Bubblehammerblog

There were about twenty people sitting in a circle in a big room in a squat in Powis Square, not far from where some of the scenes from 'Performance' were filmed. Shabby room, swathes of damp green wallpaper hung from the walls. Orange boxes or milkcrates to sit on. Music banged out, Hendrix say, or maybe Soft Machine. A couple of dealers sat crosslegged on cushions rolling long elaborate joints. One skinned up Kashmir & passed the joints one way, the other built up Blonde Lebanese & passed them the other. After a while I noticed that the joints that made their way to Jagger got no further. He was sucking on them like they were glued to his rubber lips. After every big toke he'd take lots of fierce little hits, hissing jerks of air through his teeth. He was blatantly bogarting, & the people to one side of him were ending up with cows-arsed roach ends. Proper freaks didn't behave like this.

I spoke in a broad Yorkshire accent at the time. A lot of Londoners assumed that Northerners were congenital imbeciles - with the exception of Scousers, who were all theives. Jagger was sitting just across from me, & I said to him quietly, 'Mick, do you pass joints, or what?'

He didn't look up at me, but after a minute or so I could see the hair covering the side of his face begin to shake. 'Why don't you just fack off you cant', he said quite loudly in a drawn out Essex. Some people nearby stopped talking & looked over.

I said to him in a calm & measured voice, so he'd understand, 'Oo you callin a cunt. I'll kick yer fucking poncey ed in.'

Sitting next to me was my mate from Sheffield, Jimmy Bradshaw. Unlike anyone else in the room he had short hair & lots of prison tatoos on his thick hairy arms. Some big booted Australian in an army shirt & beggars beads called over to Jagger, 'Hey Mick, do you require any assistance?' Jimmy Bradshaw gave a menacing snigger.

Jagger shook his head, 'Nah man. We're all cool ere.'

After about ten minutes he got up & left. Course, I couln't be sure it was him. Certainly looked the part from the back.

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