The Wingham Advance-Times, 1985-05-22, Page 18Page 4A—Crossroads—May 22, 1985
`Follow, that cab, Leo'
(Continued from Front Page
I have noticed the sign
boards along the autobahn
are huge, about 10 to 15 feet
wide, — no doubt for the
benefit of all those motorists
zipping along at about 160
kmh.
I've also noticed wind
socks along the sides of the
highway. The first couple ,f
see, I look around for the air
strip, but can't see any. I
then conclude the socks must
be for the benefit of moto-
rists, especially for drivers
passing transport trucks.
There are some climbs on
this route and any kind of
wind, or sudden lack of wind,
coupled with the unlimited
speed could make driving in-
teresting.
There are also signs telling
motorists which radio sta-
tion they can pick up.
• FUNNY TAPS
At 10:15 we pull off at a
rest stop. The captain says
we're to be back on the bus in
10 minutes. The autobahn
signs are giving directions
for Worms and Monsheim.
We've still got a piece to go.
In the washroom it takes
me a couple of minutes to fi-
gure out the water faucet.
The thing_yvorks on an elect-
ric eye of some sort. Only by
moving one's hand across an
opening can one get water.
What a damn nuisance. If
there's a way to keep the
water flowing, I can't figure
it out. I had decided a quick
brush of my teeth might
wake me up a bit, but that's
out. I just.•manage about half
a handful of water to drink.
Outside Ev Van Duuren of
Huntsville and I stretch our
legs in the cold, bright.morn-
ing air. We've both spotted a
magpie.
When the others file out we
board the. tus. The guys are
raving about the electric -eye
taps as though they were the
greatest thing since sliced
bread. Maybe I've missed
something.
The captain takes a head
count. ` We've got an extra
passenger for the remainder
of our tour, Frank \Kohler,
editor of Der Kanadier, the
newspaper of the Canadian
Forces in Europe. But we're
missing one.
It's Mr. Eedy and someone
says he has gone to a nearby
place to look for maps. Mr.
Eedy has made it known that
he intends to retit a car for
the final weekend and take in
as many countries as he can.
We wait five minutes and
the captain, looking an-
noyed, leaves the bus to find
him.. About five minutes
later they board the bus 'and
Mr. Eedy apologizes for
keeping us waiting.
Back on the autobahn it's
fresh snow on the sides of the
road and the scenery chan-
ges dramatically. This is like
logging country in northern
Ontario or British Columbia.
A sign says we're 130 km out
of Bond',
Driving out of the fir trees, -
still in high country we see a
sign for the Mosel River. The
terrain is spectacular.
On extremely steep slopes
— slopes which from the
roadway appear to have an
angulation of about 45 to 60
degrees — are vineyards
with the vines planted up and
down rather than crossways.
These are the famous
Mosel (or Moselle in French)
grapes. And as Capt. Anido
explains, the reason for the
price of the wine is evident.
It must be hair-raising to
work in these vineyards.
"The Mosel River joins the
Rhein to the south of us," the
captain says.
Wespass by the area all too
quickly and hit a low, flat,
stretch. In the left lane a car
just gets by another vehicle
pulling out. The traffic in the
right lane slows marginally.
"You know," Cpl. Landry
says, "what you don't want
to hit over 'here is a chicken.
Everybody tells. you, if you
hit a chicken, don't stop.
There's a funny law that
says if you kill a hen, then
you have to pay for all the
chickens that hen might
have had. You may as well
run over a person and get it
over with."
FOLLOW THAT CAB
Back at the rest stop, the
captain has telephoned the
embassy to get directions
and is given the name of the
exit (ausfahrt). But as we go
by four or five ausfahrts
without seeing the one we
want, the captain tells the
corporal to take the next one
into Bonn.
It is 565 and after driving
about 20 minutes, both the
captain and the corporal
start looking for a policeman
to ask directions. If we aren't
exactly lost, it's a sure thing
we don't know where we're
going.
Spotting a row of taxi cabs
ahead, the captain tells the
corporal to pull over.
