The rainbow never sets

another branch of the firm which I visited for two weeks.

This most modern mill produced cloth for suits and frocks. In spite of the exceedingly high noise of the weaving looms, I found the work there most interesting. As no one wore ear muffs, most weavers were totally deaf by the time they retired. A punch card preset the weaving pattern, by lifting different frames through which the warp had been threaded or lowering them according to the design. The shuttle with the weft shooting across the width of the cloth made the loud noise. There were two weaving looms working exclusively on patterns. A very large number of combinations were tried out, from which the designer chose only a few for their autumn or winter collection. If he had correctly anticipated the fashion trend, the firm would make a lot of sales. Quality control also had to be meticulous. The ready cloth was pulled over a glass surface with a strong light behind, to expose any possible faults, broken threads, or fluffy yarns, and all had to be repaired so that no fault could be seen. Usually only two or three bolts of about 50 meters of the same cloth were produced. Wülfing did not go in for mass production, but rather for quality. They catered more for individual customers.

During the Pentecost long weekend (30 May to 2 June), I took myself off on a hitch-hiking tour along the Rhine and the Mosel Valleys. I didn't have any problems getting lifts, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the old castles along the Rhine and Mosel. It was exciting to actually see all those places, whose names I had only read on labels of wine bottles before. I went as far as Trier to visit Bernd, who lived with his aunt and uncle Junkermann, his mother's sister. He had a job there in a building firm and showed me around the beautiful, old city of Trier with its Roman remains.

I was fortunately still there when the whole firm closed down for their annual picnic on 8 August. Buses carried all staff and workers to Köln (Cologne), where a Rhine steamer had been hired. The trip went up the Rhine, past Koblenz and St.Goar to Bacharach. In this beautiful old village, terraced above the Rhine, we were led into one of those famous hotels, where the wine was flowing freely and a most magnificent dinner was served. We had a lovely view of the Rhine, and the jolly and relaxed atmosphere was typical of the people of the Rhineland. Everybody had a wonderful time.

By the time we made our way back to Köln on the steamer, it was already getting dark. If anything, this increased the merrymaking, and the passengers were singing and dancing all the way back to Köln. The busses arrived back in Dahlhausen well after midnight. People in the Rhineland certainly knew how to be happy and amuse themselves. It was as if the wine were in their blood, even before they started drinking it.

Onkel Rudolf and his family went occasionally to concerts in Wuppertal. Sometimes I was invited to go with them in their Mercedes 300, in those days undoubtedly the poshest car in Germany, which he steered deftly through the narrow streets. The Forstmanns also had a car,

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