Memory Lane
Built 1890
Of course, there are better photos than this one but this is the house I can't forget. My grandfather's house. Not just any house but a bombed villa. He immediately fell in love with it. He not only built and renovated it himself with love, but also furnished it in style. The floors are made of white marble, the wooden stairs run from the attic to the basement. Sliding down the stair railing from the attic was not easy because there were rods between the wall and the railing.
Of all the houses I have lived in, this house is the dearest to me, even though the vestibule, corridors, kitchen and toilet were extremely cold. Heating was only done in the living rooms, which could be separated from each other by 4 meter high sliding doors decorated with glass and lead.
I sat on the heater in the bay window in the back room for entire weekends.
This house has heard and seen a lot from the moment it was built. I wonder what the first residents thought of it. The large rooms at that time had more windows. Did the first owners die during the first or second war?
Arguments certainly took place, as did deadly silence and death. In some homes you can feel this if you enter as if the walls have absorbed all the misery. Not in this house. Despite all the suffering, it radiates positivity csn it be it's caused by the high ceilings? I expected to be okay with never seeing it again, but strangely enough it keeps calling.
I thought about knocking on the door and ask if I could look inside. Would the huge fireplaces with copper fittings still be there and cherished? Would I be allowed to sit in the cellar under the house, just like before, or cycle across the attic and look out over the village from the small room under the roof? Would the old beds with seagrass filled mattresses still be there? How I loved hiding in the closets and closing the shutters before going to sleep. I didn't knock although I walked through the allee and had a look at the back.
A few years ago I found a photo of this house on the internet. I knew I had taken that one as a child. To do so I even stood in the neighbor's garden without asking for permission, because the street is too narrow to get a view of the entire house. It's strange how one single photo brings back so many memories, memories I thought I had forgotten.
Although Dutch people work all their lives for their own house, the house is rarely inherited by posterity. Anyone who wants to live in the home will have to pay their brothers and sisters their share of the value.
Original photo
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I didn't knock on the door but I can see the windows...
The photo was taken by me - Samsung A10 on April 22, 2024. I used the phone to change the photo which was a dumb thing to do since it replaces the original.
8-5- 2024
Contest by @axeman
@fadthalib @pousinha @patjewell @irawandedy @aminasafdar
This is what brings back memories... Contests on Steemit! I have seen this time and time again.
How wonderful that this grand old dame is still standing strong no matter the blows of humans and nature.
I cannot help but wonder if you were going to be filled with joy or sadness if you had knocked and they opened.
Happiness for sure although they will have decorated it with more modern furniture. I hope they kept the floors and the beauty inside. Most likely they did since it's the only reason to buy a house like this. It's exoensive to keep it. The garden is still the same, the letterbox is which says enoug.
So I go for the attic, the basement, the closets, the vestibule and hope I won't fall down the stairs. 😁
We had an old house that my dad still restored for us.
One of my friends sent me a link to a property website the other day, as the property is now on the market.
I was so shocked! It is now a commercial property. Gone is the old dame.
At least, they kept the wooden floors, classic ceilings, and fireplaces. But for the rest... so sad.
https://www.property24.com/for-sale/potchefstroom-central/potchefstroom/north-west/5025/113966267
Nothing can match the house we spent our childhood in.
I have shifted to our house for more than a decade now But still i get dreams only about my grandparent's house, where we played many games with our cousins, watched many cartoons and dramas with my family gathered in one place.
Those feelings you can't get anymore from a new place, or maybe you will when your current house will be too old to recall good times spent there.
I loved your grandpa's house, it's lovely♥
I didn't spent my childhood here we lived in an appartment my grandfather owned a basic, small one. He gave my father a job as well.
As a toddler I walked out if kindergarten at the age if 3 years old to this house. I drove the distance by car once. It must have taken me ages to arrive there. No idea why my mother did not open the door.
As we moved we visited during weekends and holiday. The summer vacations my parents spent together. I was dumped at my grandparents or my grandmother (one year here, the next there). I love the house but I liked my other grandmother more.
The rich one didn't show affection but bought whatever to keep you away. With a plastic bag I arrived and with a suitcase filled with... I returned.
At a young age I learned to never say, not even in thought, that I liked something. If that grandmother would go into the shop and buy it. It made me feel uncomfortable.
Perhaps my children will say the same about the house we are libing in today.
Thanks for stopping by. 🍀❤️
There are memories that can never be forgotten and conversely, sometimes there are memories that are lost in time. When I look at this house, I can only imagine what condition my parents' house was in when I was 12 years old.
The wind was blowing and the rice fields were stretching, coconut palm was waving, the structure of the house was about to collapse, the roof was leaking in several corners of the room. This is clearly pictured in my mind, but now it is replaced by the magnificent building of my family's house.
At that time I sat on a swing tied to a guava tree, there I rested every day under the shade of the leaves, I read, studied and fought for the bitterness of life because of the economic pressure caused by the prolonged war.
It was a good house to hide which was what I did most of the times. My grandfather passed away as I was 7 years old. My grandmother stayed and lived there alone, I asdume she died there too. The last time I visited her she was in a hospital bed in the back room.
I walked with my youngest around the house. The garden was nearly the same. I remembered the trees with the swing but they were removed long ago.
I wonder if you still feel that bitterness about the world and circumstances you've been raised. It's hard to forget and tell oneself there were good times as well.
Studying wasn't important to me, like it was to you. I left home at the age of 15 and only returned twice. I tried to settle peace with the family but it was not in it. I didn't and still don't want my children to be harmed by that (white) family. At times I wonder if things would have been differently if my grandfathers both didn't die at a young age.
You know, you said you do not write well but what you just wrote is worth a post if not a book. I can see you sit there. If I would pass by I would give you a hug.
Nothing as bad as economic pressure, expectations. I didn't want that for me. I told my grandmother as I was pregnant and she said she wasn't so sure my mother would still give me the crib (the one from the orphan home).
I told her they could keep it and I rather use a banana box and left.
I love that house despite the envy, hate, fights, perhaps because it made me feel safe. As a young child I always felt scared.
Thanks for sharing this with me. Unlike me you climbed up on the ladder. Be proud of yourself and enjoy your childhood today. You can since you have a child.
❤️🍀
Thank you, friend!
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It is a beautiful house with great architecture and the pictures are great.
I congratulate you.
Thank you dear.
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which is a curating account for the WOX Community.
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Hello, there
Wow! Marble floors? 4 meters high!? Are Dutch people giants? 👀
It's a lovely house but I like small ones 😅 (easy to clean)
Can you imagine if the new owner responded to this post?
I guess it was normal in those days. I must say you rarely saw dust. It's a plus of huge houses.
Just like you I am satisfied with a tiny house, just the necessary, it's easier to clean although, with such a house one can afgord a cleaning lady too.
A hut is fine, even a furnitured one. My paternal grandmother told me that's how they always moved. Just a bag with some personal stuff and you are ready to go.
If the new owner responds that might be cool. I for me would love to hear the history of the house I am living in.
Thanks for stopping by and your comment.
🍀❤️
I think that is a nice house. Good job!