Tom Hill

' White Line Fever' by Tom Hill
(continued)
Underpass

Under flyovers and railway bridges, there is usually some graffiti, from meaningless obscenity to interesting mural spray-painting.

Whilst waiting for a hitch on the M1 near London, the traffic suddenly seemed to disappear and the sun came out. The graffitied underpass became a gallery for the underclass.

(Thats enough.........ed.)

Memiors of an Invisible Man

This picture was taken during one of the longest waits I ever had for a lift, despite being in regulation issue: Baseball Cap, tachograph disk on upturned thumb, Beer-gut and donkey-jacket with plastic collar and elbow pads. Despite this, not one fellow knight of the road stopped to give me a lift.

I concluded that I had become temporarily invisible, so I took this picture to prove to myself wrong.

Kilburn

This mirror, propped up by a kerb, was outside a warehouse I delivered to in Kilburn, North London.When I asked what a mirror was doing standing alone on the pavement,a cheerful lad with a delightful Southern Irish brogue said: "It means no double parking". As well as this remark being remarkably un-funny, I was left to this day perplexed.

I still am.

Me and Bobby Mcgee

There is a marvellous song, recorded by Kris Kristofferson in 1969, with the above title.

It concerns the story of two youngsters hitching across the USA, and one of the verses: With those windscreen Wipers slappin' time and Bobby clappin' hands/We finally sang up every song that driver knew.

This really exemplifies the magic of hitching lifts. There is an odd sort of intimacy in getting into a complete strangers' car, then travelling for miles, getting to know details that someone wouldn't tell their close friends. It can be very theraputic talking to a perfect stranger in the almost certain knowledge that you'll never see that person again.

This picture tries to capture all this, as though behind the windscreen and the interior of a vehicle can be the whole of your world, for a short space in time.

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