Originally Posted by
Less Hair
Major Nicholson's murder was long after my time, I left in 1981. The traffic accidents were a regular occurrence, mostly either getting tail gated or side-swiped at junctions. The drivers became adept at both avoiding them, and losing their tails, who were often intent on ramming them from behind. Some of those drivers could have had careers as rally drivers.
There were signifiant differences between the Brits and the Americans. For whatever reason the Brits always seemed to get away with more, and the parties were very real. Some of the parties were little more than attempts to obtain intelligence, but a lot were far more social, and formed part of a sort of cultural programme. I always felt that the Soviet contingent, at least some of them, genuinely believed that there was a benefit in encouraging us to see their culture and ideology. Romantic liaisons between the various groups (especially the French) were fairly commonplace, even if severely frowned upon.