Page 42 - Willi Distel Diary

Four months at the Grebel shop in Neuchatel, endured to learn French, before moving on to Montreux [needs a human eye]

Translated from Willi's German.

Neuchatel Through an introduction I got the post at Grebel's. The staff there came to four people: father and son, the daughter Magrett and Frau Lutti, as well as Miss Hassek, Monika the forewoman, and Schang the apprentice boy. All in all it was not a particularly good position; they all wanted to earn money and not to work. But since I was absolutely set on learning French, I stayed four months, until the loathsome people got too much for me and I gave notice to move on to Montreux. The owner was a splendid fellow, and from him I learned a great deal of French. Monika was carrying on with the young boss. Private life was fairly quiet. My friend Erhard was a thoroughly splendid lad. As for a girl I might have taken up with, there was the Blum-Huler girl, who had only the one fault: she had rather too serious intentions towards me, and so it came to nothing. I was often invited to the parish, quite nice people. Very lovely were the days we spent on the nearby Chaumont. The lake, too, is very beautiful.

People: Willi Distel, Grebel, Magrett, Frau Lutti, Fraeulein Hassek, Monika, Schang, Erhard

Interesting facts

Neuchatel and its lake. Neuchatel is a French-speaking town on the shore of Switzerland's largest wholly-Swiss lake, in the country's west, which is why Willi endured the job there to master French.
Learning French for the trade. A hairdresser who could work in both German and French Switzerland was far more employable, so young craftsmen often took a posting in the 'Welschland' purely to pick up the language, exactly as Willi does here.
The Chaumont. Chaumont is the wooded hill rising directly above Neuchatel, a popular local viewpoint reached by funicular, looking out over the lake to the Alps.
On to Montreux. Montreux, his next stop, is a lakeside resort town on Lake Geneva known even then for its mild climate and tourist trade, also in French-speaking Switzerland.