Wie geht's?

When I re-read my post of yesterday, it seemed to me that I might have given the impression that I disliked or distrusted the Germans. Nothing could be further from the truth. I did most of my National Service in Germany and the one thing which struck me above all others was the friendliness of local Germans - and this, don't forget, was only ten years after the end of the war, and where I was stationed was close to the Ruhr which, as Germany's industrial heartland, took a heavy beating. The locals would have had every right to hate us, or at best to treat us as a necessary evil, but my experience was that they accepted us as just ordinary blokes doing a job and were always willing to talk to us and help us where they could. I enjoyed my time in Germany. The reservations about a united Germany was all to do with politics, not people.