Germany is an old country with an old County called Bavaria where old men drive old cars, reminded what ' a drive' was like when they were boys

I'm in Bavaria, in Southern Germany staying in a village at the house of my wife's brother, C.D. who is the proud owner of a 1956 Mercedes 220A car. We worked out that I was 9 years old when it was made and he was 7.

I found myself reaching for the seatbelt when we started a little journey over country roads to the village Walting in the area of Altmühltal. The car had no belts fitted - just like the old days and their absence reminded me of the sense of space and amount of movement we had in the old cars. The suspension was good and the ride was smooth, but C.D. had to work hard with the absence of 'servo assisitance' on the steering. The lack of seat belt reminded me of the space and freedom to move we had in the cars of yore. It also reminded me that 'a drive' in a car was a special occasion and, in my case, in the back of cars owned by men like Uncle Harry or Uncle Lloyd George who had been named after the Chancellor of the Exchequer before the First World War which broke out in 1914.