Never give up

It is a sunny Friday morning sometime in February. We are on our way to Schifflingen by train to meet Astrid Lulling. To call her a living political legend would possibly be an understatement. However, we got lost on the way from the train station in Schifflingen to Lulling's house near the forest in our attempt to take a shortcut which made us arrive slightly late.

Loved and hated

But apparently, we are still too early. A friendly household help opens the door as we arrive, saying that Astrid Lulling is still getting ready. Despite her advanced age, Lulling is still as fashion-conscious and pays much attention to her appearance.

Shortly afterwards, we are greeted by a very cheerful Astrid Lulling, who proves to be a good hostess during the following two hours ─ and if it had been up to her, we would probably have talked for much longer. She asks several times if we really don't want anything to drink or eat.

Needless to say, Lulling, who in public always vehemently advocates drinking at least two glasses of wine a day for the sake of health, "as moderate but regular consumption is the best prevention against cardiovascular disease, cancer and even dementia", took her own advice to heart during our late morning conversation and enjoyed a few glasses of Vin-Vichy (wine with sparkling water, Ed.).