You won't believe what happened to us on the first-ever 7th grade SESB and Regelzug trip to England.

We were driving back to Bournemouth after a rainy but pleasant day in London. Suddenly a voice from the back of the bus rose above the general din.

"I've found an ID card down the side of my seat, Mr Barnes," said Alexandra.

"No way Alexandra! You were all told to hand them in! Whose is it?" said Mr Barnes, just a little worried because the teachers thought they had all the pupils' ID cards and passports safe in a metal box.

"No, no, it's an adult's ID card Mr Barnes"

"Oh OK, pass it forward please...."

The German ID card belonged to a 73-year-old woman from Altenburg in Thuringia. By a strange coincidence, that's where Mr Barnes's wife was that very evening, attending a class reunion with her elderly father.

If Mr. Barnes hadn't become a teacher, he would have gone into detective work. He phoned his wife and sent her a photo of the ID card. She showed it to the people at the reunion, who immediately recognised the woman as the next-door neighbour of the people they were staying with.

Case solved in ten minutes; not bad considering we were on a coach to Bournemouth in England at the time!

The next day, Mr. Barnes's wife personally informed the woman about the find. She was a bit confused about the details, but glad she will get her document back, along with a postcard from England and a flyer about the Schiller Gymnasium.