I saw a naked man

I saw a naked man this morning.

As my head dipped under the water and popped back up again swimming a length of breaststroke in the Melbbad open-air pool in Bonn, my gaze locked on to a smooth bottom. I noticed that something was hanging loose between his legs.

His penis continued to dangle around as he slowly pulled his grey boxer shorts up.

He was just on the side of the pool getting changed and it didn't seem to bother him one bit that we'd all just seen everything. In fact, it didn't bother anyone.

There was no giggling and pointing at him - it was like he didn't exist.

To be fair, I see nakedness every time I come to the pool in Germany - but usually it's the women in the shower, a closed space. This time it was a man out in the open air.

I've also seen naked men before - at the sauna. Everyone goes naked into the sauna in Germany: young, old, saggy, droopy, wrinkled, hairy, shaven. I've seen it all and learnt a lot: I never knew balls could drop that far!

But today, as the morning sun hit the arch of his back and the birds cooed, I was surprised. This man had just upped the game in my perception of German attitudes to nudity.

In fact, I think that the Germans' relaxed approach to nakedness is actually quite natural and healthy.

It's something very intuitive and de rigueur, rather than shameful and brazen. What's surprising to many foreigners is that there does not seem to be a whiff of sex in the air when Germans go naked in public.

Usually the only naked people we get to see are models and film stars in magazines with their blotches and rolls of flab airbrushed out. Seeing other mere mortals disrobed makes me realise that my body isn't so bad after all, and it also gives me a taste of what my body might look like in years to come.

In terms of my own body image, living in Germany has been a very positive experience.

It also makes getting changed at the pool much easier... no huddling under a towel and trying to get dressed without exposing any of your bits, as is the custom in Britain. You can just whip it all off and get on with it.