Letter from Germany 1981

Skiing in Tuttlingen


On 21^st December, the snow was everywhere, and with some help from a delivery man I crawled out of the front door of the hotel at 6 o’clock in the morning so that I could catch my train to Munich. The train was taking the scenic route, going through beautiful forest full of snow capped Xmas trees in the cold winter day; but what followed my arrival in Munich was an experience not easily forgotten!! 

  I was invited to stay with a German friend I met in Hong Kong. On my arrival at his flat, I found out that he, his father and two other flat mates were all on eviction order and there I was, invited to sleep for two nights in his over crowded accommodation. As he had few more days to move out, he kept his promise and provided me a corner of a room. During the two days with him, I roamed the streets of Munich, taking in all its glory, (it is a beautiful city) and also listening to his numerous phone calls to his solicitor whilst searching for new place to live. There was one big advantage for listening to  my friend’s troubled time, it  stopped me thinking about the roof over my own head when I reached home. My host actually belonged to the German aristocrat family and inherited  a tittle of a baron, however he lived like a tramp of out choice and really enjoyed living on the edge!!Not the one for me!!

 On 23^rd December I took a train to visit another pen friend of mine who lived in Tuttlingen, in the Black forest, south of Germany. There I had a room to myself and a warm welcome from my friend’s mother, who lived on the middle floor of the house, and her grandmother who lived on the ground floor of the house and my friend who lived with her husband on the top floor of the house. I spent Christmas day with the whole family; it was warm and peaceful family occasion for me to have experienced before my departure to England. On Christmas night, I accompanied the whole family to the local cemetery to pay respect to the deceased, including my friend’s father; the whole of the cemetery covered with white sheet of snow was lit up with candles on every grave stone and the hymn ‘silent night’ could be heard in the back ground; it was idyllic .  

    

 Before leaving Tuttlingen, the family took me out for skiing, their winter sport and not mine. They all had the gear and provided me with some old out fit for me to wear. Instead of catching up with my sleep, which I desperately wanted to, I went off with the family for a bit of fun, so I thought?

My body was not built to ski and just to keep my feet on the ground was damn hard work; I kept falling off like Bambi on snow, the Disney cartoon character; I kept wiping my runny nose but found that I was wiping frozen water; it was so, so cold that I only lasted ten whole minutes of falling off and getting up, over and over again; though I wanted to cry like a little girl who failed , I simply laughed all the way to the café for warmth and hot drink!!