He awoke early. At five o'clock he left the house. A mild summer solstice was a good day to search. Up the Wood Lane to Shepherd's Bush Green. He approached the first bench and examined the ground in front of it. A couple of squashed roaches looked promising. He picked them up and put them in his pocket. To the next bench he progressed. Here there were only tailormade cigarette ends. He was not interested. Onto the next bench where someone had been rolling a joint and left crumbs of skunk weed on the bench. He picked up an empty cigarette packet and dropped the crumbs inside. He took the roaches and placed them in the packet. He continued around the benches and collected fifteen more. He picked up an empty beer can and crossed over the road to the West 12 shopping centre. He found a quiet spot behind the large building and sat himself down to work. He carefully unravelled the joints and sifted through the mixtures of tobacco and marijuana. From the first he took a few small lumps of cannabis flowers. From the next some little lumps of hashish. The next contained only tobacco which he threw to the ground. About half of the joint ends contained something worthwhile. It would be a decent smoke. He placed the pile carefully on the empty cigarette packet and began work on the empty beer can. He snapped off the ring pull and bent it diagonally until it split. He now had a sharp corner. He dented the can and pierced it with a few small holes. He carefully placed the smokeable mix on the tin and brought the horizontal can to his mouth. From his pocket he retrieved a lighter. He sparked it up and with one deep inhalation consumed the entirety of the smoke from the small burn. He held his breath as long as he could. He felt the hot smoke in his chest. He breathed out no smoke for it had all absorbed into his lungs. He discarded the can and cigarette packet and returned to the park to comfortably seat himself on a bench and wait for the effect of the cannabis. He wondered whether the smoke had really been enough. Unlike the heavy hit of tobacco the pure cannabis slowly crept up on the consumer. Still he wondered. He listened to the melodious thrush and admired the beautiful green trees. Such majesty of nature dwarfed man’s meagre creations. Now he was stoned. Beautifully intoxicated, his worries floated away.