chris jones aka appydaze
p.s free the weed was tims support to me and encouraged my projects

A pleasure to see so many people speaking out for Tim – and a pleasure to see so many people at the funeral & wake. I like it that people on this site have said that they found Tim funny, in a good way, that connects to most of my feelings about him. What kind of a Holy Fool? what kind of Goddess’ Clown? that’s for another day to say; i’d have him down as something of a Nasreddin figure myself, ‘cos whatever else, he was a catalyst for things happening, around him, occasionally even apparently despite him, but still he was there.

No-one much has written about Tim & The Stonehenge campaigns, and it’s not really anything i know too much about, it’s only that those were the days when i met him first. I was a junior one of the Green Gathering Collective types for a few years, and some of them, Tim Abbot springs to mind, were doing a lot of Stonehenge stuff on the ground, in situ; i think Tim S lived on Salisbury Plain for a while. There are stories for someone else to tell around that point. I just remember at Hanging Langford (i believe), on the way with the year-after-the-beanfield cavalcade, 1986, the word went out: “Ian Botham supports Stonehenge”. Who remembers Ian Botham? He was England Cricket Captain at one point, a Somerset player at this time, and had confessed that he enjoyed a little weed now and then. Anyway, the word became, “Ian Botham’s with us”, and, addled young hippies we were, some believed it. Until i saw Tim in a cricket jumper…

I feel for Bath too. Having lost Pete (‘the Potter’) Attenborough recently, and now Tim, the place is demanding lots from its remaining guardians. One time that Tim surprised me (i’m an arrogant sod sometimes) was when he led a walk as part of one of the Bardic Festivals, and he knew Important Things about Bath that i didn’t. I hope he wrote them down, or i hope they weren’t buried too deep.

I felt i had to work the afternoon of the ceremonies, i didn’t hang around (i often use work as an excuse). But i haven’t stopped toasting Tim. The next few ciders i have under propitious circumstances, will be toasts to Tim too. At the wake, several people said they kept seeing Tim in the crowd. I did too. I’m familiar with the effect, but i also know you can see things differently out of the corner of your eye. If i remember to toast him now and again, hope i keep seeing him.

SH

These are the most effective leaders of any enterprise. Clearly this wonderful person was a friend to the fae. I hope to meet him in the Summerlands.