It was Wednesday, 12th September 2007, about 8 p.m. at the bus stop near Bath Abbey. I was on my own because I had just said good-bye to my English friend Sonya at Bath Spa Station and was now on my way back to the University of Bath to our houses of residence. Suddenly, somebody standing next to me started to ask something about the bus in a strong German accent. It was Bernhard from Nürnberg who had just arrived in Bath two days ago for a semester abroad. It felt strange meeting someone from Germany or rather Bavaria in such an English city as Bath. Even more peculiar was that I met Bernhard twice again after Wednesday and always by chance!
Second:
On Saturday I went on the Jane Austen Walk at 11 a.m. to deepen my knowledge on the author and Bath. Remembering Roger, the very entertaining guide on Monday, I expected another brilliant guided tour through Bath. When the tour finally started our guide introduced herself to us; her name was Sabine (picture above). Listening to her I spotted a slight German accent and asked her. And indeed, Sabine was German, doing a professional guided tour about the English Jane Austen - how unusual is that!
Third:
The very same day, but in the evening, I spoke to a busker, called Allen, in front of Bath Abbey. Allen was very friendly, answering all my questions. He told me he was born "in the West" meaning ten miles from Bath. Allen also told me about his years as a busker which he spent partly in... Germany! For 25 years he used to live in "East and West Berlin" and enjoyed it very much - especially the down-to-earth people and the tasty "Rouladen". When I told him I was German, he began speaking a sentence in German and then in English again. Allen did not really want to let me go, complaining about too much CCTV in England and the non-smoking areas.
After taking a picture of Allen and two of his mates (picture), I took my leave of him with a weird feeling.
Claudia Lohse