SUCH NICE YOUNG LADIES

It shames me to say it, but I do not remember the names of most of the people with whom I was at school in Valkenswaard. Thirty five years ago is not that long a time, and I have a good memory. But perhaps it can be blamed on the egocentrism of youth.

I remember four girls from high-school: Babs (Barbara) De Waard, Bertje (Bertina) Klerk, Uki (Ursula) Schneider, and Anita Koenig. And yes, you guessed correctly that their attractiveness plays a strong part in that memory.
Babs was a small pretty brunette with a lively personality, Bertje was slender, charming and had blonde hair, and Uki Schneider was blonde, elfin, and utterly delicious.

Anita Koenig hated my guts with a passion - she used to kick me fiercely on the shins, leaving wounds as painful as any gained from playing field-hockey during physical education.

[Field hockey: Forty hormonally rampant teenage anarchists armed with hard pieces of wood on a muddy field, unable to comprehend even the basics of sportsmanship, and not a teacher to be seen ...... ]


Although I can only remember her glaring vindictively in my direction, Anita Koenig, when I think about it, was probably also very cute. All intelligent women are cute. There's just something about expressiveness, and eyes that reflect an active brain, that is incredibly good-looking.

No, I do not remember any of the boys.

From grammar school I remember Astrid Delwel and her two companions, whose names I cannot for the life of me recall.
Astrid was the liveliest of the three, and the most intelligent. Even as a teenager she was very small. I don't think she ever topped five feet. The other two were the same height and build, but perhaps not quite so interesting.

I do not remember any of the boys.

Anita Koenig had been to the same grammar school as myself, likewise her siblings. Her vicious younger brother was a belligerent pest, who undoubtedly has gone far in life. At the time he may have been resentful of the exclusionary tendencies of other kids in Valkenswaard - the natives presented a closed social group, and the Koenigs were outsiders only recently come to the south.
Anita always protected him, and took revenge on his behalf. I think that may be why she kicked me. I did not much like him.

Her younger sister was a small shy girl with a pretty smile and bright eyes, whom I remember as having both grace and kindness. A very sweet young lady, four or five years younger than me, who smelled nice.
There was something winsome and sparkling about her personality which has made me think of her a number of times in the years since.

I sincerely wish that I could remember her name.