"I'll take a taxi," he says,
"and you follow me."
"Good thinking, captain,"
calls someone as Capt. Anido
dives out the door and jumps
into a cab.
"Follow that cab, Leo,"
someone else says. "This is
just like the movies."
We're in good spirits fol-
lowing the long bus ride, but
when we reach the embassy
about a half an hour or so
later than scheduled, we get
the distinct impression our
tardiness is neither appre-
ciated, nor understood —
despite the captain's expla-
nation regarding the exit
mix=up,
We had been advised that
following a lunch, hosted by
the embassy staff, we are to
Infantrymen "Lyle Punt of British Columbia and Greg Barcley of Alberta demonstrate
how quickly they can set the range and load an 81 mm mortar. -
be welcomed and receive a
briefing from the ambassa-
dor, D. S. McPhail.
We are then to receive a
briefing on Canadian -Ger-
man trade by David Buxton
and a political affairs update
before calling it a day and
getting checked into our ho-
tel.
It isn't everyday one meets
an ambassador and I have
- spent time on the ride up to
study the information we've/
received on Donald Sut
land McPhail.
Since joinig the Dept. of
External Affairs in 1956, he
has served in various capa-
cities in Paris, Africa, the
Middle East, Geneva, Vene-
zuela, and the Dominican
Republic besides Bonn and t
I'm looking forward to meet-
ing him.
It's not to be. On the way to
another building where the c
lunch is being hosted, we are f
told the ambassador will not
be joining us for lunch but G
will try to see us later. t
Before leaving the bus, we
ask if we should bring our i
notebooks and cameras, but 5
are told no, we can collect a
them following the luncheon
and•before the briefings.
Inside we meet our hosts.
There isn't any sign of any a
Mr. Buxton either. The sa
people chatting us up as we to
are being served a glass of
sherry include: erona M. -an
Edelstein, the minister sec- ti
and in command to the am- of
bassador; Howard Morgan, is
a counsellor in the political da
section; Regis Beauchesne,
a second secretary in the th
commercial section; John fr
McKee, first secretary in the be
Public Affairs section and m
Jennifer Broadbridge, press is
officer.
The table is beautifully set,
but the room is small and
warm. It faces the water-
front — I don't know, I sup-
pose it's the Rhein — and
eat, I think we are a rather
dazed looking lot. Not sur-
prising. It's now after 1 p.m.
and I don't think any of us
have had a chance to freshen
up. I don't even know where
the washroom is.
During the meal and two
or three glasses of wine,
Peter Schierbeck of Fair-
view, Alta., and I receive a
lot of information from Mr'.
Beat,chesne whose English
is a whole lot better than our
French.
Mr. Beauchesne says it's
fficult to try to describe his
work in the comcercial sec-
tion to anyone outside
embassy. It's a complicatI
business.
However, he says one of
he best ways for Canadian
businessmen to expand into
of only Germany; but any-
where in Europe, is to parti-
ipate in the German trade
airs.
The biggest trade fair in
ermany,, and probably in
he entire world, he says, is
the spring fair in Hanover. It
s just monstrous "with over
,000 exhibitors — and that's
lot, of contacts."
BRIEFINGS
With the arrival of dessert,
delicious looking raspberry
uce, Ms. Edelstein begins
speak.
It is a well -rehearsed piece
d she delivers it with prac-
ced ease. About a quarter
an hour later I realize this
the major briefing of the
y.
All I can think of — besides
e untouched desserts in
ont of us (I just haven't
en able to stomach the
ain course of roast pork) —
my notebook on the bus.
However, as I concentrate
upon her speech, I reach the
conclusion the minister isn't
telling us anything we don't
already know, or can't get
from any fact book on Ger-
many.
When she has concluded
her remarks, she asks Mr.
Morgan to give us what I as-
sume is to be our political af-
fairs briefing,
Mr. Morgan, thank good-
ness, tells us to go ahead
with our dessert. He has our
gratitude, but I doubt any of
us takes in much of what he
says. This long ,luncheon en-
gagement, in this warm
room, following the long bus
ride, is simply too much.
