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coat, and carried a pencil-thin rolled black umbrella. My suitcase was decorated with British flags. Having plenty of luggage, moreover,

I was not likely to be suspected of being a dangerous lunatic. I then had to get across to the driver the idea that I was a bona fide

traveller, and needed to get somewhere cheaply.

But even with careful preparation, you must not assume that the task will be easy. You should be prepared to wait a little, for there

are drivers who confess to a fierce prejudice against, not to say hatred, of, hitchhikers, and would no more pick up a hiker than march

from Aldermaston to London. In America my average wait was half an hour, but I have heard of people waiting all day, they

presumably took less pains to make themselves conspicuous.

Nor must you assume that all the drivers who stop for you are nice, normal people. On one occasion I found myself driving with

two boys of about nineteen who turned out to be on the run from the police, and were hoping to use me as an alibi. There are also

lesser risks: you may find yourself in a car of a fascist fanatic, a Mormon missionary, or just a bad driver. You cannot tell of course,

until you are in the car. But you soon learn the art of the quick excuse that gets you out again.

If the hitchhiker in the United States will remember that he is seeking the indulgence of drivers to give him a free ride, and is

prepared to give in exchange entertainment and company, and not go to sleep, he will come across the remarkable, almost legendary,

hospitality of the Americans of the West. It will also help if he can drive — I think that I drove myself about 4,500 of those 9,500 miles I

hitchhiked in the US.

(From "Mozaika", No. 6, 1969)

May Week in Cambridge

The most interesting and bizarre time of the year to visit Cambridge is during May Week. This is neither in May, nor a week. For

some reason, which nobody now remembers, May Week is the name given to the first two weeks in June, the very end of the Uni-

versity year.

The paradox is pleasantly quaint, but also in a way apt. May Week denotes not so much a particular period of time as the gener al

atmosphere of relaxation and unwinding at the end of the year's work. It starts for each undergraduate when he finishes his exami-

nations and it continues until he "goes down" at the end of the term.

Everything as far as possible has to happen in the open air — parties, picnics on punts, concerts and plays. May Week seems al -

most like a celebration of the coming of the spring, till then ignored in favour of sterner matters like examinations, and this spirit of

release seems to take over the entire town.

People gravitate towards the river and on to the Backs which are the broad lawns and graceful landscaped gardens behind those

colleges which stand next to the river: Queens, King's, Clare, Trinity Hall, Trinity and St. John's. The river banks are lined with strollers