FROM WHENCE ESCAPE

Some of them were right bastards. That being people among whom I spent part of my youth. Duch Christians, like American fundamentalists, can be perfectly horrid people, judgemental and sneering. I was reminded of this by cruising into a couple of webpages that dealt with Valkenswaard and its inhabitants. Fortunately most of them were not like that.

I remember Valkenswaard with slightly more fondness than distaste.

But I do not keep close contact with any of the people from that part of my life, and actually know only two of them on Facebook. That's not really their fault, as it's been quite a number of years since I returned to the States, and I never was socially talented.

Sunlit summers, rainy days, deep café verandas, long long evenings.
Fried snacks. Indonesian foods. First taste of herring.
Cigars. The aroma of coffee.
Silver grey sky.

One memory which particularly lingers is of long hours in the public library in Eindhoven, the metropolis ten kilometer northwards. An industrial city with a technical university and a dull bourgeois culture. Plus browsing at De Slegte, a multi-storey second hand bookstore.

Then maybe more Indonesian food, fried snacks, or coffee.

The trainstation also recalls fond memories for me. Probably the main reason I still like stations. Some Dutch and English small towns are charming in that regard. Older architecture, between functional, industrial, and civic pride from bygone eras.

Valkenswaard used to have a functioning station, but when we lived there it was already long defunct. That line hadn't run in ages, and within the town itself the tracks had been removed, leaving a broad boulevard cutting through the town to the east of the city centre, past the Willem II cigar factory. Which now no longer exists either.

Every town in the Kempen region is visually dominated by a church. Around which are often the most lively drinking holes in the place, which nowadays are busier than the house of worship. Cultural priorities have shifted quite a bit in the post-war period.
Coffee, fried snacks, and Indonesian food are nearby.
Yeah, I miss those.



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