What not to shout In former West Germany
Growing up in the seventies, our family enjoyed holidays that were considered quite daring at the time: we would fly to a country in Europe, rent a car and then drive around from 'Zimmer' to 'Zimmer' for the half-term. I must admit it was always a great adventure setting off on these trips, and upon my return, I was expected to stand up infront of the class and regale them with my worldly wisdom. What did the Berlin look like? ('lots of barb wire'). Do dogs in France really have rabies? ( "I don't think so, but Mum wouldn't let me stroke any, so I never got bitten").

On one of these trips, we were driving thrugh West Germany and stopped off on a small town. My parents left my Brother & I in a playground and went for a walk together (yes, leaving your kids in a 'safe' place like that to return after 30 minutes was quite normal in those days). Anyway, my brother thought it would be a hoot to climb up to the top of a slide, that was the centre piece of this playground, stand tall, give a nazi salute and shout "HEIL HITLER" at the top of his voice

Every single person within earshot stopped what they were doing turned and just stared. No one moved or said anything. They just stared. Having gotten no 'reaction', brother dearest decides to repeat it a few times whilst laughing at his own audacity. I screamed at him to shut-up and get off the slide. He slid down to find me grabbing him roughly by the arm, thinking that at some point someone was going to really have a go at us. But the scariest thing was, no one moved at all. Very unnerving silence. M&D returned chatting with some shopping, and I couldn't wait to get in the back of the car. As we drove away (window very closed, doors locked), the car was flanked by all these families, and having all those people looking at me through the window is what stands out in my memory now.

Brother doesn't remember this at all now of course (little shit).
(sabre32, Mon 27 May 2013, 13:13, Reply)