Caretaker

Today

I'm always a little suspicious of "friend" requests from people I don't know. But when Sabine Bartosch not only asked to be my friend but also sent me an email reminding me that she'd been a student guest in my house back in 1981 I just had to accept. "I remember you!" I replied " you were so mannerly and went to the Catholic Church each Sunday so beautifully dressed."

In My Day

Having foreign students to share your house in summer was a standard part of life in Eastbourne. It was how you managed to afford a holiday or to furnish another room. Our houses were pretty small and we'd cram the children into the box room to give the best guest room to the students.

The experience ranged from the truly dreadful to the rewarding. Our first visitor was a German called Peter. After we'd got used to the German inability to add "please" to a remark we enjoyed his company. Next was Elmach, a genial young man with huge muscles, who ate just about all his rent in food; we just couldn't fill him. He was very embarrassed by the arrival of a compatriot, aged about 50, named Mrs Blank. This woman marched into out home, demanded tea, grumbled about the existence of cats in the house and stripped the sheets to check they were clean, Hang on, I thought they were our guests, not the hotel inspector! In the end we complained to the language school and they agreed that she had really come along for a cheap holiday and relieved us of her presence. At least it ensured the perfect mannerliness of Elmach from then on!

But, mostly, we had Austrian girls. So beautifully brought up. The first, Barbara, was a lively girl who was constantly falling in love with other (usually Italian) students she met in town. I've no idea how her parents coped with her. There was the red-haired Regina, the girl who wouldn't eat and the girl, whose sister was staying just up the road, who was the only person in the world afraid of Caspian the dog. Sabine I remember as a quiet oasis in our hectic lives. She remembers us as caring and kind, so we both benefited.

At least we never had to suffer the dreadful experience of our best friends, whose Spanish student simply looked the wrong way when crossing a road and was killed.

There are so many ways to discover and remember old friends and I'm always touched and delighted. Sabine, I hope your life has been rewarding; with four children it's certainly been busy! Perhaps we can find a way to meet again.