Kidscorner

Thursday 21 January 2010

My old house

I realised I had several pictures of the same place taken on different times. See how much has changed. For you it is just a house. For me it is special because half of the story of my life took place in this house in Wijchen in the Netherlands


1950/ My brother found this picture on the net. A house in the center of Wijchen, On the right you could buy cigars, on the left was a candy shop. My grandfather rented half of the building at the end of the fifties to sell textile. Before that he went from farm to farm to sell clothes. Begin sixties my father took over and he bought that part of the house. The shop expanded, the other side got added and my dad made several alterations over the years and sold women's clothing.


This is the same building on the left in the sixties.



1985  The shop about 20 years later. You can still recognise the roof. I was born in the room on the top right, behind the sign. I grew up here, worked on Saturdays in the clothing shop of my parents. After a year living somewhere else when I was 19, I came back in my twenties and lived here another 8 years above the shop. My parents had moved to a different house.



2009/ This is a photo from last year, when I visited Wijchen. About 2 years ago they broke down the house. On its fundaments they pulled up a new one. You recognise the building next to it. Although it feels strange that such a familiar place has disappeared, the ghosts of the past are still around. When seeing this street lots of scenes play on the screen of my mind. I tap into a different time.  I feel I can easily pick up from where I left off, but the people who have lived here have mostly disappeared. Like me they moved on to different horizons. The houses and shops changed but it will be forever my street.
Oops I think I am getting old

16 comments:

  1. Not at all. A trip down memory lane is so vey healthy. Tragic if one cannot remember one's roots 'tapping into a different time' you said it so very well.

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  2. A lot of good memories, I am sure!

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  3. The picture of your old house in its original state reminds me of my mother's house, the house she lived in throughout her childhood during the twenties thirties and forties. It was in the Marnixplein in Haarlem.

    Two years ago when I visited Holland the house was still there, almost exactly the same as it had been in my mother's photos.

    These images and memories are important to us even after the house no longer exists.

    It's wonderful for you to have such a record, your memories and your imagination. The house will always be alive for you therefore.

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  4. How wonderful to learn about your home in New Zealand. I have always wanted to go to New Zealand since receiving a New Zealand charm bracelet from a friend. It has wonderful kiwi birds and platapus. Amazing story about the platapus; no one believed they were real in England because they were such an odd creature they thought someone had been playing around with an anteater, a duck and a mole! Do you still have kiwis or are they extinct. Wasnt Lord of the Rings filmed there! Oh some day I will visit! Should I bring my dutch shoes?

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  5. I love old houses but I dont have any photos for my old ones. Happy weekend Marja and lots of love....M

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  6. There must be so many memories for you there! Some houses seem to stay the same for ever, but others......

    You miss the Netherlands, don't you?

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  7. My hometown, which hardly changed in appearance from the Civil War to the 1980's, is now almost gone. In its place are shopping malls and other building that make my hometown far different from what I remember. It really is like a member of the family dying.

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  8. I think it is great that you have visited the home of your childhood so many times over the years. I am sure every brick holds memories.

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  9. Thank-you for sharing your memories. We can never truly return home for home is always changing. It is still home none the less.

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  10. "moved on to different horizons"

    sounds like words from my Guardian Angel ... I also have to move (must) to different horizons. I wonder if Holland, just an example, is far enough (or New Zealand? ... )

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  11. Kia ora Marja,
    I agree with Paterika. You are not getting old, just better. My sister still lives in the house my parents built and raised us in, now having raised her own family there. I don't get back there much but those walls really speak to me. Have a great day Marja.
    Aroha,
    Robb

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  12. We're not getting old...we just have more memories than the others! And I'm glad we have them to hold onto because this world never stays the same.

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  13. Dear Marja, Thank You for sharing this treasured memory with us,i could relate to it so well too. It not about getting older at all, its part of who we truly are...wonderful to know you.

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  14. Hi Marja!

    Thanks for sharing these photos of your family's home through the years. It was a charming little house and I can see how you would have an attachment to it.
    How much it has changed now! I'm glad you still have your good memories of the street and your house.

    Kat

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  15. Great photo´s and nice memories for you dear Marja!

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  16. I stayed there for 40 years and moved to an other part of town. now I don't want to go back anymore. it changed to much and it don't feel like home anymore.

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Thank you!!