noon
The impression made by the lapping of waves , sand dunes and dune grass , the flight of seagulls and , above all , the west wind on everyone who has had to wash off the dust and sweat of German officialdom is a pleasant and invigorating one . These things did not fail to have the same effect on me either given that the efforts that preceded the said invigoration were no less strenuous . I lived on the periphery of two villages , Tinnum and Westerland , and therefore had a walk of at least half an hour to cover in order to reach the beach and the health-giving briny . A not much shorter walk led from there to the good fellow who took us every day at noon for a consideration back again . As a German civil servant used to moderation I set no great store by domestic bliss or even luxury . As I had taken with me seven of my twenty-one pipes , I could have set up home for myself in a megalithic tomb and not have felt uncomfortable . Good .