05-03-2023, 11:13 AM
One sees very few hitchhikers these days, but thirty years ago, it was quite different and I would give lifts quite frequently. In fact, I made at least one firm friend by giving a lift to a Frenchman whose hire car had broken down on the A5 just after the end of the M54. He turned out to be quite an interesting chap, hailing from Marseilles and having been ex-French Foreign Legion and a mercenary during the Angolan conflict in the late 60's. I even gave him a bed for the night and we sorted out his hire car problems the following morning.
We stayed in touch mostly by letter (he would write in English and I would reply in French, which gave us both much amusement) and he would come over to see me occasionally, when we would drink until the wee small hours of the morning and talk endlessly. Alas, he died several years ago from cancer but I still remember him with fondness.
We stayed in touch mostly by letter (he would write in English and I would reply in French, which gave us both much amusement) and he would come over to see me occasionally, when we would drink until the wee small hours of the morning and talk endlessly. Alas, he died several years ago from cancer but I still remember him with fondness.