Thursday, November 10, 2005

I just passed 26,000 words ...

First, I went past 25,000 words today, and then wrote another 1,000 words.

I thought I would give everyone an excerpt.

Enjoy!

Really Imperial College isn’t the worst place to be. The Great British Beer Festival is going on not far away this weekend. Tim Higgins had always been a beer junkie, and this festival by CAMRA and the Society for Real Ales, is considered one of the best in the world. Waterloo is quite close, and this might be a good place to go. Tim hopes being in the fraternity of beer drinkers will improve his spirits but that is tomorrow.

Going to London is feeling like a fresh start.

Tim decides to find Imperial College, drop off his stuff and take a nap.

6:00 … Imperial College London…

So here we are at the beginning Tim wondering how he got here and you humble readers wondering what might happen next.

So lets just find out.

Tim can’t decide what he wants to do tonight. He would love to run into some of this fellow Oxonians around the college, but the place is vast. He decides he would like to go out on the town. His feet are still blistered and he decides to take the tube to the West End Theatre District.

A good play would make him feel good. He has his student ID so can get a good deal on a rush ticket.

He looks at the time and realizes its already 6:00 pm. He feels quite proud of this decision. He decides to go to a non-licensed conveince store get a pint of cider and make a trip on the tube. He looks at the local free paper and sees whats playing. There are lots and lots of shows.

One called “Love Letters” sounds good and by his luck there is tickets at 7:00 still available for the 7:30 show. He finds his seat not long later and finds he his student rush tickets are 3rd row far right… Although this is an awkward angle he is practically right on stage. This is just what Tim needs a comedy.

He feels more comfortable in his skin since he has since Geneva. He wishes he could have done something like this with Amelie and John. He really cared for Ami and with or without romantic entanglements, he thinks she is a mighty good friend. This is something there are far too few of in this world.

Tim feels very nice when he leaves the theater. He feels calmer and decides it might be nice to take a little stroll. He also decides to buy a little pot for ten quid (pounds) and have something to smoke. This was an odd thing for Tim to do, Timothy would sometimes toke with his buddies back at UNJ, but would rarely want to carry anything. He thought it might calm his mind though. Everyone and everything seems beautiful. Tim knows the best thing to do is go to bed though. He also doesn’t want to fight the bus system after the tube closes at 1 am…..

He finds some nice souvlaki and has a nice snack. It feels good and he decides its time to go home. He is planning a great day tomorrow.

Imperial College, around 22:00 …

Tim picks up a copy of the Independent of Manchester and decides to read a bit. He also rips off a piece of the paper he has finished and decides to smoke up a little. The floor he is on is quite quiet as he asked for a higher floor and some space. The short toke he has feels good, and Tim feels mellow.

He decides to take a bath, and let the worry depart a little. After all the visual stimulation, Tim decides to masturbate in the tub. He rolls through his head thinking of images. He really wonders what he was thinking of with Mikela. Something surprised Tim though, it wasn’t Danielle he was thinking about but Amelie. They really shared some special times together. Some of the most erotic times Tim can ever remember. Tim thinks these may have some of the most erotic times he has ever had.

His feet are also quite glad to find a bathtub. They need it after this much time on their feet. Tim could have done much worse and decides to have another quick hit of pot. He feels very mellow. He decides he will try to get a head shrinking appointment in the morning.

After 20 minutes or so in the tub, Tim decides it’s a good time to take a nap, he tries not to think too much. He had one hell of a tough week. So far London has been good to him. He hopes this can continue in the morning.

Saturday, August 19, 2001, around 8:00 am
Imperial College London

Tim talks to the front desk. He asks if he can arrange a psychiatric appointment.

The person on the counter with a nametag that says Amanda, says, “Lets see sir, yes I could arrange one for 4:00 pm today, he had a cancellation, and the health service is a block over, let me draw you a map.”

Tim thinks Amanda is very cute, but just says, “Thank you very much. Is there a place for breakfast you could recommend?”

Amanda responds, “Sure sir, there is a cafeteria one block ahead, the prices are around 2-3 quid for breakfast and you get a discount by staying here.”

Tim also asks, “Is there a place I could send stuff home, I have accumlated too much stuff already and have a long journey ahead of me.”

