TWO SUMMERS
A Surrey resident has revisited the ‘trip of a lifetime’ road trip around America he took 50 years ago – and his adventures are now published in a book published this month.
T
he book, Two Summers; Nixon and Trump by Greyhound Bus, has been praised by BBC journalist and books editor James Naughtie as ‘a lovely evocation of heady times in America’. Tim Albert took the first trip in 1969 when a student at Surrey University, and kept a detailed diary of his adventures. Last summer, by then a semi-retired journalist living in Leatherhead, he went back on the buses again. ‘The idea crept up on me unexpectedly when I was at the dentist,’ he says. ‘It was such a good idea that I felt I had to do it, even though I was worried that what I did without a second thought at the age of 22 would prove to be too much for my 72-year-old body. But I planned the 60 day route carefully, making sure I slept each night in a bed and not on a bus. Greyhound Bus travel has changed a lot in half a century, he says. The buses are more comfortable and generally on time, but there is one big change. ‘In 1969 I met all kinds of people – students, teachers, farmers, architects, soldiers going to and from the Vietnam war. This time on the buses I spoke to hardly anyone – they are all glued to their mobile phones’. He adds: ‘2019 was a fascinating time to be travelling around America – I realise now that it could have been the last summer of its kind that we shall see for some time. At times it felt like I was travelling through two parallel universes with two widely different populations. Some people told me that the President
was an incompetent liar; others that he was the only politician who told the truth. And a chief of police remarked that we had to be careful we weren’t “living through the last days of the Roman Republic”.’ One major difference from 1969 was the prevalence of guns. ‘I remember being shocked in 1969 by seeing policemen carrying guns everywhere. Now they’re everywhere. I even found myself being offered an AK-47 on my mobile phone. ‘One thing has not changed, however, and that is the kindness of individual Americans. I witnessed some extraordinary acts of kindness, and one morning I asked two ladies where I could find lunch and they started to look into their purses to give me money!’ More information on the author and the book can be found on www.timalbert.co.uk Two Summers; Nixon & Trump by Greyhound Bus is available from: Wishing Well, High Street, Bookham KT23 4BN – 01372 459969 Cobham Bookshop, 12A, Anyards Road, Cobham KT11 2JZ – 01932 862903
COMPETITION
For a chance to win a signed copy of Tim Albert’s book, answer the following question: Which US president was in the Whitehouse when Tim Albert first visited America. Please email your answer to ros@looklocalmagazine.co.uk by 14th September. 18 LookLocal - SEPTEMBER 2020
