Was this rainy Saturday early morning of January 2012, warm and humid, I took my bicycle (the Road Master, which Paddi had made from scratch) and started rolling down the Greenacre Rd.
I had just moved to Sydney, Lakemba, to work in construction yards.
This morning my boss Dennis came holding a bag with some warm oregano (Lebanese pizza – a flat bread with Zaatar) and cold Coca Cola bottles. “Eat the breakfast fast and clean all the trash from the front yard, Habibi will come soon to drop his truck and leave, you have to carry all the scaffolds from the back garden and load them up to his truck. He will pick it up this Monday morning.
When you finish everything, you can go home. It’s 2 or max 3 hours work, by midday you should be ready, have a nice weekend ” he said and left in rush.
It was still very early, while cleaning the last trash from the front yard, suddenly some oriental melodies started moving in the air, louder and louder. It was Habibi like OG dancing inside his half rusty truck, waving his hands in the rhythm of this mezmorizing Lebanese music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnwibU4KXr0
He pulled the hand break to impress us and parked the car wild, opened the door and jumped out dressed like a groom, stinking of this deadly old man’s cologne.
“Habibiiii” he screamed with a huge smile and hugged me, “here is your bud, Habibi.” And with that, he handed me a mini grip bag with this hairy, orange, super stinky weed.
“My cousin is waiting for me in his car, we are in a rush, load everything nicely and carefully, see you next week, Habibi.”
I had already collected the trash from the front yard, it was only the scaffolds left.
“Fuck that shit”, I said. “is less than one hour work. I’ve been waiting for a week to take this smoke, I will roll a huge joint, drink my cola and then I will do the last part fast.”
Sun was coming slowly over the big clouds and it was starting to feel really warm again. I picked up a nice shady spot in the back garden and lighted my spliff, the melody of Habibi’s music was still playing in my mind. I took a few big puffs, and the taste of fresh oranges filled my lungs. An overwhelming feeling of peace possessed me.
I was there again, connected with the universal energy, feeling one with the nature around me.
When the joint ended I took a few deep breaths and said to myself loud “Let’s get to work mate!” super stoned as I was at this point and grabbed firm the first piece of the scaffold.
Suddenly I saw something small moving in the rusty metal, it was these tiny creatures. The scaffold was full them – hundreds of tiny snails.
“The snails man, look at these snails, they are so beautiful” I mumbled out loud again.
I stopped and started observing these alien looking creatures, moving so slow, with no hurry, so balanced, so friendly and harmless, I felt this connection with them.
“The snails are my friends, there is no way I will harm these peaceful creatures. I will remove them all, one by one, I will exchange my time with their life. It’s a fair trade”, I whispered.
l rolled a second spliff and started picking my new little friends one by one slowly and placing them in the wild side of the garden in safety.
The way of the snail I thought and smiled.
That was the day me and snails became friends for ever.
Life is the most valuable gift all creatures share in this world, every one has the right to live.
(To keep my friends away from your favorite plants, there are always many natural ways and methods, such wood ashes from your fire place, sand, egg shells and many more .Balance is the key.)
Follow on Instagram: @savethebrains.seeds
Photo credits: Save the Brains
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