A Conversation for Ask h2g2

When was the last time you saw a tramp or a bag lady?

Post 21

ITIWBS

Rev Nick, yes, hitch-hiking is illegal on the California freeways, but not most other places.

There are signs on all the freeway on ramps prohibiting pedestrians beyond the point where the sign is posted and 'pedestrians' in this case, includes equestrians, bicyclists and motorized vehicles that won't allow one to hit and hold a minimum speed of 55 mph.

Rules are more relaxed on hitch-hikers most other places in the state, though its sometimes prohibited in the vicinity of prisons and mental hospitals.


When was the last time you saw a tramp or a bag lady?

Post 22

ITIWBS

Rev Nick, yes, hitch-hiking is illegal on the California freeways, but not most other roadways.

There are signs on all the freeway on ramps prohibiting pedestrians beyond the point where the sign is located and 'pedestrians', in this case, includes equestrians, bicyclists and motorized vehicles that won't allow one to hit and hold a minimum speed of 55 mph.

Rules are more relaxed on hitch-hikers most other places in the state, though hitch-hiking is sometimes prohibited in the vicinity of prisons and mental hospitals.


When was the last time you saw a tramp or a bag lady?

Post 23

Bluebottle

Note to self: if I'm ever arrested and imprisoned in America but manage to escape, I better not try to hitchhike away from the gaol as then I'd be in real trouble.smiley - ok

<BB<


When was the last time you saw a tramp or a bag lady?

Post 24

ITIWBS

The laws vary from state to state.


When was the last time you saw a tramp or a bag lady?

Post 25

Baron Grim

Well, stay away from the freeways anyway. (But seriously, you don't want to be a pedestrian on our freeways. They just don't mix well with multiple lanes of cars traveling 70mph+.)

But it is notable that on roads surrounding prisons there are signs warning drivers not to pick up hitchhikers.


When was the last time you saw a tramp or a bag lady?

Post 26

Bluebottle

When I was young, I thought that a 'hobo' was a type of dog.
Mainly because there was a television programme called 'The Littlest Hobo', and whenever we saw a dog like that it was called a 'hobo'.

Next you'll be telling me that a 'Lassie' isn't an officially-recognised smiley - dog breed...

<BB<


When was the last time you saw a tramp or a bag lady?

Post 27

the autist formerly known as flinch

In England there used to be a semi organised system of 'tramping' - which was a migratory labour system - people, without fixed homes would walk from town to town and there would be places organised by the parish where they could ask for work. A lot of gypsy/tinker labour worked the same way. That's all gone now.

I work in a library. If you want to see homeless people, try there.


When was the last time you saw a tramp or a bag lady / hitch hikers ?

Post 28

the autist formerly known as flinch

I have hitch hiked intermittently all my life. And so always pick up hitch hikers when i see them. I've never had a bad experience, but get the opportunity to give a ride so infrequently now, as i never see them.

I still hitch sometimes, when the buses aren't running. And lifts are usually quicker than public transport. I'm in my mid forties now, and have no more trouble getting lifts than i did in my teens. And every time i hitch, people stop, and help, just because they can. And every time it reaffirms my faith in human nature.


When was the last time you saw a tramp or a bag lady / hitch hikers ?

Post 29

Baron Grim

Until the day it doesn't...


When was the last time you saw a tramp or a bag lady / hitch hikers ?

Post 30

Pink Paisley

I don't remember the last time I saw a hitch-hiker other than a chap carrying trade plates having delivered a vehicle.

I have noticed recently that people sleeping rough in shop doorways often have a book and appear to be reading it.

PP.


When was the last time you saw a tramp or a bag lady / hitch hikers ?

Post 31

ITIWBS

Of the last three groups of hitch-hikers I've seen, two groups of two got rides before I could get to them and fifth one, a singleton, was hitching in a location where I couldn't safely or legally stop even if I'd had time, was in view only 60 meters or so, while I was doing 70 mph.

I frequently hitch-hiked myself during my late teens through my early thirties, but never actually on a freeway.