Amanda, the 21 year old doe-eyed British girl with brown-green eyes responds, “There is a British Post 3 blocks ahead, and then one block to the right. Is there anything else, I can help you with anything at all.”

Tim thinks Amanda is flirting with him and quite likes the compliment, he decides he will calm things down for now. “No, I am fine for now,” he says, “Thank you for all your help, you have a just adorable smile too.”

“Thank you, sir,” she replies.

Tim then leaves and decides to get some breakfast.

The beer festival doesn’t start until 11 am and the first session ends at 3 pm, which should give him plenty of time to see the shrink.

After Tim leaves Amanda asks her associate Samantha about Timothy. “He seemed cute and very nice,” she thought, “I wonder why he needs to see a shrink.”

Samantha replies, “You don’t want to get involved with these Americans, traveling through Amanda, they will only be here a few days anyway, you are right though he was very cute. If we see him around again, maybe we can invite him for a drink at the pub.”

Amanda smiles and thinks, “Ok, I like that idea. I hope this Timothy Higgins feels better soon. I wonder what he is up to today.”

Breakfast, Imperial College Commons .. 08:30

Yesterday, was a tough night to sleep. As you can tell I have had a tough week so far. Last night around 2:00 am, I got up and was tempted to go run around London. Considering that Tim had just been kicked out of Oxford, he realized this was a bad idea. He also knew that today would be a great day to try out some new beers and meet some beer snobs. He thought this would be wonderfully grounding.

So was the breakfast. The British/Irish breakfast of fatty meats, potatoes, tea and toast, was just what Tim needed to wake up with. The fat felt good and Tim knew that he would be trying quite a bit of beer today. He hoped this wouldn’t be a problem with the shrink. It might be interesting to have a shrinking appointment a little plastered.

That was no matter though. He was going to the GBBF(Great British Beer Festival) and that was that.

In other tables, he saw a few tables of young Americans. He said hi to the leader, and asked what they were up to. He found out that at 2 pm tomorrow the choral group was going to perform at Westminster Abbey. He decided he should try to remember that on his schedule.

He also thought the girl at reception was quite cute, was he just being flirted with? Tim had always been very bad at judging women’s signals. He was starting to think while he was manic, that every girl wanted him. The truth was clearly somewhere in the middle. Maybe, he might stop over there later and find an excuse to say hi.

Tim grabbed a copy of the Sun, London Times, and The Independent and did too much newspaper reading for his own good. He had an hour and a half before the GBBF opened and wanted to take it easy.

He really liked his tea too, it was much, much better then the stuff he had back home.

9:15 am, walking around S. Kensington

Tim really liked the Sun, there was something quite lovely in opening the front cover of the newspaper and seeing tits. He wished America was more open.

Tim’s feet still hurt. He decided to go into a local discount store (similar to the American dollar store) and find himself some cheap flip-flops and slippers to wear when he was just hanging out in his dorm. He also wanted to get himself a chocolate.

He got himself a Bounty bar, and then pondered Britons obsession with chocolate. Although Americans quite liked chocolate, he didn’t remember seeing Hershey machines in the subway in New York, like you see Cadbury machines in London. He also quite liked that it was no big deal to drink in public, he didn’t understand why Americans were obsessed with prohibition.

By this time it is almost 9:30 … time to jump on the bus and get to GBBF … Its not far away at all.

The bus comes 5 minutes later, and then 10 minutes after that Timothy is at the GBBF. Considering this might be the 2nd most famous beer festival, after the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado, Timothy is ecstatic to be here.

This is it, the campaign for Real Ales, Great British Beer Festival. Timothy pays the ten pound entrance fee, get his 10 drink tickets and his official GBBF glass. This makes him very happy, and he feels less naughty about it then the glass he stole with Jose in Geneva. What a cool souvenir.

The festival doesn’t open for 10 minutes, but Tim just talks with the beer geeks. He sees a neat couple behind him, and asks where there from.

“Australia,” the couple responds, “My name is Marcus, and my wife’s name is Trudi, we are spending a holiday in Europe and flying back to Perth tomorrow. We scheduled the GBBF to be on our last day in Europe. We have already visited Paris and Berlin this week. Its been a great ride.”

“Where did you enjoy seeing there? Did you guys visit some wineries or breweries on your trip so far,” Tim asked.

