Sechzehn Jahre

I haven't remembered much German after studying it to GCSE level. It doesn't stick in the memory like French or Spanish, and I've barely had any reason to use it since the final exam. I perceive the accent in this part of the country to have a Dutch tinge, which makes sense geographically. Language aptitude today was woeful but we struggled on, resorting to an overly emphasised German accent when actual knowledge dried up.

It's reassuring that after being friends for 16 years we can still have carefree days of being silly and drinking beer and that it's as hilarious as it was during university days. We have approximately one million in-jokes that we do not tire of. Bremen is the home of Becks beer so in the afternoon we joined one of their brewery tours, which ended with generous provision of a range of lagers and ales. Jackie had selected a number of bars that we then proceeded to crawl around in a fun day of drinking and eating to excess. Adam and Ruth danced around the central square and Lorna captured the full moon perfectly between the cathedral spires. Germans do bar and pub provision well; they are a people who take beer-drinking seriously.

It's good to know that we can also get scolded by our Air BnB host for being too raucous and that we haven't lost our youthful vitality. One of the neighbours with an upcoming operation complained about us singing although we think we'd actually been having an animated discussion about cereals at 2am. However I accept the point that my voice is loud and can penetrate walls, so we became more mindful.