Signs of the times, homeless people living out of a shopping cart.

Back in the middle 19th through the early 20th centuries it was

frequently a wheelbarrow.

During the wagon trains west era, probably as many made the move with a wheelbarrow as did with proper wagons.




The most recently I've seen an actual homeless person, probably early this past summer.


When was the last time you saw a tramp or a bag lady / hitch hikers ?

Post 32

Hoovooloo

I had never hitchhiked until I started flying a paraglider cross-country. It's fun, but far from typical.

I used to think I'd be in with a better chance of a lift because I carry a large sign saying "GLIDER PILOT", or more recently a huge sign strapped across my rucksack with a picture of a glider. My theory was that I'd be in with a better chance if I was clearly a man with plenty of money (gliders and the skills to fly them are obviously not cheap) and a legit reason not to have a car (I'm trying to get back to it), people would be more inclined to stop.

I was wrong.

Not that people don't stop - I've had many, many lifts from all sorts of interesting people. It's just that the vast majority open conversation with "So, why are you hitching?" or "What's in the bag?", to which it's sometimes difficult not to respond with "What, the massive bag with a huge picture of a paraglider on it? That bag?". To my surprise, practically nobody who picks me up has any idea why I'm hitching, despite the sign. Mostly, they are happy to state that they simply didn't see it, which sometimes causes me consternation. Then I remember they somehow saw my actual thumb, then I'm just puzzled.

Last year I flew over 100km from my car, and landed near the A1. I then had to walk for about an hour and a half before I reached a service station - there's simply no point sticking your thumb out when everyone's doing 70mph. Worth it, though.

Re: hobos/tramps etc - Saturday. Wife commented that the town is more than usually full of them. It's depressing.


When was the last time you saw a tramp or a bag lady / hitch hikers ?

Post 33

Baron Grim

Sounds like an S.E.P. field. They're not expecting it so they don't see it.

Like the invisible gorilla.


When was the last time you saw a tramp or a bag lady / hitch hikers ?

Post 34

Otto Fisch ("Stop analysing Strava.... and cut your hedge")


As someone who knows nothing whatever about gliding, I've given precisely zero thought to how pilots get picked up afterwards.

If someone asked me, I'd assume that they either had a plan to aim for a certain place to be picked up from and/or someone to phone to come and pick them up. I'd also have assumed that a gilder wouldn't be foldable to the extent that it could be easily carried, even though if I thought about it it would be obvious that it would have to be portable unless all gliding launches were from car parks.

I guess my nearest reference points would be canoeing or scuba diving, both of which require clearer plans for recovery/return. I'd imagine most people with no direct or indirect experience of gliding might make similar assumptions.


When was the last time you saw a tramp or a bag lady / hitch hikers ?

Post 35

Baron Grim

With canoeing (kayaking, tubing, rafting) at least there's the option of being dropped off upstream. It's so much nicer not having to arrange a pick-up.


When was the last time you saw a tramp or a bag lady / hitch hikers ?

Post 36

Hoovooloo

Otto:
It depends on your glider, and most people understandably don't think about gliders at all.

When most people say "glider", they mean something that looks like a plane with long, thin wings and no engine. They are very fast, very efficient, very expensive to buy and get flown cross country a fair bit. To get airborne, they require either a ground winch or an aerotow (i.e. getting towed up by a plane with an engine). If they land out, they're a real bugger to retrieve, so most cross country flights tend to be loops - out and returns or triangles, back to the start. Failure means having to call for help. You transport one by towing it in a special trailer behind your car.

Most people know there are gliders you can launch on foot from a hill, and most people when they think of this think of hang-gliders, which look like a delta-wing kite with a bloke dangling directly underneath. They are fast, pretty efficient, quite expensive to buy and get flown hardly at all because hardly anyone flies them these days. To get airborne they can use a winch or even an aerotow, but most just drive (or in very, very rare cases walk) to the top of a hill. If they land out they're quite annoying to retrieve, but it is possible, so more straight line flights happen. You transport one on the roofrack of a car, usually with a specially designed mast sticking up from your front bumper for extra support - they're LONG.

