Sepp 83

Angie's father's 83rd birthday and a family gathering at his house in Olching a small town to the west of Munich -could say suburb.

Lunch and then afternoon coffee (Bavaria read Beer) and cake.At various stages we were 16 plus 3 dogs in the kitchen and sitting room. A good traditional lunch of Leberknödelsuppe (liver dumpling soup) followed by Schweinsbraten and/or Rollbraten (both types of roast pork) with bread and/or potato Knödel (dumplings), Kartofelsalat ( salad) , Krautsalat (raw cabbage salad) and gravy. All good healthy Bavarian food. I leave it to your imagination as to what it was washed down with. The cream cakes later on didn't make much difference to the calorie count.

Thank you Sepp for a great day. Always the perfect host. Flash who is the same age as Sepp was, as always, treated particularly well by Sepp! Luna couldn' get enough attention especially from the youngest family members.

I have in the past often recalled his early years as a 10 year old fleeing with family and horse and cart from the Russian army and losing everything they had ever owned. Listen to his story and you will realise why his generation here are so keen for a united Europe, including the UK. I feel sad when I speak to a friend in the UK also born in 1934 who is helping his country to "leave" Europe. And say what you will, "leave" is how the youth of Europe see it.