I have. Twice now.
The first time was years ago - my friend and I were driving somewhere and it was raining. Well, when I say raining, I mean it was as if someone had put an ocean in a bag in the sky, and ripped open the bag. It was a deluge of Noah's Ark proportions. And we saw this woman, on her own, walking in it. Poor thing. So we stopped to offer her a lift. And she said yes, the silly cow. Two men, in a car, and she gets in?? Was she mad? Obviously, because you didn't hear about the court case... I mean, because I'm nice, we took her to where she was going and that was that.
The second time was this morning on the way to work. I was just pulling off the motorway I sometimes use to get to work, and I saw a biker man stood there with his thumb out and his bike on the side of the road. "What's up fella?" says I, as I pulled in next to him. Turns out he had run out of petrol, and he was trying to get to South Harrow for his first day in a new job. He had come from Camden and hadn't put enough petrol in the bike. "So where do you want to be dropped?" asks out valiant samaritan. He said anywhere with a petrol station, or a cab office, or somewhere nearer civilization (there is nothing near this particular slip road). So I told him to get in and I dropped him to the cab office just round the corner. (Actually, it was about 10 minutes away, because I couldn't remember where the nearest cab office was so I took him to one I definitely knew the location of).
The reason I stopped was because he was a biker. I wouldn't have just picked a random bloke up off the side of the road, but for those who don't know, I rode a bike for around ten years myself, and still have that attitude of bikers sticking together.
So anyway - hopefully he'll get to work in a cab OK and won't be fired on his first day. Good deed of the day done.
Soundtrack of the day: Nothing yet - it was a bad day on Friday of screaming and shouting in the office because none of the bosses were in, and I was getting very fcuking angry with some of my co-'workers' (ha). So today, I'm gonna wait and see what music I will need to drown out the noise. I mean, will Nick Drake be enough, or do I have to pump up the Disturbed and Metallica?
Update: Soundtrack of the day: "West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum" by Kasabian (yes, the new one)... fcuk me does it rock.
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17 comments:
Well done you - have a karma point
Ive only picked up 1 guy who was walking home from a pub i used to frequent. Its such a long way and I felt his pain!
I actually told him I was a rally driver so sorry in advance if my driving scared him, hahaha why.... NO IDEA!
What do you mean you USED to ride, sick of people stealing your transport AKA Reliance Care Farrington?
By coincidence I've just got my L's and im avidly hunting a 250cc to learn on.
Phil - I no longer have a bike, and its a constant background pain in my head because I REALLY miss it. If I had the money, I'd have another one tomorrow. And funnily enough the guy I picked up this morning was an Aussie... I didn't mention that in the post. Glad you're learning - biking is one of the best things to do, honestly. And thanks for reminding me of when my bike was stolen!
Well done for doing your good dead for the day...
I have to admit I have never picked up anyone!
I had an episode in Oz and I had to hitch a lift. It was raining very heavily and I looked like a drowned rat. I think the guy felt sorry for me. Some of those Aussie towns are so similar in ways they are pronounced..
I got to my destination about 10 hours late but I did get there
Colin - good "dead" for the day? But I didn't kill anyone! (This time...)
Yep, bikers must stick together. I was a biker for years before having the kids and needing cars for transport. I have stopped for bikers in trouble before too. Stayed with one once all the way to hospital until his missis got there (boy was she pissed to find another woman with him... It's not like I was straddling the guy or anything, he just needed someone to talk to!)
Jaq - Bikers stick together. Its weird how this is true but car drivers don't really do that. The only other group I've found that DO look out for each other is Mini drivers (the proper mini, not the BMW bastardization). I have owned a couple of mini's and its the same sort of attitude among those drivers too.
Very True you didn't kill anyone but you could do a roll reversal... you never know what may happen.
You know they found a body of a Scottish Girl buried in some garden.... She hitched a lift and it turns out that the guy was a rapist and a murderer.... You have to be careful that's all.
I was so grateful to the guy who picked me up..
I did have a ruck sack and looked totally lost and confused.
Damn ive got a Mini TOO!!!
Odd that some of the bikes ive seen have a bigger engine than it!
I have only once picked up a hitchhiker. I was in Surrey and heading to Brighton and he had a sign saying Brighton so it was a no-brainer. Turns out he was heading to Brighton for the bank holiday to make some money on the streets as he was a street-performer (a juggler if I remember correctly, not one of those annoying "statue people") He had hitched all the way from South Wales apparently and all in just the afternoon. Didn't he do well....
Aproachin hitch-hiking from the other angle, my brother in law is a solicitor and when he lived in kent user to hitch to work every morning (only about 7 miles I think). Quietish country roads are different to motorways I suppose but he used to get into work every day on time. I guess picking up suited people with documents in briefcases is preferable to picking up tracksuited people with dead-people in hold-alls...
You can't describe the first one as a hitch hiker if you just felt sorry for her getting wet and pulled over to ask if she wanted a lift! It makes her even more stupid though and she was lucky.
I would never try to hitch a lift - ever.
I can't imagine any circumstances when I would pick someone up either. Certainly I would never pick up a man of any age and I probably wouldn't stop for a woman either. That said, if I saw a woman hitching somewhere isolated late at night or she looked distressed I think I would have to stop. Could be a trick though but you wouldn't want to leave someone who was potentially in danger.
I haven't ever picked anyone up, not sure I would either. Certainly wouldnt pick up a male, even picking up a female could be risky, who's to say that they wont cause you any harm just because they are not a man.
If a woman looked like they were in trouble I think I probably would stop tho, I can be damn stupid sometimes.
Of course it's different for men and women when contemplating picking up a person by the side of the road (no, not hookers). ANYONE could be tricked into stopping for a distressed looking woman, only to be jumped by her accomplices. But I guess a man is more likely to stop because there is slightly less chance of a physical threat.
I have to admit I did pick up a load of nurses who were rasing money for charity.
There was 3 Nurses all dressed in fancy dress. I gave them a lift from the start of the M1 to Junction 5 Watford. They were trying to raise £100,000 for Cancer research and it was a worthy charity. Mrs White was impressed...
Were they nurses who had dressed up as something else, or non-nurses whose fancy dress was a nurse's uniform!
So predictable, Mr White! And I bet you didn't give them any money....
Colin - they were male nurses weren't they? ;-)
I've given a couple hitchers rides. One on the way down to town froma ski resort (the busses had stopped running and he actually worked at the place) and the other on the way up to a ski resort in a different area.
My family actually broke down once on the highway from the lower 48 up to Alaska. It's pretty desolate in areas, which is true of the place we broke down. But a very nice man on a bike came by just as we were trying to figure out what on earth to do. He gave my mom a ride all the way up to the next town (about 50miles) to a parts store AND all the way back to the truck. He called himself Smoke...we called him our hero :)
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