Thumbing.

darkdubh

Or hitchhiking to give it it's proper name.Does anyone do this anymore?When we were young my father would always pick up hitchhikers.Some fairly colourfull characters among them.I imagine the same sense of safety isint there now.Anyone have recollection's?

Rubberlegs

Mad, I was only thinking recently how you'd never see anyone thumbing anymore. In the early 90's, around where I lived then, there were always people thumbing out of town. The road has changed now though to a dual carriageway, so thumbing just died out, as nowhere for cars to pull in. Can remember once thumbing from Kilkenny to Waterford with OH. Fella that picked us up drove really fast, and told us about several car crashes he'd been in over the years. My knuckles were white gripping the door handle, in the back. Was never so glad to get out of a car in my life:eek:.
OH used to thumb a lot. He'd tell me about the d**kheads who'd stop up for him, then pull off, just as he was about to open the car door.
I think it's just too dodgy these days to thumb. Ya never know what looper would pick you up. It was probably dodgy back then too, but we never even considered it:o

kippy

Was heading out to Oranmore today via the Dual carriageway today. There was a guy selling strawberries just after the Galway Clinic roundabout and a few yards down the road a guy in his 50's with a fair bit of gear was thumbing.
Last weekend on the Castlebar side of Ballinrobe there was a guy in his 40's thumbing.
Still spot the odd one here or there thumbing, but generally not too many below 25 and very few Irish.
I pick them up if I have the space/time etc

I used to thumb everywhere between the ages of 16 and 24.

I think the amount of cars in use by "the young 'uns" have meant less and less of it happening any more. There also might be less imputus to pick people up because of insurance concerns.
Jaysus, they all want lifts even over the road now, even if they dont have a car, I'd say the prospect of thumbing a few miles would make them sick tbh.....

fryup

Just to give you an example how times have changed, when i was a lad:rolleyes: (1980s) on my local road it would take no more than the first one or two cars to pass before i got a lift (2min max).

The other day on the very same road on the very same spot..it took me 1/2 an hour before i got a lift, most people didn't even register me just looked straight on...people are more safety concious these days but its kinda sad as well i think.

WindSock

fryup wrote: »

Just to give you an example how times have changed, when i was a lad:rolleyes: (1980s) on my local road it would take no more than the first one or two cars to pass before i got a lift (2min max).

The other day on the very same road on the very same spot..it took me 1/2 an hour before i got a lift, most people didn't even register me just looked straight on...people are more safety concious these days but its kinda sad as well i think.

Would you pick you up?

Don't see it too often in Dublin anyway.

philstar

73Cat wrote: »

I think it's just too dodgy these days to thumb. Ya never know what looper would pick you up. It was probably dodgy back then too, but we never even considered it:o

Innocent, completely innocent is what we were back then and foolish too..to think of all the times i thumped as a fresh faced pretty boy teenager, sends a shiver down my spine now just thinking about it.

fryup

WindSock wrote: »

Would you pick you up?

hell ya!

i'm completely normal looking

WindSock

fryup wrote: »

hell ya!

i'm completely normal looking

I'd totally pick you up...


srsly

kippy

philstar wrote: »

Innocent, completely innocent is what we were back then and foolish too..to think of all the times i thumped as a fresh faced pretty boy teenager, sends a shiver down my spine now just thinking about it.

I disagree. We weren't foolish. We didnt have many other avenues available to us and to be fair the lifts we took were usually off people we knew. The sad thing now really is that an adult cannot risk being alone with a younger person for any length of time for fear of what "could be said" despite the fact that the vast majority of the population are law abiding.




The dangers have been vastly overstated in the past few years. It goes along with over protective parents and indeed the increase in media which we consume.
When you think about it now, your 17 year old is probably in a car driving themselves or with some other 17 year old friends who have a car. I'd much rather them hitch a lift of someone a bit older that that they knew than be driving themselves at that age (obviously that's a massive generalisation as well and another perception that is enforced by the media).

fryup

kippy wrote: »

I disagree. We weren't foolish. We didnt have many other avenues available to us and to be fair the lifts we took were usually off people we knew. The sad thing now really is that an adult cannot risk being alone with a younger person for any length of time for fear of what "could be said" despite the fact that the vast majority of the population are law abiding.

thats very true, people are alot more cynical minded these days...which is sad

kippy wrote: »

When you think about it now, your 17 year old is probably in a car driving themselves or with some other 17 year old friends who have a car. I'd much rather them hitch a lift of someone a bit older that that they knew than be driving themselves at that age (obviously that's a massive generalisation as well and another perception that is enforced by the media).

and statistics have shown that when a young male driver is in the company of another young male the chances of him being in a crash increase dramatically, so maybe they're better off thumbing a lift..but then again the person they get a lift from could be a boy racer

JONJO THE MISER

I used always thumb when i was younger, in the last few years you rarely see thumbers now, kinda sad really.

Aglomerado

Funnily enough I notice more people hitchhiking since the recession, but nowhere near as many as in the 80s.

mikemac

I was always thumbing in the past.
Some families had no transport and some had one.
If you have two you were either rich or a farmer with a car and jeep.
You just went down to the local crossroads and a local would pick you up in minutes.

