Saturday, July 31, 2004
A trip to hell and back - White Lightning - part one
Around this time we moved a few miles down the road to an amazing place called the Beacon Hotel. It was perched on the edge of 'Happy Valley', its grounds stretched down the valley covering fourteen acres of woodland (see photo's), hidden within were three lakes, the ruins of a victorian tea room and the original Spa which in years gone by had given Tunbridge Wells its title of Royal Spa Town. The Spa was now nothing more than a hole in the ground, a forgotten piece of history home to an old tyre and some rubble.
The building itself was a fantastic old house, hidden doorways leading to twisted corridors leading to huge rooms leading to further rooms leading to more corridors. Huge walk in fireplaces, vaulted ceilings, antique stain glass windows and ornate carvings were but a few of the features that gave this place so much character. My parents and brothers took residency in the private rooms in the main body of the building, I however had the old servants rooms adjacent to the kitchens, munchies heaven!! I had a full a la carte menu to choose from, freshly cooked meats, chilled lasagne (a favourite) and cakes of every description. How I managed not to end up a bit of a porker I'll never know, high metabolism I guess?
My favourite daylight past time was to disappear into the woods to explore the grounds and surrounding countryside, I'd find an idealistic spot, roll a sweet one, kick back and appreciate all about me. At night the beauty of the landscape was transformed into an eerie place full of leering shadows, bizarre noises and spookily strange feelings. Thousands of years ago there had been a settlement in the valley, the history of the place gave it a chilling feel once the lights were out. The building itself being three or four hundred years old was haunted with memories, there was a definate feeling of not being alone, sometimes in a warm friendly kind of way, sometimes in cold scary kind of way. You would feel the presence of something, someone following you as walked through the building in the dead of night, you'd dare not turn around for fear of seeing no one!
The building as a whole was in decent condition for such an age, however there were odd things that had fallen into disrepair, the bay window in my room had more or less disintergrated, its frame rotted and eaten by bugs. The builders were called in to take on the various repairs and while this was happening I moved to the mail private rooms nearer the rest of the family. It was around this time that I progressed from smoking the odd hash joint to my first experience with acid.
I was about fifteen or sixteen and in a pub with a couple of friends on an early friday evening when another friend came in, excited eyes indicated that the evening was about to be kick started with his presence, "hey guys, do ya fancy doing something a little different tonight?" eager glances were passed amongst us, "yeah!", "why not?" "what's up? " we said in unison, it must have sounded more like "yewyntwatup!" "I just bumped into a mate holding a load of acid, white lightning............shall we?" At the time I thought I was the only one who was yet to try acid and so true to my personality of the time I answered for all with an eager "YES!" masking my innocence in this area by being first to 'be up for it'.
He returned maybe half an hour later, "C'mon boys, lets get out of here" , "where are we going?" "I've got a mate who lives around the corner, he's a live in chef in an old restaurant and the owners are away, he'll be up for it" We were soon outside the tradesmans entrance, his mate was at first hesitant at the thought of four lads tripping on the premises but soon gave in with a little persuasion. It was / is the oldest standing building in Tunbridge Wells, its walls leant this way and that casting strange shadows across his room, the floor was warped to the extent that one of my friends who was laying on it propped up on one arm was at eye level with me sitting across the room on a sofa, In front of me was a side table with a difference, the base was an oversized glass bubble bottle, a tube inserted at its base coiling up and around it with a mouth piece at the end.
My knowledge of acid was pretty limited, I'd never tried it so knew nothing of what to expect other than being out of it. The acid in question was 'White Lightning', I was later to find out that unlike 'planets' 'red or green dragons' or any of the assorted marvel comic heroes 'White Lightning' was not only going to 'fuck me up' it would 'fuck me up, kick me in the head, drag me along kicking and screaming while mashing my brain to a pulp!' We dropped the acid soon after arriving, out of pure stupidity I dropped two! a double drop on my first time, a double drop of white lightning! I had no idea of what I was getting myself into.
The building itself was a fantastic old house, hidden doorways leading to twisted corridors leading to huge rooms leading to further rooms leading to more corridors. Huge walk in fireplaces, vaulted ceilings, antique stain glass windows and ornate carvings were but a few of the features that gave this place so much character. My parents and brothers took residency in the private rooms in the main body of the building, I however had the old servants rooms adjacent to the kitchens, munchies heaven!! I had a full a la carte menu to choose from, freshly cooked meats, chilled lasagne (a favourite) and cakes of every description. How I managed not to end up a bit of a porker I'll never know, high metabolism I guess?
My favourite daylight past time was to disappear into the woods to explore the grounds and surrounding countryside, I'd find an idealistic spot, roll a sweet one, kick back and appreciate all about me. At night the beauty of the landscape was transformed into an eerie place full of leering shadows, bizarre noises and spookily strange feelings. Thousands of years ago there had been a settlement in the valley, the history of the place gave it a chilling feel once the lights were out. The building itself being three or four hundred years old was haunted with memories, there was a definate feeling of not being alone, sometimes in a warm friendly kind of way, sometimes in cold scary kind of way. You would feel the presence of something, someone following you as walked through the building in the dead of night, you'd dare not turn around for fear of seeing no one!
The building as a whole was in decent condition for such an age, however there were odd things that had fallen into disrepair, the bay window in my room had more or less disintergrated, its frame rotted and eaten by bugs. The builders were called in to take on the various repairs and while this was happening I moved to the mail private rooms nearer the rest of the family. It was around this time that I progressed from smoking the odd hash joint to my first experience with acid.
I was about fifteen or sixteen and in a pub with a couple of friends on an early friday evening when another friend came in, excited eyes indicated that the evening was about to be kick started with his presence, "hey guys, do ya fancy doing something a little different tonight?" eager glances were passed amongst us, "yeah!", "why not?" "what's up? " we said in unison, it must have sounded more like "yewyntwatup!" "I just bumped into a mate holding a load of acid, white lightning............shall we?" At the time I thought I was the only one who was yet to try acid and so true to my personality of the time I answered for all with an eager "YES!" masking my innocence in this area by being first to 'be up for it'.
He returned maybe half an hour later, "C'mon boys, lets get out of here" , "where are we going?" "I've got a mate who lives around the corner, he's a live in chef in an old restaurant and the owners are away, he'll be up for it" We were soon outside the tradesmans entrance, his mate was at first hesitant at the thought of four lads tripping on the premises but soon gave in with a little persuasion. It was / is the oldest standing building in Tunbridge Wells, its walls leant this way and that casting strange shadows across his room, the floor was warped to the extent that one of my friends who was laying on it propped up on one arm was at eye level with me sitting across the room on a sofa, In front of me was a side table with a difference, the base was an oversized glass bubble bottle, a tube inserted at its base coiling up and around it with a mouth piece at the end.
My knowledge of acid was pretty limited, I'd never tried it so knew nothing of what to expect other than being out of it. The acid in question was 'White Lightning', I was later to find out that unlike 'planets' 'red or green dragons' or any of the assorted marvel comic heroes 'White Lightning' was not only going to 'fuck me up' it would 'fuck me up, kick me in the head, drag me along kicking and screaming while mashing my brain to a pulp!' We dropped the acid soon after arriving, out of pure stupidity I dropped two! a double drop on my first time, a double drop of white lightning! I had no idea of what I was getting myself into.
// posted by nx @ 10:40 AM 
