Transvestia

of work to postpone his holidays repeatedly until in the end his boss suggested he leave them over to the next year and have a month then. As the time for this long holiday approached Jim grew more dis- mayed. He could not afford to go away anywhere and the prospect of a month in the flat with nothing to do and no money to spend did not seem very exciting. Then he had a marvellous stroke of luck! One morn- ing an official looking letter arrived at the flat, and when he opened it, he was delighted to discover he had won two hundred and fifty pounds. Some years before his Uncle had given him five premium bonds for a Christmas present, month by month he studied the lists of prizewinners but never found the numbers of his bonds, but now, at last, his luck had changed and he immediately decided to spend the whole amount on the first real holiday of his life. With visions of a month on the Sun-drenched French Riviera he visited a Travel Agency and learnt to his disgust that all available accomodation on ships and planes to the Continent was booked for months ahead and all he could hope for was a cancellation. Returning to the office Jim told his colleagues of his win and how he had been unable to book for a trip to France. One of the clerks suggested that Jim buy his old M.G. for a hundred pounds and using the remainder of his win for expenses, he could tour Great Britain by car. Finally he succumbed to this idea and spent the next two weeks in feverish preparation. A tent- ative route was mapped out with an average days mileage of about a hundred miles, this would give ample time for obtaining overnight accomodation and visits to selected beauty spots.

So ten days after the start of his holiday, Jim had toured the west country and had reached the cen- tre of Wales, a country of stark desolate beauty with no signs of habitation for miles. His planned route showed a turn off onto a minor mountain road in the next few miles and according to the map this should take him through the centre of Snowdonia and, with ample time for viewing the scenery, he should finish