The inevitable was only seconds away, the only way out was to break the chain; but the determined Germans had decided “Ach so! we must not let go!”, and they didn't until someone piled face first into the pillar at point B. The chain was quickly reformed and away they went again, in ever-decreasing circles, until suddenly Elka, the girl that Mick was holding, lost her grip and went flying across the floor to send Toddy crashing down. (Well, they all thought she fancied him, but there are other, more refined ways of saying so).

At last the ice was broken; more people ventured out as Len worked away on his music machine and Janet and Alan took turns to call in a mixture of English, German and French, aided by the occasional word is German from Alan and Mick during the dances.

Our heroes soon found that the best way of conveying ‘forward and back’ to the Germans was by lunging forward to shouts of ‘1-2-3-4’, ‘4-3-2-1’; but unfortunately their backwards counting in German was not up to scratch, causing several people to fall over laughing, as they did when John and Mick embarked on a silly walk, much to their partners dismay, at the end of a dance. The night ended with the Circassian Circle, and the added complication of ‘Move past two partners when I shout Ach So’! Our heroes staggered back to the changing room suddenly feeling tired; then they realised that they had been dancing for nearly three hours. The tiny changing room soon filled with the heavenly aroma of Sweaty Morris Men (no, not a new brand of perfume) as they rung out shirts and breeches, and stood on their socks to stop them running away.

Our heroes now split into various groups for the evening; some went home, Len, John and Gabriele went to a concert, while Toddy, Alan (II), their hosts and a friend suggested the Knaba!

They entered to a scene typical of this part of the world - quite a lot of people, very little noise. Little did they suspect that their quiet world was about to be shattered. As they sat down and started supping the conversation gradually turned from the evening to what our heroes had dose during the day.