Gaby Book 17 - Seasons

There was a bit of seat shuffling before we set off again, the Waugh’s travelling in Caro’s hire car, a Passat estate, whilst the English girls joined us in the bus.

“I'm missing something aren’t I?” Kristen suggested after a few minutes.
“Missing?” Mand queried.
“I don’t mean to be rude Gaby, but like I don’t remember racing with you before, you sure it was me?”

Duh! No ones actually told her about ‘me’ have they? I was doing my best boy impressions back then, I don’t think I've changed much but I guess I have, boobs, hair, how I'm dressed – yeah quite a lot of change.

“You never told her Laura?”
“Told her what?” Laz shot back.
“Told me what,” Kris added.
“You remember riding at Eastway, the championships?"
“Which time?”
“When Josh rode? You won the title?”
“How could I forget, that little kid, Drew...”
“Bond won.”
The penny dropped,” you’re Drew?”
“She was Drew,” Mand told her.
“How, why?”

For the next hour Kristen got an abbreviated version of the events since we won the British Championships.

“Toilets girls,” Dad announced as we pulled off for Bruchsal services.
“Good job, I shouldn’t’ve had that second coffee,” Laura opined.
“Told you,” Mand crowed.

Its like a switch has been, er switched in Mand’s head. Usually she’s fairly quiet, not wallflower quiet but not really taking much part of conversations. I guess its a bit difficult when its all my friends chatting away in German, but now, today, well she’s more experienced, has a better grip on the language than Laz and Kris. I guess I didn’t get the chance to be quiet when I arrived in Germany, it was total immersion almost from day one, school, a ready made group peer group that I was dragged into.

“Anyone got change?” I asked as I perused the contents of my purse.
“Here,” Tali tossed a fifty cent piece to me.
“Cheers.”
“You guys got toilet money?” Mand asked as we crossed to the road house.
“Bum, I knew I kept all those coins for a reason,” Laura sighed.
“We have to pay for the loo’s?” Kristen queried.
“Fifty cent,” Ron supplied.
“I've got enough,” ‘big sister’ de Vreen advised.

It was a bit surreal as we continued our journey south, half the bus chatting in English and half in German, the weirdest thing being that I could follow the German rather better than the English. Its probably because I'm so immersed in German life that my points of reference are German not British. Simple things like telly, food, the races – even though Mand has been here a few months, at school she’s still exposed to ex pat Britain.

After Karlsruhe the dark hills of the Schwarzwald appeared to our left, stark contrast to the wide flat expanse of the Rheintal stretching south towards Switzerland. The afternoon sun was bright, a nice day even if the breeze was keeping the temperature in the mid teens. The junction for the eponymous Baden flashed past then just a few minutes later we were leaving the autobahn at the junction for some place called Bühl.

My interest in the contents of H&M in Hamburg vis a vis Düsseldorf waned and my attention moved to the view beyond the buses windows. A newish bypass kept us out of the town and deposited us onto a somewhat narrower, twistier and compared to the drive so far today, hillier road. We climbed through small villages further into the trees before the road viciously rose up into the trees, through a hairpin bend before dragging up to a junction with a wide, fast road.

Somewhere on the ascent the bus had gone quiet as my companions turned their attentions to our surroundings.

“Hope there’s no climbs like that tomorrow,” Kristen opined.
“Nothing that steep as far as I remember,” I offered.
“’S mostly long draggy climbs,” Tali added.
“You guys’ve ridden this before?” Laura enquired.
“Its part of the national series,” Ron advised our ‘guests’.

The drive along the Schwarzwaldhochstraße offered some views out across the Rhein towards Strasbourg and the hills of Alsace. Soon enough we turned off, Dad briefly turned to us.

“This is part of tomorrows circuit.”
“Sheesh, its like Switzerland with trees,” Laura observed.
“It is the Black Forest,” I pointed out.

Dad was taking it carefully with the trailer behind us. The road switched back and forth as we descended, we were almost in the first bit of village before it opened out, if I remember its almost flat until it heads towards that F place, Froystadt or something. It wasn’t much longer before Dad pulled up outside our accommodation, the Im Tannengrund Hotel.

“Okay girls, we’ll get checked in then we’ll have a whip around the circuit before dinner,” Dad told us.

Urgh, not longer until we eat? The Luchow’s were already checked in, Dieter was soon taking charge of the trailer whilst the new arrivals got settled in.

“You want to go round Caro?” Dad enquired as we all gathered in reception.
“Your show Dave, tomorrow will do for me.”
“Okay, right the rest of you, on the bus, dinner’s booked for eight so you can get showered or whatever when we get back.”

