Would you pick up a hitchhiker?
Discussion
filthypig said:
BigBen said:
You are put off picking up hitchers because your dad once overreacted to one who made a joke?
I guess you had to be in the cab to make the decision as to whether it felt like it was a joke...In my experience it is far more dangerous getting in a stranger's car than picking up a stranger
I suspect this is the first year I haven't hitchhiked since the mid 80's, but we're only half way though the year, and it's not exactly a typical year
I haven't picked up many hitchhikers recently, because there are so few around these days
It's illegal to hitchhike in the US in several states, I was nearly arrested by cops in New Jersey on the way to a Ferrari Challenge event in 2008
The following day I was driving my mates 612 Scaglietti back to Boston
At the time he owned an F1, so you can probably google him
Here he is in the 612 earlier that week
At the time of the Miner's Strike I was hitching between London and Leeds and was given lifts by striking miners and by management, both were generous to a fault and extremely enlightening - you never get the full picture just by watching the news
More recently, last year I hitchhiked to and from Whitney when I ran out out petrol on the A40
It is much easier getting a lift when you are carrying a petrol can (despite the fact they can stink)
A wonderful woman took me back to my car after dusk, very generous indeed
Several decades earlier a young woman picked up me and my mate on the A10 at about 2am
Once she dropped us off I made her promise that she would never do that again - Total Madness
More recently, when my Cerb ate it's gearbox at the Ring (actually my fault not the car's) I needed get to and from where I was staying in Müllenbach, and where the car was marooned
I was given a lift by the owner of 27 Ventisette, the restaurant next to the bridge at Breidscheid
That evening I chose to eat there and ordered the most expensive meal I could find on the menu, and plenty of vino too
Two weeks later I returned with a mate to retrieve the car, a hideously expensive operation
The most efficient hitchhiking experience I have ever had was to see Jean Michel-Jarre in Lyon
I found out about the concert on Thursday, I left the West Country on Friday, and arrived in Lyon on Sunday morning for the Sunday evening concert - total cost £3.50 which was dinner in the truck lounge on the ferry
A couple of years later I was driving in the French Alps, and gave a lift to a couple of school kids who were hitchhiking home, post Saville that would have been much more challenging
I took this photo a few days earlier
The best place to get a lift is the Alps, I remember having three successive first car past lifts - that is unbelievable
The worst place I have tried to hitchhike is a tie between the Paris Peripherique. and just about anywhere on Corsica
Corsica really is astoundingly beautiful though, this is from some years later while on holiday with my gf
As a driver, I can only remember one time that I was nearly taken advantage of, I was on holiday with my gf when we picked up two girls in the Swiss Alps, they wanted us to drop them at their front door, their arrogance was astounding - but that was an outlier
In my lifetime of hitchhiking, I have been propositioned, assaulted, and driven by drunk drivers
But I have also found drivers who insisted on driving miles out of their way to help me
While picking up hitchhikers no one has ever damaged my car, or left it needing cleaning
But I have met people far more interesting than me, and no one for whom I regretted stopping
I suspect this is the first year I haven't hitchhiked since the mid 80's, but we're only half way though the year, and it's not exactly a typical year
I haven't picked up many hitchhikers recently, because there are so few around these days
It's illegal to hitchhike in the US in several states, I was nearly arrested by cops in New Jersey on the way to a Ferrari Challenge event in 2008
The following day I was driving my mates 612 Scaglietti back to Boston
At the time he owned an F1, so you can probably google him
Here he is in the 612 earlier that week
At the time of the Miner's Strike I was hitching between London and Leeds and was given lifts by striking miners and by management, both were generous to a fault and extremely enlightening - you never get the full picture just by watching the news
More recently, last year I hitchhiked to and from Whitney when I ran out out petrol on the A40
It is much easier getting a lift when you are carrying a petrol can (despite the fact they can stink)
A wonderful woman took me back to my car after dusk, very generous indeed
Several decades earlier a young woman picked up me and my mate on the A10 at about 2am
Once she dropped us off I made her promise that she would never do that again - Total Madness
More recently, when my Cerb ate it's gearbox at the Ring (actually my fault not the car's) I needed get to and from where I was staying in Müllenbach, and where the car was marooned
I was given a lift by the owner of 27 Ventisette, the restaurant next to the bridge at Breidscheid
That evening I chose to eat there and ordered the most expensive meal I could find on the menu, and plenty of vino too
Two weeks later I returned with a mate to retrieve the car, a hideously expensive operation
The most efficient hitchhiking experience I have ever had was to see Jean Michel-Jarre in Lyon
