One of them was twenty-year-old Rhys Jones,* whose unpublished diary gives such a vivid impression that it is worth quoting at length: Sunday 8th August 1937: Arrived Koblenz 12.15 pm First impression – a sense of the massive and solid. People’s physique definitely better than ours. Fitness put before personal looks. Girls often too fat by English standards. Hillsides covered in cabbages. No hedges. Dress: Quite unassuming except for black shorts, peculiar plus fours etc. White shoes a novelty. Germans do not dress according to the weather. Absence of open cricket shirt. Berets unpopular –
One of them was twenty-year-old Rhys Jones,* whose unpublished diary gives such a vivid impression that it is worth quoting at length: Sunday 8th August 1937: Arrived Koblenz 12.15 pm First impression – a sense of the massive and solid. People’s physique definitely better than ours. Fitness put before personal looks. Girls often too fat by English standards. Hillsides covered in cabbages. No hedges. Dress: Quite unassuming except for black shorts, peculiar plus fours etc. White shoes a novelty. Germans do not dress according to the weather. Absence of open cricket shirt. Berets unpopular – French! Language: vigorous, almost militant. Perturbed by thought of being taken for a Jew given my slightly aquiline features. Discovered Woolworths. Smell peculiar to each country (except our own). That of Germany a scented tobaccy [sic] smell mingled with fish. Men walk upright, military fashion, keeping knees almost stiff. Impression of walking on heels and overbalancing. Nearly all close-shaven or glassily bald. Very large families. Children clean and tidy if a little old-fashioned (frills etc.). Shop windows full of prams. Fewness [sic] of cars. Germans too poor to buy more than a bicycle. Women terribly plain. Carry packs in blazing sun. Would try any man! Little use of corsets. Best proof of poverty found in cinemas. Only cheapest seats full. Solemnity would put many of our churches to shame. No smoking! No sweets! No whispering! No clapping. Strong silence. People like oysters. ...
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