“Its funny you asked,” Marcus said, “We just spent some time in the Burgundy and Bordeaux regions, they were lovely and very nice. Of course, Australia makes some great reds too. How about yourself, having a good trip so far.”

Tim had to think for a second on this. He didn’t want to get into it too much, “Well I tried to some great wine in Geneva, and had some very nice beer in Oxford at the Young’s Pub, and other bars.”

“Did you go to that one that Inspector Morse visited,” Trudi asked.

“Yes, I did .. the had some lovely beers, including a (23,741) badger beer, which I found quite funny since I was born at Madison, Wisconsin the home of the Wisconsin Badgers. The outdoor patio there was lovely, and there was some quite fantastic beer. I am looking forward to trying a lot of beers today I have never had before. Any favorite brewers you want to try today?”

“Well there is of course Samuel Smith’s and Young’s and there are lots and lots of really great British brewers. There are going to be a lot of really interesting small-batch producers today. And most of it will be hand-pumped, why don’t we stay in touch throughout the day and compare beers,” Marcus said.

“I will do that … and I see there are more tickets available for one quid each, or 6 for five quid,” Timothy remarked, “Cheers.”

With that the door opened, and Timothy entered an exposition center practically filled with beer. This made Tim feel very nice, he felt bad that he couldn’t show some more of the Oxonians what was here, he was sure guys like Amelie, and John, and Matt, a democrat from Tennessee who Tim quite liked.

Tim loved this place, so many choices so few tickets. He saw a brewery he had never tried before out of York, England, Tim’s Special Brews included a porter, an ESB(Extra Special Bitter- a very popular beer in Britain, and IPA (India Pale Ale- a very hoppy brew). He decided he would try the porter, it was lovely, rich, thick, black and full of flavor. Tim felt a little naughty about drinking at 10 am, but it was very nice. The brewer also offered a small taste of IPA, which was lovely, hoppy and quite rich. Tim thanked the gentleman and kept going. He gave the Porter a 90 and the IPA a 92, on the Wine Specatator/Cigar Afficiando scale, 90-95 being excellent, 95-100 superb, 85-89 very good, 80-85 good, 76-80 above average, 70-75 average, 65-69 fair, 61-65 not good, under 60 horrible…. He didn’t think there would be too much under the 80 range today… for Tim a bud might be a 72, a coors a 76, a Guinness a 92, 95 in Britain, he hoped to find some beers he would be happy to get in the 94+ range, such beers were rare and wonderful.

He then saw the Monty Python brewery in Cambridge, evidently Eric Idle, and Terry Gilliam had decided to open a brewpub/brewery in Cambridge, and they had quite imaginative labels and pictures. The Nasty Rabbit ale, Tim tried was very rich and quite outstandingly tasty, it was rich, had some chocolate flavor, hoppy and quite unique, Tim was very happy with this one and gave it a 96. Wow, was that a good beer. He hoped it might be available in the US. But, he then saw there was only 5,000 cases produced worldwide. MMM, yummy …

It was so nice to see the Waterville festival hall filled with brewers both macro, like Guinness, Youngs and Sam Smith’s and very, very small. Brewers with less then 1,000 cases that decided to bring some small kegs for judging.

Tim felt very happy here and was as happy as he had been in over a week. It was authentic happiness too, not just the joy of mania. He thanked the brewer, Thomas Smith, saying, “This is absolutely wonderful, do you have anything else I can try.”

Mr. Smith said, “Sure we have a little bit of the Bring Out Your Dead Ale, its very strong almost 8% alcohol in content, its nearly a Barleywine. We at Monty Python Brews really like a good strong beer.”

Tim always liked a good barleywine and strong brew, he had a taste and said, “This is absolutely fantastic, mmm, one of the best brews I may have ever had, thank you so much, I will give this a 98, this might be one of the best beers I have ever had. I wish I was a judge here, I would give this a gold medal for sure.”

Smith said, “Thank you, very, very much. We try, try out St. Andrews brewery, those Scotsman make very, very good strong brews. I appreciate your comment so much though. Have a great day today, sir.”

Tim said, “Thanks so much, that was really great.”

Tim ran into Trudi wandering around, “You have to try Python Brewing, their Bring Out Your Dead Ale is one of the best beers I have ever had. How is your luck going?”

