A LOCAL UNIVERSE

These past two days, for inexplicable reasons, I've been remembering the town where I spent my youth. Perhaps it's because the weather here in San Francisco has improved, and both the temperatures and the light coincide with some of what's stuck in my head from that period.

We moved to Valkenswaard when I was five. We had left Southern California when I was two.
I came back to the United States at age eighteen.

Though I've been back on visits a few times, it wasn't during Spring, but in Autumn. Valkenswaard in Autumn is lovely.

No, I have no idea during what season of the year the photo below was taken.

[Copied from 'Valkenswird' on Facebook.]

Our house was quite near that church.

As I now recall, almost everything was within easy walking distance. The drugstore, pharmacy, liquor store, general grocery stores, bakeries, and the old post office barely one or two blocks.
A tobaconist and bookstore just a little bit further, as well as a bicycle repair shop in the other direction. Dutch fast food and herring, plus bars and cafes, much closer.


In Valkenswaard I first learned about coffee, tea, chilipeppers (sambal!) and tobacco. Oh, and the opposite gender. With whom one could enjoy the other four things, supposedly, but drinks, hot stuff, and smokables were much more immediate and realistic.



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