1990, 2010
Memories of beautiful holidays and a time-travelling, murder mystery back in time
Time for Cannabis, The Prison Years, 1991-1995
The account of my arrest and imprisonment for conspiracy to import and supply cannabis
HMP Norwich, HMP Cardiff, HMP Whitemoor and HMP Blantyre House
Out of Joint: 20 Years of Campaigning for Cannabis, 1991-2011
My cannabis campaign activities including forming a political party and standing for Parliament.
And There I Was
Pictures from my travels
My Life of Joy
Some of my family and people that I met along with some poetic memories
Legalise and Utilise,a Commemorative Edition 2021
SOME OTHER BOOKS
If Only Suomi - a love story through time
Damage and Humanity in Custody with William Hutchinson
Life on the Brim, The Autobiography of a Hat
The Effie Enigma, The Motherless Mothers
Science Fiction
From Dot to Cleopatra: A Concise History of Ancient Egypt
POETRY WITH OTHERS
Inside My Hat and Other Heads
Words of Weed and Wisdom
Facebook closed down my book about my arrest, trial and imprisonment for cannabis conspiracies
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0993210767/
META AI wrote
In
his science fiction works, such as "The Effie Enigma, The
Motherless Mothers", Buffry explores complex themes and ideas,
often incorporating elements of artificial intelligence, time travel
and human existence.
As
a historian, Buffry;s writing style is more informative and factual,
as seen in his book "From Dot to Cleopatra," which provides
a concise history of ancient Egypt.
Buffry's romantic and
autobiographical works, like "If Only Suomi" and "My
Life of Joy," showcase his more personal and introspective side,
often incorporating elements of poetry and philosophical reflection.
Overall, Alun Buffry's artistic style is characterised by its diversity, depth, and willingness to explore complex themes and ideas across various genres.
Meta AI said this
Alun Buffry is a British author known for his writings on cannabis law reform, spirituality, and travel experiences. Here are some key aspects of his life and work:
Books and Writings
- *Autobiographical Works*:
- *Life on the Brim: The Autobiography of a Hat* - Details his life journey, including his involvement in the cannabis law reform movement.
- *All About My Hat - The Hippy Trail 1972* - Chronicles his overland trip to India in 1972.
- *MyHat in Egypt: Through the Eyes of a God* - Explores ancient Egypt through a unique blend of history and fantasy.
- *Cannabis Advocacy*:
- *Out of Joint - 20 Years of Campaigning for Cannabis* - Documents his 20-year campaign for cannabis law reform.
- *Time for Cannabis: The Prison Years* - Reflects on his personal experience serving a 10-year prison sentence for cannabis-related offenses.
- *Other Works*:
- *From Dot to Cleopatra* - A concise history of ancient Egypt.
- *The Effie Enigma: The Motherless Mothers* - A thought-provoking exploration of themes and ideas .
Activism and Public Presence
Alun Buffry has been an active advocate for cannabis law reform, participating in various campaigns, conferences, and media appearances. He co-authored *Cannabis: Challenging the Criminal Justice System* with Don Barnard, further solidifying his commitment to the cause .
Personal Life
Alun Buffry's life experiences, including his travels and spiritual explorations, have significantly influenced his writings. His interests in Prem Rawat's teachings and spirituality are evident in some of his works.
Alun Buffry, Personal AutoBiography
Alun Buffry was born in Barry, South Glamorgan, Wales, in 1950, the son of Stanley Richard Buffry (Jim) and Vera. He attended Holton Road infants and junior school until 1961 when he studied at Barry Grammar School for Boys, which became Barry Boys Comprehensive School.
In 1968 Alun moved to Norwich, Norfolk, where he studied at the School of Chemistry at the University of East Anglia, graduating with an Honours degree in 1971. During his time at UEA, he took part in activities such as fell-walking, caving and rock climbing.
The year after graduating, Alun travelled overland to India, 1972, where he became sick with dysentery and infection hepatitis. His travel experience is recorded in his book "All About My Hat, The Hippy Trail 1972" (ISBN 978-0993210723) After returning to Norwich, Buffry became a follower of the young Guru Maharaji, Prem Rawat, receiving the techniques of Self-Knowledge. His experiences are recorded in his published work "My Piece of Peace" (ISBN 978-1838440121)
In
1989 and 1990, Alun Buffry travelled to Egypt, where he took a keen
interest in the ancient history and monuments.
