Risk And Risk

I used to hitch lifts when I could,
where the roads were narrow
and drivers drove at speeds
where they they could stop,
where there were places
at the side of the road.

I made a substitute for a career
out of travelling hopefully,
whilst I was unemployed-
I had to do something
to will both my self,
and my reduced money,
to make both go further
than others predicted they should. 

I wanted to make the best
out of the less allotted to me.

I would always arrive somewhere,
even if where I arrived stopped short
of where I wanted to be.

All that ended with Covid,
when the risks were no longer
'Will I be late to get where I want to be',
or 'Why does this man want to feel my knee?
Am I his opportunity for a secret
and rather humourless exchange? 
The risks had changed
into something more serious,
where all strangers are a risk.
And the people we presumed to know
could not be trusted to bear their face value.