As I got off the coach in Bath City Centre it was early evening.  My anger was about to bubble over again.  I wandered away from the bus station, away from the city centre looking for somewhere to make base.  I walked under some railway arches thinking that maybe one of the units would be empty.  They were all locked up and my anger spilled out.  I set fire to a heap of rubbish left outside of one of the units.  That would teach them!

I walked back up to the bus station and past it.  I would see what I could find up this way.

As evening drew in I found various possible places I could sleep for the night.  I chose a bus stop.  It was covered and it seemed to be in the tourist area of the city, it would be quiet at night time, hopefully.  I retired to bed early that night, snuggling down in my sleeping bag.  Tomorrow would be a busy day.

I awoke about 6 the next morning.  I hadn't been disturbed at all during the night.  I rolled up my sleeping bag and went for a wander around the city centre.  I found a shop the milkman and the baker had already delivered to, leaving the bread and milk outside the front door.  I helped myself to a loaf of bread, pint of milk and a pasty.  A very pleasant breakfast, I thought to myself, I must come here more often!

I spent most of my days begging outside the Roman Baths and the cathedral.  It was a very worthwhile business!  I used to do very well, sufficient to keep in me food, cigarettes and drugs, and I would still have enough to save for a rainy day!

The Burger and Cider trips
I was taking LSD and smoking dope regularly at this time.  One night after taking an acid tablet I was having a fun trip as I wandered around the city.  I came to one of the city squares where the night time hamburger van was parked.  "How many Burgers you got mate?"  I asked.  "Enough for you" he replied.  "Good, give me a hundred" I said.  I gave him a handful of money, I do not know how much, but he started serving up the burgers.  When I had about 10 lined up on the counter I started throwing them at cars driving past.  I fell down to the floor after a while laughing hysterically.  I don't know whether I had my moneys worth or not, but as it is with a 'trip' my mind was on another track now and off I wandered laughing like a maniac to myself.

On another occasion I was tripping on LSD and went for a drink at a pub near the bus station in Bath.  As I drank my pint of cider, the apple taste was enhanced by the drugs and I thought I had an apple stuck in my mouth.  I was sitting at the bar with my mouth wide open and speaking as if there was an apple blocking it.  I then thought a tiny drip in the bottom of my glass was half a pint and nearly got into a fight when the barman tried to take it away.

There was also a downside to the drugs.  Because of depression and anger and what was going on in my head at the time I had more than my share of bad trips.  I had to be rescued from a multistorey car park as I tried to catch aeroplanes.  I was taken to hospital for a check up and place on a casualty trolley.  I was terrified though because the floor was made of small mosaic tiles in neat rows and to me they looked like escalators.  All moving in different directions.  When they told me get off the trolley I nearly fell over because I thought the floor was moving.

I was pulled off the top of traffic lights where I had climbed because I had fallen in love with the beautiful lights.  I also fell in love with the blue of a policeman’s shirt. 

I do not in any way approve or encourage the taking of drugs.  I did it and from my experiences I would encourage people to steer well clear!

Frome
I decided to go and visit Frome again. It was a place I always liked to visit.  My foster parents never enjoyed my visits though. This time I sent the Fire Brigade around to their house on a couple of occasions early in the morning.  I also used to 'phone them in the early hours and hang up when they answered. They had hurt me beyond forgiveness, now I was showing them what it was like to be hurt, to have no peace.

Back in Bath the police were starting to pay me attention.  This I didn't want, so decided it was time to move on.  I did some extra hard begging for a few days to get some cash together and decided to move back to Woking.  I was, for now, satisfied at expressing my anger. 

I travelled back to Woking and went straight to the social services.  They found me a place in a working lad's hostel in Maybury Hill.  The warden gave me a lot of hassle here because I had no intention of finding work.  After I had been there a week he told me that if I didn't get a job within another week I would have to leave.  He was starting to make me mad again.  He sent me out every morning to get a job and told me not to come back until 3pm. each day.  I wasn't going to put up with this. 

My anger boiled over on the Sunday morning.  I hadn't been sleeping properly because of the turmoil my mind was in, so I got up at 6 am and went down into the town.  I had woken up bitter and decided the time had come for my revenge.  I first of all set fire to the rubbish skip behind Tesco's for what they had done to me.  Then I set fire to the Superdrug store.  The store had to be closed for a while whilst repair etc had to be made.  Behind the store was a little lane, this was where I started the fire.  In a parking space opposite the back door of the store was a really flash sports car.  Bastard - bet he had got it from exploiting the workers!!  I set fire to the car too!!  I was so angry this day.

As I left the area fire engines and police cars were flooding the area.  I didn't want to get caught so I started walking down by Victoria Bridge and up Goldsworth Road.  A police car drew alongside me.  The copper in the front passenger seat unwound his window and asked me if I had seen anyone around.  I replied that I hadn't seen anyone, why were they asking.  They told me about the fires and asked if I knew anything about them.  I told them I didn't but the officer asked me why my clothing smelt of smoke.  If it did it was because I had just been walking down that way I told them, but I hadn't seen anything.  They arrested me anyway.

I was taken to Woking Police Station which then was on the corner of Heathside Road.  I was questioned by a copper called Parrott, I think he was a detective sergeant.  I denied any knowledge but he held me in the cells anyway.  On two occasions coppers came down to 'convince' me to own up.  Feeling rather battered and bruised, I did admit them when Parrott questioned me again that Sunday night.  I was charged that night with arson and was asked if I wanted any cases taken into consideration.  They told me it would be better to do it that way than to be charged with them at a later date.  I said I did and that I would clear up all their fires for them.  On one of the occasions when I appeared at Woking court for remand they presented me with a list of fires for every area I had lived.  If I recall correctly there were 168 of them.  I signed to admit the lot of them.  As I had looked through list of offences there were fires at opposite ends of the country at the same time, and I admitted them all.  I don't know why I did that, I think I just didn't really care anymore.

The magistrates at Woking remanded me in custody to Ashford Remand Centre.  This was my first occasion in jail, and I was apprehensive of what would happen to me.  After a long 5 hour journey on a circuitous route collecting prisoners from other police stations along the way we arrived at Ashford.  The journey had been most uncomfortable.  The van was what we used to call a 'horse box'  because the van was made up of some twelve cells each no more than three foot square.  The seats were made of fibreglass and very hard on a long journey and the cells were very small and cramped.

When we reached Ashford my first view was of a massive wire fence with razor wire across the top.  It appeared as a top security prison.  In reality, that is what it was.  It was no different to an adult jail except in name and the ages of its occupants.  The rules were the same as for adults, the regime was the same, if anything the screws attitudes toward their youth prisoners was harsher.  Maybe they justified their sadistic tendencies with the thought that harsh treatment would act as a deterrent for the future.