“Its going great Timothy, try out King Arthur Breweries from Glastonbury, really yummy yummy stuff.”

“Thanks Trudi, will do.”

The music then started up, it was nice folk-rock and quite a bit of fun. He was tempted to find a comely lass to dance with. What a great day he was having, he felt wonderfully grounded.

He then asked Marcus if it was OK if he danced with Trudi. As most Aussies would, they said sure. He then danced with Trudi, and had some fun. There was no romantic entanglements, just joy in playing with the music. Trudi said thank you, stepped out and decided to dance with her husband, Marcus.

Then a very tall, leggy Scottish girl named Matilda, decided to step in. Tim was quite taken with this red haired beauty, and she seemed to taking a liking to Tim. She didn’t even ask Tim if she wanted to dance, just danced with him.

Her name was Matilda Fitzgeald, and she spoke huskily, “I saw you dancing and thought you might like a partner, I like tall men and see you have some good choice in beers. Are you with anyone today?”

Timothy replied with a smile, “I am alone, just wanted to try some good beers, I couldn’t believe my luck in being in London, the same weekend as the GBBF, what brings you here?”

Matilda looked at Tim askew and said, “the beer silly. What do you think? I do respect a man who can dance though, especially tall, goofy Americans.”

“How did you know I was goofy,” Tim laughed, “Have you had a lot of the beers here before?”
Matilda said, “Sure, but you look more interesting to me then most of the beers, here.”

Tim couldn’t believe his luck. Maybe he was more appealing to women. Tim didn’t think himself, so handsome that he would be picked up by such a radiantly beautiful Scotchwoman. He had some very attractive women in college, but his Frat brothers helped him out there. What a great day he was having, the horrors of Oxford already seemed a long way from here.

Tim then responded, “You look a lot more interesting then beer too, lets dance, have some beer and have some fun.”

“Sounds like a date,” Matilda sighed.

Tim felt daring and gave Matilda a peck on the cheek. She responded with a full-blown kiss. He couldn’t believe his luck. It was quite a kiss too, and knocked Tim back a bit.

“So, Matilda, aren’t you the aggressive one, quite a kisser too.”

“Timothy, you will find I am aggressive and quite good at lots of things. Do you want to do something after this?”

“Mathilda, for now lets hang out, and we can meet for dinner after if you would like. I am staying in South Kensington at Imperial College and could meet you near there, I have an appointment at 4:00 but could meet you somewhere at 6:00 or 7:00 or so.”

Mathilda, quite frankly wanted to get into this Yankee’s pants, he respected his discretion though. Most men would have just followed her bidding after a kiss like that, Mathilda knew she had power over men and liked to wield it. She was hoping she might find a nice fling today, and found a very attractive 27 year old American, he was even in good shape and 6’4”. Considering she was 5’11” herself, a tall man was quite nice to find, she could also feel when she danced closed to him, that he likely had a very nice penis. She was quite curious to test this out in reality.

Mathilda responded, “I know a very nice resteraunt about a block away from Harrods that is quite close to Imperial College. Its called Southwicks, and has lovely seafood. And Don’t worry, I will cover the bill. Now lets get some great British beer.”

Mathilda felt Timothy’s rump. He wasn’t used to having women this aggressive. It was clear Mathilda could have had most any man here, at least the straight, single ones, and felt quite nice to be with her. “Ok, Southwicks, at 6:30 then.” He then kissed Mathilda back and gave her a neck massage.

“Most Americans are not as smart as you, young Timothy, they would follow me around and I would get bored with them soon. You seem quite worldly for a Yank.”

Tim then felt her ass, and it was round and quite nice. She had curves, and Tim liked them. She wore a lovely blouse and quite a nice knee length skirt. She also had a gorgeous Onyx necklace that slipped into her quite ample cleavage. This one was a stunner, lets try to keep your head, Tim.

Mathilda just giggled, and held Tim close, Tim mentioned the Monty Python ale, and shared some of the Bring Out Your Dead ale with Mathilda. She also quite liked it, gave him a nice hug, and then kissed him again…. What a day and it wasn’t even noon, yet.

Tim knew though he had to keep his head, he really did need to see the shrink today. He needed to get meds, although the alcohol might not merge with them well, he also needed not to get overexcited and find his way back into the abyss.


Let me know what you think!!

edmund davis

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