Chalky was one of the best colleagues to work and socialize with. Whilst at Wildenrath our wives decided one weekend to go shopping in Dusseldorf and insisted that we men would accompany them. Chalky did not fancy the idea but I insisted that it would be OK.
We went by train and on arrival (11:00) at Dusseldorf Banhof I spotted a reasonable looking German Gasthaus and bravely
declared that when the women finished shopping they would find us in there. Chalk's eyes lit up.
We dully spent a conducive afternoon sampling the local ales though by the time the wives had finished shopping around 17:00 Chalky was getting a bit fed up stabilizing me on the bar stool. I think I had tried to bite of more than I could chew trying to keep up with Chalky's ability to down ale. He was of course a 6'2" RAF rugby prop forward and I was just a 5'7" Fairy Chief. Apparently when we paid the bill we had spent more of ale than the women had on clothes.
This was not and exercise that the women ever repeated but on the plus side we were never invited to go shopping with them again
Happy Days