This week I'll be mostly mentioning the war

Don't mention the war.

We've had quite a few Germans round our place recently, along with some Spanish and Swiss. We prefer the Germans, which is not to say that we don't like the Spanish and Swiss, we just ... prefer the Germans.

However, there has been a sense of nervousness at times. Like when we were watching a Miss Marple with references to a character killed at Dunkirk. Or explaining Jersey Liberation Day. Or Abbie asking what Hitler's first name was. Or finding a World War 2 Tanks homework laying on the table. Ridiculous things to be nervous about, I know.

Yesterday Abbie mentioned the war, "and I think she got away with it". In fact, we had quite an interesting and enlightening conversation around the dinner table, which I will not be making any observations about, witty, or otherwise.

Today our German house guest told us that this morning she had seen a very English 1970s sit-com where a hotel manager is incredibly rude to the German guests. Ah yes, we know it well, we told her. After a number of weeks of nervousness, it was most liberating to launch into my best Basil Fawlty impression: "Don't mention the war, I mentioned it once and I think I got away with it."

I did stop short of doing the other classic line though. Altogether now: "You started it... You invaded Poland!"