Mark, Ian and Aleks went up the Castle one Cold and Dark Winter's Night

This story is reposted because I found it so funny, all these years later. 11 to be exact.

I have cut and pasted the post and pictures, and since I am the author of this post, I do not need permission from myself to repost it !                               

The story was in 2008, just after the Weiss worldwide agent's meeting in Giessen and below is the actual post I put up in Dec 2008.

Please enjoy and do not make fun of people's names, as it might be a source of discomfort or embarrassment (like my own surname can be twisted to be "A Bush in the Garden" !)

         The Brothers - Me, Ian Firth (Australia Agent) and Tibor (Hungary Agent)

First Posted on 23 December 2008 

Last March, during my annual visits to Germany to visit our principal supplier, Weiss Technik, the Australian agent, Ian Firth,myself and the Slovenian agent, Alex (formerly part of Yugoslavia) got along pretty well. We had meetings and seminars during the day and merrymaking with loads of alcohol in the evenings.One Wednesday evening, it was snowing lightly and we had been drinking alot at the factory cafeteria and after dinner, we headed back to our hotel which is in Wettenberg, a small village,situated northeast about 120 km of Frankfurt. We were getting pretty rowdy in the bus leading us to the hotel with the usual swearing and mild intoxication typical of many German parties.

Anyway, things were getting a bit out of hand and upon reaching the hotel, some of our agent friends opted to go to bed, while the rest checked emails and pursued other recreational activities at the hotel bar. Ian, Alex and I  then decided to walk-run up to the nearby castle, in the dark of the night to wear off the effects of our drinks. We (guys) tend to do STUPID things when we have WAY too much alcohol and time on our hands. In this instance, it was 3km uphill all the way. So, we set of at a brisk walk in our trenchcoats and jackets.


                                  Lynne (Taiwan Agent), Me and Alex (Slovenia Agent)

THIS IS THE LATE WINTER NIGHT WITH SNOW AND WIND BLOWING INCESSANTLY AND AN 8 AM START TOMORROW OF NEW ROUND OF SEMINARS AND MEETINGS.

It was cold,damp and windy. Alex told us he knew the route well and decided to cut through some cabbage patch through some farm area. We made our way up hugging our jackets and trencoats and slipping a little through the soft ground. Alex had a sinister look on his face and he was very quiet, intent on reaching the objective. Ian and I followed him. I knew I had my GREAT chance to spook Ian.

I casually poked Ian in the ribs,and said, "Ian, our friend Alex.Do you know his surname ??"
Ian : " No"
Me : "Alex, whats your surname huh ??"
Alex : " Dracula(ris), !! My name is Alex Dracula !"

THE WIND WAS HOWLING AND THE CAPE FROM ALEX'S TRENCHCOAT FLEW.He kept walking up, silently, at a fast pace, and leaving the 2 of us in his wake. 

I half expected bats to fly out from his trenchcoat and the vines from the ground come up and grab our ankles ! Oh the imagination ran wild !!!

Ian's face turned white and he actually grabbed me. We both practically RAN up to the top of the hill where the castle was. Later, Alex and me went all the way to the top of the belfry (top of the tower) and had a magnificent view of the entire town.



                     At the Top of the Castle overlooking Wettenberg (I looked young then !)

We later went in to the Mexican bar at the castle to have a couple of schnapps to chill out. Oh yes and swopped our backgrounds and life stories.Turns out we are all about the same age then - 44 and 45. But more of that in a later blog.

True Stories to entertain our Grandchildren !