THUMBS UP!
Hitch- hiking Has Its Own Technique RISKED a snub and asked them if they would care for a lift into town. "Thanks awfully," replied the two girls I met tramping along a "dusty road during the holidays. And then I learnt quite a bit about the tech‘nique of hitch-hiking. They explained that they did not aspire to be "tramp-
ers"; they were unashamedly. hitchhikers. They worked in a big city store all the year round, and were out to make the most of a cheap and healthy holiday. To walk along a dusty, metalled road away from any town, with green hills and surprised sheep on either hand, to hear a car in the distance, watch it appear over a rise and, with a thumb waving in the air and a friendly yet impersonal smile, invite it to stop- that is the beginning of the technique of hitch-hiking, they explained.
Cee ae The hitch-hiker, I gathered, especially if female, is made, not born. Hitch when the car is too far away and there will be time for consideration and perhaps denial; wait too long and it is past before the driver has time to think, *Jove, they want a lift." Early morning brings the long walks through fresh and dewy country; 11 o'clock herajds the cream lorry bound for the factory; the afternoon is generally drowsy and quiet, apart from an Army vehicle or two, whose drivers sometimes take a chance and, against the regulations, offer a lift. Chances of a lift at night are not so good. Some drivers fear a hold-up, while others charge straight on, remembering, perhaps, the days when the Home Guard commandeered the nearest car during a practice "alert." Once in a cat, explained the brunette, with your turn to do the talking, the technique gets a bit more difficult. It is not always easy to judge people correctly, especially men. But (with a bright smile) there are no unchivalrous men, They are isvariably kind and generous with lifts. Few women will stop, and still fewer couples, unless long married. There are pitfalls in this hitch-hiking, however, I was told. Suppose two bon shivering with cold and miles from civilisation, find a parked and tarpaulined car on the roadside and decide to sleep in it, and the owner comes along. Even the best technique is strained at such moments. It’s a case of Heaven send an inspiration, and, in the méantime, smile,
E.R.
B.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19450119.2.17
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 291, 19 January 1945, Page 9
Word count
Tapeke kupu
411THUMBS UP! New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 291, 19 January 1945, Page 9
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Material in this publication is protected by copyright.
Are Media Limited has granted permission to the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa to develop and maintain this content online. You can search, browse, print and download for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Are Media Limited for any other use.
Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
Log in