Start Lifestyle „Freundnachbarlich“ – Serie Teil 6

„Freundnachbarlich“ – Serie Teil 6

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Diana Serle
Diana Serle, Rechtsanwältin, London
Diana Serle Anwältin London
Diana Searle, Anwältin, London

I first visited Germany when I was 11. I was squashed in the back of my mother’s boyfriend’s small car. His name was Charles and I really didn’t like him one bit! He had a daughter called Shirley who was older than me, very skinny with a bee hive hairdo…..well, it was the 60s. She had longer legs than me so I got the suitcase on my side too. I hated her!

„…the cleanest most organized place…“

We were on a „Not so Grand Tour of Europe“. There were good bits as well as bad bits, but I remember it well! Germany totally impressed me as the cleanest most organized place I’d ever been to in my short life. I was amazed by it.

Years later, well 4 to be precise, I met a German boy on a beach in Oostende. Another summer holiday adventure with my school friend from Birmingham and her mother and aunt. Werner was very blond, very German and probably the most polite male I’d met or was likely to meet again in my life. We only dated a couple of times before going back to our respective countries, but he wrote to me every week for the following year. Beautifully penned romantic letters on soft cream paper in blue ink. He declared his love for me regularly and ardently and I of course proud lyshowed his words to all my friends.

But I was young and keen to date other boys and waiting a whole year till the next summer seemed a lifetime away. Werner had already invited himself over to stay in England but as the time drew nearer for his visit, I grew less interested. Looking back, I treated him badly and he must have been very disappointed by his visit that summer. My mother refused to have him to stay. She’d been bombed during the war and didn’t like the Germans. My aunt nearby let him stay at hers. I had a holiday job as a waitress at a local hotel and every day Werner would meet me from work at 11am with an umbrella tucked under his arm. He got caught in a rain shower early in his visit and never went out without his umbrella after that!

„His letters, I kept for years.“

I remember very little of his visit except I wasn’t interested in him by then and felt very guilty that I hadn’t told him so earlier. He never reproached me or was mean to me as he had every right to be. He left after his 2 weeks was up and even wrote to thank me afterwards. I never heard from him again. His letters, I kept for years. I may still have them in a case in the loft, still tied up with a grey ribbon! That was my experience of a German.

Over the years I have met other German people, but not many. I have always found them quite serious and a little intense, just like Werner. I think they are probably more cautious than us Brits but that’s not a bad thing! I don’t think I know enough Germans to have a proper opinion of their traits or character but it seems to me that people are people wherever they come from and left to our own devices and not manipulated by political agendas and religion we would all get on and enjoy each other just fine!!

Love Diana x

Friends are vital to our well-being and enrich our lives.

Weitere Erfahrungen von Briten mit Deutschen:

Steve, Lynton  https://inspiring-teatime.de/freundnachbarlich-serie-teil-1

Phil, London    https://inspiring-teatime.de/freundnachbarlich-teil-4

Nick, Lydford  https://inspiring-teatime.de/freundnachbarlich-serie-teil-5

Weitere Erfahrungen von Deutschen mit Briten:

Karin Schumann, Rodgau https://inspiring-teatime.de/freundnachbarlich-teil-2

Helmut    https://inspiring-teatime.de/freundnachbarlich-serie-teil-6

Ich empfehle auch das Taschenbuch von Christian Schulte-Loh; Zum Lachen auf die Insel. Er schildert darin seine Erfahrungen als deutscher Komiker in England, wo es galt, sich neben dem britischen Humor durchzusetzen. Ein wirklich witziges Buch, das die britischen Eigenheiten scharfsinnig auf’s Korn nimmt.