Friday 16 May right after work I parked close to the Maastricht "liftersplaats", destination daddy and girlfriend in 's-Hertogenbosch. Wanted to be there quick, after three minutes of wait got a ride from a counsellor and relation manager / advisor heading for Haarlem. With a cruise speed of 120 - 140 kmh we drove by 's-Hertogenbosch, we had discussed obviously were we would split, suggested the A59 exit 47, twice 1.5 km off the straight way to Haarlem, or the A2 emergency lane right on the way to Haarlem, however the driver kept preferring an A2-petrol station on the way. Although he had asked about the "where is" this A59 exit, we actually missed it because of a changed situation on site. Got out at my most frequented petrol station De Lucht a bit past 's-Hertogenbosch, used the tunnel to change sides to get a ride back to 's-Hertogenbosch, asked one driver while walking through the restaurant, crossed the parking, put up the thumb once, then saw a cab at the end of the parking, and was going to ask him, except that there was another driver, who could take me. Thus stood at the spot about 18.50 and arrived about 20.15, distance 148 km, avg speed should be then about 104 kmh. Quite exceptional somehow...

"All you need to get a quick ride is to put your thumbing hand in bandage*", the counsellor said, who had been travelling the globe for six years, a couple of decades ago. I felt though that the bandage would be some kind of cheating.

* strip of cloth used to cover a wound)