About It All Again

Thinking back to December 1973… a village called Oberjoch (over the hill) in the Bavarian Alps. Six foot of snow! I was learning to ski with 49 Field Regiment, Royal Artillery. Just six of us squaddies plus instructor.

One night, we visited a gasthaus and bumped into some young ladies from a German finishing school. They were chaperoned by a formidable matron and a bull of a middle-aged male teacher. The girls were 16/17… giggling and fluttering in our direction. We were late teens/early twenties…sinking our beer and girding our loins. The matron was glaring at us.

As if to break the tension, the male teacher suddenly produced a guitar and started singing the Leonard Cohen song, ‘So Long Marianne’. Everyone joined in… six callow soldiers, ski instructor, young ladies, matron, mien host, busty barmaid and all. If memory serves me right, I kissed the prettiest girl in the room.

time trundles on…

always forgetting

to pray for the angels