Everyone found seats, it was of course a full house, eight riders plus Dad. Without the trailer in tow the bus has a bit more go, Dad enthusiastically set off for our lap.

“Its three laps tomorrow, just shy of fifty K each,” he mentioned as we turned onto the main road.
“A hundred and fifty kilometres?” Kristen queried.
“One four four according to the organisers.”
“Ouch!”
“We do some longer ones,” Mand told her as English liaison officer.
“This is the end of the lap, a steady pull into Freudenstadt, watch out for the bite at the top,” Dad went on as we journeyed on.

It was nearly half seven when we stopped once more outside of the Tannengrund after a lap of advice and hints from the Boss.
“Restaurant at eight, dresses please,” Dad instructed as we trailed inside, “Laura, Kristen, smart please.”

“Dresses?” Laz asked.
“Yeah,” I sighed, “you’ll see.”
“I wondered why Caroline said to bring something smart,” Kristen put in.
“See yous guys in a while,” Josh advised, leaving the rest of us to head to our own rooms.
“Josh doesn’t have to, like wear a dress?” Laura queried as we waited for the lift.
“He better not wear a dress,” Tali suggested with a grin.
“Don’t be daft, can you imagine that, nah he’s got a shirt and jacket.” I advised.

I smoothed out my dress, “I look like I've got a huge bum in this.”
“You have,” Mand’s voice announced from the bathroom.
“Have not!”
“You brought it up,” she mentioned appearing in the door with a mouthful of hair grips.
I inspected my reflection in the mirror once more, “glad I didn’t have to wear this last Saturday, the guys really would’ve taken the Mick.”
“They aren’t that bad,” Mand tempered.
“If you say so, come on, I'm starving.”

We probably made quite an entrance, the regular Apollinaris squad that is – we’d somehow managed to arrive at the restaurant together, even Josh looking more than a bit uncomfortable in his jacket.

“Holy moly!” Kristen announced.
“Yow!” Laura agreed.

“Flippin’ ‘eck Dave,” Caro announced when the girls came into the restaurant.
“Not my idea,” Dave admitted, “George does it with the senior squad, he thought the Jungere should do the same.”
“They do look smart,” she allowed.
“He reckons it encourages heimat.”
“Heimat?”
“A sense of belonging,” Dave translated, “and it looks more professional.”
“Somehow don’t think it’d go down too well in Manchester.”

“Coulda been worse Tal,” Roni offered.
“How?”
“I heard George wanted us in Kostüm.”
“No way!” Gret stated.
“What’s this costume then,” Kris asked.
“Kostüm,” I corrected, “like traditional dress.”
“Like you wore in Switzerland Gab?” Laura queried.
“Er yeah,” I admitted.
“Oo, I've not heard this one,” Tali enthused.
“Its sort of like those postcards in reception,” Laura advised Kristen.
“Tell you later,” Mand told Tal, the snitch!

I was more than ready for my dinner – did I mention the scraggy bit of pizza earlier? As usual we had soup to start, today it was Leberknödelsuppe, essentially thin liver soup with several small dumpling type things. Well it was a start.

“That was different,” Kristen opined.
“Not exactly Heinz®,” I agreed.
“I quite like it,” Laura admitted, “sure we had something similar in Switzerland last year.”
“What’s up next Gab?” Gret asked as I'd taken control of the ‘menu’ card.
“Some sort of house special, looks like.”

The waiting staff weren’t dressed in fancy Kostüm but a simplified version in black with dark red aprons and without their chests on display!

“Kostüm,” I whispered to Kris pointing at one of the girls as she collected our soup stuff.
“Ah,” she mouthed in reply.

Anyhow, the main course when it arrived was certainly a bit different – slices of beef with carrots and bratkartoffeln served in a thick white sauce topped with cranberries and grated mozzarella. Well it looked okay and my stomach thinks my throats been cut so I delved in with some enthusiasm. The English visitors were somewhat more circumspect but quickly joined the rest of us in enthusiastically demolishing our grub.

We finished with coffee after a typically disappointing berries in sauce dessert.

“I thought we’d at least have some Black Forest cake,” Kris suggested as we waited for the adults to finish their meal.
“Gotta be kidding,” Mand stated, “German’s don’t do puddings.”
“Might not do ‘em,” I put in, “they manage to eat them okay though.”
“Yeah, Gabs friends are always round hoping to score some Spotted Dick!”

I wouldn’t say always but I've never known them refuse one of my puds.

“Right guy and girls,” Dad stated coming over to our table, “time for the battle plan.”

Maddy Bell © 29.10.16