The dike



Vlaardingen, August 6, 2008

The dike, that split Vlaardingen into two parts - or better said, two parts became one - was oppsite the primary school. From the lane were we played during the intermissions, while the teachers were walking up and down, we could have had a view like on the photo - you have to think away the white appartment block; at that moment there were low temporary houses that stood there for decades.

In winter the dike was quite attractive. When the first snow arrived - and those where the days that the winters were whiter than they are now - we took out our luges and down we went, just stopping in time to prevent us landing into the still unfrozen ditch.

In my last year at highschool my best schoolfriend Frida and I checked every evening if we had done our homework well - we were very determinded to pass our final examination that summer. One evening at 8 pm she came to my home, the other I went to hers over the dike. At about 10 we always walked each other home until the dike.

One evening we discoverd it had been snowing. It was Frida´s turn to walk me to the dike. We entered a wonderful moonlit white world and got excited like little children. We ran, fell, threw snowballs and when arriving at the dike I couldn´t resist to use my plastified folder with history lessons as a luge. Down I went; struggled up and down Frida went - again and again. In the end the snow had washed all history away.

On my blog
Stoop's Streetbook
I am posting a series on my childhood memories. I won't repeat the series here. I show you a small selection.