Travellers Tales 1

I was hitch-hiking in Europe, age 19, with girlfriend. We were waiting for a lift on the edge of Munich, trying to catch a truck that would take us south towards Greece. A man approached us "Come and have a coffee with me, then I will drive you south" He seemed OK so we accepted. His flat was musty and stuffy. As we talked, and never got the coffee, it became clear that he was not in the best of mental health. He talked of how he was a boxer [illustrated with punches to the sofa] and how he loved knives [illustrated by producing a big knife and running his finger along the blade "Here, you try it..."]. We tried the "We must be going" line, with little effect. Next thing he was telling us "My girlfriend was killed in a car crash" with attendant tears, "I have some of her skirts, will you try them on?" This last was directed to my girlfriend not me. So bizarrely she had to try on a skirt whilst the knife holding man watched. Somehow we got out after that and I remember walking quickly to a Kiosk, and making contact with normality again. Didn't put us off hitching though.

The photo is in Scotland, I think I was 9 or 10.