My glider is a paraglider. It looks like a parachute. It is NOT a parachute. It is slow, fairly inefficient, pretty cheap, and I fly it cross country whenever I can and don't worry about where I land. To get airborne I could use a winch (if I was qualified - I'm not) but in most places it's generally more fun to walk up a hill, which is no bother. Retrieval after a landing out is no bother either, so I do it a lot. Walking up and getting back are no bother because the entire thing, glider, harness, reserve parachute, instruments, helmet, gloves, my lunch etc., ALL of it fits in a 130 litre rucksack and weighs about 17kg. I can therefore get it on the passenger seat of my car, or at a pinch on the passenger seat of YOUR car while I'm sitting on the passenger seat of your car. Several of my friends get to the hill by motorbike with the glider riding pillion. This is why hitching with it is a realistic proposition.


When was the last time you saw a tramp or a bag lady / hitch hikers ?

Post 37

Baron Grim

Is your paraglider significantly different from the ones we might see powered with a backpack fan?


When was the last time you saw a tramp or a bag lady / hitch hikers ?

Post 38

Hoovooloo

Couple of things to add: hang gliders are man-portable only in the very loosest sense - most launches are indeed "from car parks", or at least within short flat walking distance therefrom. I've seen men (and only men) carry 65kg of hang-gliding gear up the side of a mountain on their shoulders, but not often. By contrast, some nutter once flew a paraglider off, over or onto every one of the 214 Wainwright Fells in the Lake District. http://www.lulu.com/shop/simon-blake/flying-the-wainwrights/paperback/product-22622229.html

This is probably why there are so few hangies left, especially in the more mountainous north of the UK. Down south, where hills are smaller and often have roads to the top, they're more popular - but still not as popular as paragliders. The situation is very like the way kitesurfing has almost completely supplanted windsurfing due to being easier, cheaper and less hassle for transport.

You can plan a flight from point A to point B, but whether you'll make it or not is another matter entirely. Declaring flights does gain you extra points, and I've done a few declared flights of my own this year (one ended on Blackpool beach by the central pier), but successful completions are the exception rather than the rule even for the best pilots.


When was the last time you saw a tramp or a bag lady / hitch hikers ?

Post 39

Otto Fisch ("Stop analysing Strava.... and cut your hedge")


That's interesting. I was aware of "glider" - towed by a plane etc - and "hang gliding", but not that there was such a difference between that and paragliding. I can picture the old kite-shaped hang glider, and I'm *vaguely* aware of something that's smaller, lighter... quite... boxy(?) with things that look a bit like sails. But I had thought is was only an incremental improvement on a hang glider, and I was very much thinking of 'jump off a mountain from a car park' as a method of launch.

I guess the key thing is that with a much smaller and lighter paraglider you can land it - if not quite on a sixpence - in much smaller spaces without risk to life or limb.

And while I'm not putting forward my own impressions as any way typical, if we hadn't had this conversation and I'd offered you a list while hitching, I'd be surprised that what you were doing was possible. Even if your bag had a big sticker saying "paraglider"!


When was the last time you saw a tramp or a bag lady / hitch hikers ?

Post 40

Hoovooloo

@Baron Grim: define "significant"? I'd say no. They're basically the same, to the extent that I could fly mine with an engine. It would be suboptimal, though - there are some specific design features of wings for power, mainly to do with how you accelerate them (hand trimmers instead of a foot-operated speed bar) and the wing profile (they kink up at the back, something called "reflex", where footlaunch wings don't). In general though, apart from tiny technical details like that, very much the same thing.

My glider is NOT "boxy"! It's beautiful. Here it is: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1006873229350253&set=t.647601474&type=3&theater

And I - not any kind of expert - could reliably land it on half a tennis court. I've seen a man land on one foot on top of a telegraph pole - that's accuracy. (He flew down).

Most people who pick me up are surprised what I do is possible, especially if I've landed more than fifty miles from where I took off.


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