There was even a code.
If they put their arm and hand across it meant they saw you, acknowledged you and they would give you a lift but they weren't going all the way.
Anyone remember this?

Gmol

See a few people on the N11 there are a couple of lads who hitch from Arklow and get picked up quite regularly. Pick up a few people generally if there isn't more than 2
Used to hitch all the time as a kid in the 80s

bullets

Only thumbed when there was no sign of the bus into town.

There was a cross road between two large neighborhood estates where we would stand and only stick the thumb out when we say cars come out of the estates we knew. The odd time we would mis-time it and someone would stop and we would not be sure if we should take the lift or not.

I remember traveling in the back seat of a car from Limerick to Listowel
as a kid and my aunt picked up an old-man hitchhiker to over the course of
the journey started to go a little crazy and eventually he got let out in foynes. Remember my aunt saying she would not be doing that again.

A stereotypical image would be Pretty Girls thumbing and getting a lift from Truckers! used to see that all the time near where I lived. As a teenager I remember thinking are those girls nuts.

I used to see tourists thumbing with signs but have not seen any in years!
the only time I see someone thumbing for a lift nowadays are people that look NUTS and dodgy looking, or the rare odd time an auld fella from the country side.

~B

FinnLizzy

The funny thing about when I was hitch-hiking at the age of 17 (2009), is that I hid it from my parents, because I thought that they'd be sketchy about it.
I used to hitch-hike from Leitrim to Sligo because the public transport there is ****/non existant.
When I said that I was hitch-hiking, they were sound with it. It seems that they did a **** load more of it than myself, and picked up more people. They were prob proud of me not being a snob, .

Thargor

mikemac wrote: »

I was always thumbing in the past.
Some families had no transport and some had one.
If you have two you were either rich or a farmer with a car and jeep.
You just went down to the local crossroads and a local would pick you up in minutes.

There was even a code.
If they put their arm and hand across it meant they saw you, acknowledged you and they would give you a lift but they weren't going all the way.
Anyone remember this?

Oh wow I just had a strong memory there out of the blue of my father explaining why he did that to a hitcher when I was tiny, that's mad, Id totally forgotten about that, we live out in the middle of nowhere in South Galway, where are you out of curiosity?

mikemac

North Tipp

This was the signal.
You used it to show you saw them but weren't going all the way so you couldn't give a lift.
But you did see them and you weren't ignoring them

K4t

^My ould fella always does that signal too.

I missed my bus into town for work today (I was ten minutes early..it was already gone..) and was ****ting it so began to thumb. Got a lift in two minutes from an ould fella driving a merc.

I was wearing slacks and black shoes with a shirt and tie. I think people are more inclined to pick you up if you're dressed quite well.

I remember my father saying how back in the 70s/80s lads used to compete against each other to see who could thumb their way to such and such a place in the quickest time and there were records and everything. It really was huge back then! I do not know anyone else my age (lad or girl) who thumbs lifts or would even consider the idea of doing it to get somewhere.

Mr. Rager

I still see thumbing going on in small country towns and villages

pauro 76

Used to hitch a lift between my village to Longford back in the day. One time, some lunatic from Lanesboro in a rustbucket gave me a lift, the car door was actually tied on with rope, flew over a bridge, never got out of a car so quick once I reached Longford..

later12

I have thumbed somewhere or other pretty much every Summer of my life since I was 16.

It's a great way of meeting new people, usually fellow travellers or truck drivers. The truckers and the farmers are the best fun and always amusingly scoffing and always interested in chatting, as indeed are most people who pick up hitch hikers.

I remember as a kid my mother, who must have been weary of her settled and married lifestyle, loved to pick up hitch hikers and engage with someone who was coming out from, or going out into, the wider world. We always had hitch hikers in our car and my Mum would frequently go long journeys out of her way to take interesting travellers to their destination.

I myself always loved to horror at the dirty clothes and the luggage and sometimes the dreadlocks of the hitch hiker, with his chaotic lifestyle, and though I am not like that myself for the vast majority of the year, there are few better joys than packing up your bags and heading into the country in Summer, with a tent, and a friend, some spare clothes, and an outstretched thumb.

The most memorable hitch hiking trip of my life was in Kerry in Summer 2009 with my then girlfriend. We were hitch hiking from Killarney to Kenmare, and met an old stoner who invited us to pitch our tent on his farm (which we did). He was so nice, and assured us to go have showers in, and make use of, his lovely old stoner cottage. We ditched our campsite plans, and had a great time with him over a bank holiday weekend, and the meeting was pure chance and a happy consequence of hitch hiking.

Anybody who has not yet tried hitch hiking, and thinks they might like it, should definitely give it a lash. I haven't had one bad experience in about 8 years of hitch hiking.

fryup

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

good for you, but I still wouldn't encourage it

silly

I used to thumb a bit, you know yourself, one car in the family, dad usually took it to work..
I got a summer job in the middle of nowhere and had to thumb quite a bit..

Once i got a lift off this guy, he wasnt from the area and was looking for a certain town..(he had just passed it and was headed in the wrong direction)
So i waited till we were nearly at my home to tell him, oh, that town is about 8 miles back the direction you came...

oops!
but it was ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASTING!!!! i needed to get home, into the shower and ready for the teenage disco!