His memories of his visits to Egypt along with a fictional account
is published in his books "From Dot to Cleopatra, a Concise
History of Ancient Egypt (ISBN 978-1872914091
),
"My Hat in Egypt,
Through the Eyes of a God" (ISBN
978-0993210778)
and "Life
on the Brim,
the Autobiography of a
Hat" (ISBN
978-1838440138 )
After
taking and interest in the benefits and uses of cannabis / hemp and
Human Rights, Alun became involved with the campaign to change the
cannabis laws worldwide, and co-founded the CLCIA (Campaign to
Legalise Cannabis International
Association) along with eleven other Norwich citizens, in 1991.
In
1992, Buffry was sentenced
to two concurrent ten year prison sentences for Conspiracy to Import
Cannabis and Conspiracy to Supply Cannabis. He served almost five
years in prison in HMP Norwich, HMP Whitemoor and HMP Blantyre House.
Whilst
in Whitemoor, he studied computing under the Cambridge Institute in
Technology and was accepted for a course in computer studies with the
Open University, which he continued when moved to Blantyre House in
Kent in 1993.
Also
whilst at Blantyre house
he helped run the
Inmates Amenities Committee and organise two large events for MENCAP,
within the prison grounds. He continued with his Open University
course and received
a Diploma in Computing in 1995, prior to his release on
parole.
During
his final year at Blantyre House, he worked with prison governor Jim
Semple and fellow inmate Will Hutchinson on a survey amongst inmates
comparing their "prison experiences" at Blantyre house and
their previous maximum security prisons such as Whitemoor and
Swailside. Their
report, which was presented by Semple to the Cambridge Institute of
Criminology and entitled "Damage and Humanity in Custody",
was later published and became available on Amazon.
Alun
Buffry's personal account of his arrest, trial and incarceration, was
published as "Time For Cannabis, 1991-1995" and is
available on Amazon. (ISBN 978-0993210730
After
his release from prison,
Alun Buffry continued his cannabis campaign activities and in 1999,
co-founded a political party with cannabis as a single issue, the
Legalise Cannabis Alliance (LCA).
There were candidates in over eighty elections between 2000 and
2005. Alun Buffry contested the Norwich South Parliamentary seat
against then Labour Home Secretary Charles Clarke, in 2001, receiving
over 720 votes. He also took part in many
radio interviews and spoke at the Home Affairs Select Committee in
Parliament and at the Oxford Union debate "This House would
legalise
cannabis" along with MPs and academics. He also spoke at
Trafalgar Square rallies,
a High
School
for Girls in London, and a trade unions rally.
Buffry
continued to work with the LCA until 2006 when he resigned. His time
spent campaigning is recoded in his books "Out of Joint, Twenty
Years Campaigning for
Cannabis" (ISBN
978-1508420217) and
"Legalise and Utilise, Commemorative Edition 2021"
(ISBN 979-8704895046 ).
He co-authored "The Challenge: Cannabis, Challenging the
criminal Justice System", with Don Barnard, a copy of which was
sent to every MP in 2002.
(http://www.ccguide.org/lca/challengeintro.php)
He
also continued with his travels, visiting many countries
including Egypt,
Tunisia, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Holland, Germany, the Czech
Republic, Finland and Romania. Much of his travel experiences is
recorded in his books
"The Autobiography of a Head"
(ISBN
978-1916310797), "Back to the East, India, Nepal and Kashmir"
(ISBN 978-1916310797) and pictorially "And There I Was"
(ISBN 978-1916310742)
During the years of Covid 19, Alun
Buffry served as a carer and formed his own publishing business, for
his own books books with others, including:
"My Life of
Joy" (ISBN 978-1916310735)
"Inside my Hat and Other Heads" (ISBN 978-1916310704)
"Words of Weed
and Wisdom" (ISBN 978-1916310766)
"An Alliance of
Eyes" (ISBN 978-1838440176)
"The Effie Enigma, The Motherless Mothers" (ISBN 978-0993210792)
"If Only Suomi"
(ISBN 978-1916310773)
For a complete list of book,
see also http://www.buffry.org.uk/abefreepublishing.html
and
for published letters and speeches see https://ccguide.org/ab_lte.html/
Alun Buffry YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/user/AlunB3 and
https://www.youtube.com/@AlunBuffry1/playlists
