So, erm, yeah … the lederhosen

15 April 2007

There I was, minding my own business (read: doing my best to listen in on a conversation in German), when a pair of lederhosen were thrust upon me. “Try them on!” … ok. I disappeared into the bathroom and fought my way into the odd garment. They were heavy and fairly unforgiving, so for a moment or two I didn’t think I’d get into them. Then suddenly I was in and they fit me surprisingly well. Damn it. They came up rather high at the waist, were not the slenderest of fits across the arsch and were very slightly long, but yeah, other than that they fit. I returned to my Austrians for judgement and was greeted with approval. “Turn around, so we can see the butt,” said Klaus. He has such a way with the ladies.

A little later we went to the Karner lederhosen experts, where Hubert presented “my” lederhosen, asking if they could be shortened a little. Herr Karner took one look at them and told him in no uncertain terms that these could not be considered a present for a girl. They were much too hard.

By the time we came to leave the workshop I’d prepared a little bit of German in my head that I could use on departure. “Danke für die Unterstützung,” I thought I’d say, as the lederhosen experts had been on my side about how hard the leather was. Only by this time the two men knew I was English and so cheerily said “goodbye!” as they each shook my hand. I opened my mouth, ready to dazzle them with four words of German and out came … “Goodbye!”
Damn it.