Moreover, with the excep-
tion of what I've heard from
Mr. Beauchesne, and the bit
about the German govern-
ment I got from Mr. Morgan
earlier, I've found this em-
bassy trip a bust so far.
It's destined to get worse. '
Following lunch it's back
to the embassy for a briefing
by Mr. McKee. I like the
man. He is obviously dedi-
cated and comes across as a
sincere individual.
But there isn't a whole lot
that interests people outside
the business regarding the
role of Public Affairs in the
effort to make Canada
known in Germany.
However, we are im-
pressed with the copy of
"focus Canada" we receive.
Jennifer Broadbridge tells
us it is published quarterly
___wi.th_a_circulation of4-8-000-in- -
Germany.
MAPLE LEAF ROOM
Our briefing on Canadian=
German trade is delivered
by Robert Sandor, minister -
even though the drapes are -
drawn, there's a glare off the
water,
I talk to Mr. Morgan about
the German system of
government. I know there
are two houses, the popu-
larly elected. Bundestag, and
the Bundesrat, which I know
is not elected, but that's all I
know.
• Mr. Morgan tells me the
Bundesrat is made up of
members of the Lander
governments, or their dele-
gates. He describes Lander
governments as being
"state" governments and
tells me there are 10 of them,
plus Berlin.
The head of the Bundestag
is the federal.chancellor, the
leader of the political party
getting the most votes. Pre-
sently the chancellor is Hel-
mut Kohl of the Christian
Democratic Union.
The head of the Bundesrat
is the federal president and
is elected from among the
Lander prime ministers for a
year. However, he can be
elected to serve more than
one term.
By the time we sit down to
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counsellor of the economic -
commercial section.
Ms. Broadbridge has in-
formed me Mr. Sandot is
married to Ms. Edelstein.
It's a useful piece of infor-
mation. At least it explains
why they are both sporting
gorgeous tans.
It might also explain why
we get virtually the same
speech from Mr. Sandor as
we received from Ms. Edel-
stein.
However, most of us liked
the minister's version better.
Mr. Sandor delivers his spiel
with a world-weary air and a
cigarette dangling out of the
corner off -his mouth.
Later one of the publishers
in our group remarks -it's a
good thing Mr. Sandor isn't
on his sales staff, or he'd be
looking for another job.
It's harsh criticism, but
warranted. No doubt a group
of weekly newspaper people
are small fry to the upper
echelons of the diplomatic
service, but after seeing how
our Forces people have put
themselves out for us, I won
der what kind of show this
embassy is running.
During his remarks, Mr.
Sandor has criticized thej at=
tention paid in Canada to
trade relations with Pacificr-
rim countries and the lack of
attention given European
countries such as Germany
which "pay the bills".
I ask him whose fault this
is, or in other words, who
hasn't been doing their job.
Why isn't German trade po-
tential given more publicity?
Robert Sandor answers
my question, but if I live to
be a hundred I still won't
understand what it is he said.
I can't help but think these
diplomatic types are light
years removed from the
blunt -speaking soldiers
we've met.
Before Mr: Sandor leaves
he does give us startling
news. A bulletin has just
come over the wire about an
attack on the Turkish Em-
bassy in Ottawa by a group
of Armenian terrorists. At
least one person has been
killed.
Perhaps this explains Mr
Sandor's . preoccupied man-
ner.
We art,invited to enjoy the
facilities of the Maple Leaf
Room in the basement of the
embassy where perhaps the
ambassador will see us later.
The Maple Leaf Room is a
dingy bar. We cool our heels,
nursing one of two drinks for
over an hour. Finally Mr.
McKee, Ms. Broadbridge
and Mr. Beauchesne drop in
to sayood-bye. It's closing
time for staff.
In shaking Mr, Beau-
chesne's hand, I tell him I
learned more from him than
I did from Mr. Sandor.
He looks uncomfortable.
"Shh," he says, "you're not
supposed to say things like
that."
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