today50 holidays

My first holiday abroad was when I was 11. I was so excited and kept a "holiday book" with ice cream wrappers and drawings of the scenery, which I still have. My mother bought a brand new outfit for the flight - very smart black trousers, a grey and white shirt and a big red cardy. She looked lovely. We went to Austria - to a tiny village called Alpbach - which I think is a large ski resort now. My parents and younger brother wanted to walk and we girls wanted to party. My elder sister Alison took a fancy to a German guy called Wolfgang but didn't dare tell my father as he had been at D Day and lots of his friends had been killed in the war by Germans. Alison escaped out of the bedroom window one night for a secret rendez vous with Wolfgang. She was 15 - I was full of admiration.

As I wasn't allowed out to sample the local nightlife I had to be content with life around the hotel so I took a fancy to the swimming pool attendant/cleaner outer - he was called Helmut - had very black hair and wore a green overall - I didn't ever manage to speak to him but loved him from afar.