I found out about the concert on Thursday, I left the West Country on Friday, and arrived in Lyon on Sunday morning for the Sunday evening concert - total cost £3.50 which was dinner in the truck lounge on the ferry
A couple of years later I was driving in the French Alps, and gave a lift to a couple of school kids who were hitchhiking home, post Saville that would have been much more challenging
I took this photo a few days earlier
The best place to get a lift is the Alps, I remember having three successive first car past lifts - that is unbelievable
The worst place I have tried to hitchhike is a tie between the Paris Peripherique. and just about anywhere on Corsica
Corsica really is astoundingly beautiful though, this is from some years later while on holiday with my gf
As a driver, I can only remember one time that I was nearly taken advantage of, I was on holiday with my gf when we picked up two girls in the Swiss Alps, they wanted us to drop them at their front door, their arrogance was astounding - but that was an outlier
In my lifetime of hitchhiking, I have been propositioned, assaulted, and driven by drunk drivers
But I have also found drivers who insisted on driving miles out of their way to help me
While picking up hitchhikers no one has ever damaged my car, or left it needing cleaning
But I have met people far more interesting than me, and no one for whom I regretted stopping
Back in the late 80's my job required me to drive from Leeds to West London and back at least twice a month. Because I'd had to rely on hitch-hiking myself earlier in my life when I was down on my luck, I gave a few people who looked reasonably clean a ride.
I remember a young Polish couple who I picked up at Staples Corner and took them all the way to visit family in Leeds - they were delightful - entertaining, polite and funny. I was invited in for tea when we arrived and Jerzy became something of a pen-pal. They ended up emigrating to Chicago and when I moved to the US, I met up with them and their kids again. It was a wonderful experience.
I also gave a lift to a guy who was going down to London for an interview - he'd been unemployed for ages and looked a bit scruffy. I raided my overnight bag and gave him some soap, shaving gear and deodorant. I also gave him a tenner to buy a tie because he didn't have one. He insisted on me giving him my address so he could return the money - I got a letter from him a few days later to tell me he'd got the job - that made my day.
I never had any bad experiences - just the occasional person who crashed-out within minutes of getting in the car, which was a bit rude.
I remember a young Polish couple who I picked up at Staples Corner and took them all the way to visit family in Leeds - they were delightful - entertaining, polite and funny. I was invited in for tea when we arrived and Jerzy became something of a pen-pal. They ended up emigrating to Chicago and when I moved to the US, I met up with them and their kids again. It was a wonderful experience.
I also gave a lift to a guy who was going down to London for an interview - he'd been unemployed for ages and looked a bit scruffy. I raided my overnight bag and gave him some soap, shaving gear and deodorant. I also gave him a tenner to buy a tie because he didn't have one. He insisted on me giving him my address so he could return the money - I got a letter from him a few days later to tell me he'd got the job - that made my day.
I never had any bad experiences - just the occasional person who crashed-out within minutes of getting in the car, which was a bit rude.
I used to work in a pub out in the countryside, a bloke left one evening late on and found a girl in her 20’s walking down the side of the road in the pitch black. He stopped and offered her a lift, as he was pulled over talking to her through the window her angry boyfriend that had thrown her out the car on the way home pulled up along side him and gave him quiet a hiding.
Police were involved and she went down the route of ‘he was trying to persuade me to get in the car and creeping me out’ all charges were dropped.
I know all parties involved as they had all been in the pub that evening. I would bet my life on it there was nothing seedy about him pulling over to offer her a lift, I think given were she was so far from civilisation most people would of stopped.
Maybe I’m wrong but the bloke that stopped seemed like a nice genuine bloke and the other was a complete cunit
Police were involved and she went down the route of ‘he was trying to persuade me to get in the car and creeping me out’ all charges were dropped.
I know all parties involved as they had all been in the pub that evening. I would bet my life on it there was nothing seedy about him pulling over to offer her a lift, I think given were she was so far from civilisation most people would of stopped.
Maybe I’m wrong but the bloke that stopped seemed like a nice genuine bloke and the other was a complete cunit
Tons of times, both picking up and hitch hiking myself, usually when younger but a couple of times when I've sold a car and delivered it and hitched back (we are only talking 15 miles or so, an amount of have been prepared to walk.
If your ever in doubt about a Yorkshire man's tightness (or aversion to public transport) just mull that one over, sold car, walks home rather than pays for bus ticket or similar.
If your ever in doubt about a Yorkshire man's tightness (or aversion to public transport) just mull that one over, sold car, walks home rather than pays for bus ticket or similar.
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