I came across both on the same day back in the early 1970s. I was hitching up the A1 to Edinburgh and got stuck, then I came across a hog trying to cross the very busy road, so I grabbed it and ran across and dumped it in the verge. A little later, still with thumb stuck out, I heard rustling in the undergrowth, and this black and white critter waddled past me as if I wasn't there.
Kind of sad that people don't hitch anymore. You come across all sorts of stuff and people. My little brother was in a garage band and wrote a song called "Stick Out Your Thumb And Have Some Fun", which I liked.
I'd love if hitchhiking made a revival. I've tried it once, but didn't get far. Well, actually, I didn't get anywhere at all!
There's something about looking personable, well-groomed and attentive, and still being ignored by a succession of mostly empty vehicles that takes a toll on one's ego :(
The people who deliver new cars in the UK are well known for hitchhiking home. I think they are on a fixed fee, so hitching saves them money. You will see them holding their 'trade plates' (temporary registration plates that dealers can use without having to tax and insure the car registration) out to let other professional drivers know they are professionals. I met one in the Midlands once who had already driven to Edinburgh and hitched all the way back in the day. You often see them on the exits of motorway services where a lorry driver has dropped them so they can find someone going their way.
I used to thumb a lot, standing by the side of the road you often see these car delivery lads, but only briefly; always picked up within a few minutes. I toyed with the idea of getting myself some fake trade-plates but thought better of it (they're mostly pretty hard looking blokes ...)
I know, it was a bit soul destroying. In my experience, the thing to do was not to try too hard (a bit of Zen here, perhaps). I remember being dropped at a roundabout outside Doncaster UK where there were already a couple of other guys, which is usually the kiss of death for all concerned. So I went up the road's embankment, laid down and slept for an hour or so - it was a sunny day. When I woke the other guys had got lifts and I stuck out my thumb and got one too.
The thing about hitching is that you want a little money in your pocket so that if you really do get stuck somewhere you can maybe get a bus to somewhere better, and you don't feel too powerless and miserable. Also, hitch with a pretty woman - me and my ex-wife hitched Edinburgh-Yorkshire-Wales and back, doing camping. The last bit back to Edinburgh was in a Rolls Royce!
Ha, thanks for the tips! Knowing me though I'd lie down for a 'nap' and wake up eight hours later!
Re. public transport, indeed the occasion when I tried hitchhiking was after missing the one of the two twice-a-day buses on a recent journey of mine from a remote village. However, I eventually caught a succession of unlikely connections further on; I ended up arriving earlier than expected even without successfully hitchhiking, so all's well that ends well!
There were still quite a few hitchhikers in the mid-1990s and I would always pick them up. I heard some tall tales but I never felt threatened. People have become absurdly risk-averse.
A bit more complicated than that. There also issues about the spread of tuberculosis to cattle which encourages badger culls, but may or may not actually happen much.
Baiting is obviously horrible though. And we in the UK also have vile "sports" such as hare-coursing. But we have more or less got rid of fox hunting.
I'm interested that you put hare coursing in a similar category to badger baiting. I have a semi religious attachment to hares, as do many country people, so I wouldn't do it. However, coursing hares or rabbits doesn't appear more cruel than any other way of killing them to me. I think it is odd to turn it into a competition, but that shouldn't stop a solitary hunter.
I suppose the cruelty aspect is somewhat arguable, but the people doing coursing are almost all criminal gangs who, at the same time as coursing, do a lot of theft and damage in the rural environment here in Lincolnshire.
That's ok then, there is already a law against being in a criminal gang and against stealing! I don't agree with the constant stream of legislating against things that are already illegal!
(Half)joking aside, I do understand that Lincolnshire has a much worse problem than my native Welsh border country. Our smaller fields and undulating ground make coursing much more difficult. We also don't have the density of hares.
Yes it is typical overreaction stuff. "Badger baiting is bad, so instead of enforcing the ban on badger baiting from 1835, let's 100% protect badgers". I think there is a popular idea that badgers are rare, because badgers are nocturnal. If you venture to shine a bright torch on a field now and then you will see that they very common.
Whilst baiting is a persistent sub culture, it is extremely niche. I live in a country area, and my life puts me in contact with the shooting and farming communities. I heard of baiting once ever. It is much more niche than other countryside crimes like stealing GPS units off tractors, sheep rustling, poaching etc. None of which attract attention from the public.
I don't want to see animals killed, but the UK is a highly managed landscape. The badgers success has been a disaster for ground nesting birds (especially lapwings, or peewits as we call them locally) , and hedgehogs. This makes me sad.
Then there is the issue of TB. Because the populace, as you put it, are so fond of badgers there has been this appalling censorship of the debate about this issue. In fact for years we had all kinds of groups pretending that there was no link between TB in badgers and TB in cows. Lets have some facts. If a dairy cow catches TB from a badger then it will be killed by the government. The herd will get constant checks and animals will keep getting killed for having antibodies present in their bloodstream. This is because the spread of TB must be stopped at all costs! That makes me sad. If a badger gets TB, it will likely infect its whole sett. It is likely to die of the disease. You can't kill them though, because badgers must be protected at all costs. I spy a logical inconsistency in those two positions.
I'm glad to hear that badgers are doing well somewhere at least. They used to be common in the western US but their numbers have plummeted due to over killing, habitat loss, vehicle deaths, and other causes.
