"Thumbs Up: Over the Hill and On the Road" by Tom Ritchie

LONDON - Sept. 21, 2018 - PRLog -- ISBN#978-1789551990

"Thumbs Up:  Over the Hill and On the Road" by Tom Ritchie

A hitchhiker's adventure and road-movie across southern England

About the Book:

Thumbs Up – Over the Hill and on the Road takes the reader on a hitchhiking adventure across southern England where we follow Tom, who has hit the road after a stress meltdown.

Thumbs Up is a light-hearted road-movie where we meet the drivers who are kind enough to stop for our elderly hitchhiker. They share their stories – their work, their families, their loves and losses, their hopes and dreams.

You have in your hand a playful ramble, a collection of authentic real-life stories, blended with images and reflections from the world of hitchhiking, past and present.

As a road-movie documentary and biographical narrative, Thumbs Up attempts to portray events as they happened in real life. But as the book points out, things are not always as they seem. As our tale unfolds notions of time, past and future dissolve and we see how our lives are intertwined in unforeseen and uncanny ways.

You are invited to come on a journey where hitchhiking takes us into the magical space of the present moment.

Excerpt from the Book:

"So I was standing there just outside of Austin one very hot day when this van suddenly pulled over. I grabbed my backpack and ran to the passenger side of the vehicle and opened the door. For just a split second I was speechless. The guy in the driving seat was a leather-bound biker ­ a rocker. He looked like a cross between a Black Sabbath fanatic and an inmate from San Quentin. He could have come straight out of a Tarantino movie.

He had long greasy-looking black hair, sunken eyes, a thin frame, tattooed arms and chest, heavy earrings ­ the lot. His dramatic appearance caught me off guard so I stood there for a second, momentarily stunned. He offered me a ride heading west, so quickly regaining my composure I said ok­ and got in the van beside him. He took me all the way from Austin to El Paso, which is about 570 miles.

We talked casually about this and that as we drove, and we got on fine. It turned out that he was a member of a motorcycle club going by the name of Bandidos, which I¹d never heard of. I later learned that Bandidos are more or less like The Hells Angels, and I suppose you have to be a bit of a bad lad to get involved with them. However he was friendly to me ­ I think he accepted me as I was a hitchhiker, and as such was not part of mainstream society, the system. He thought it was cool that I was from London, England ­ some Americans do, or at least they did then. And I think he was happy to have some company on the long drive to El Paso.'"

Thumbs Up:  Over the Hill and on the Road is available in hardback from Amazon at:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thumbs-Up-Over-Hill-Road/dp/1789552001

This entertaining road-movie is available in paperback from Amazon at:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thumbs-Up-Over-Hill-Road/dp/1789551994

The e-book version can also be downloaded from Amazon at:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thumbs-Up-Over-Hill-Road-ebook/dp/B07GR7SQHB

Press/Media Contact Details:

New Generation Publishing

Tel. 01234 712 064

E-mail: info@newgeneration-publishing.com