More homely houses

Houses damaged by the 1953 flood

Last week I started this series about all the houses I ever lived in. It started with the house where I was born in 1944. The last one shown then, in fact it was number 6, brought us to 1953. That was the year large parts of southwest Netherlands were flooded. As a consequence thereof close to 2,000 people died during the night of February 1, 1953. During the morning of that very same day my mother told me that I would be living with a family in a place called Huizen. It is situated on the borders of the IJsselmeer in the middle of the country. 

133 Nieuw Bussumerweg, Huizen

I lived there for about a year from August 1953 to September 1954. It was a fairly large house but so was the G. family living there. It consisted of 4 boys, 3 girls and their parents of course. I remember I had a great time there but after a year my stay came to an end.

46 Mimosastraat, Den Haag

We are still talking about the period less than ten years after WW2. The housing situation in Holland was such that it was quite common for two families to share a single house. And for us this situation was no different. So my mother obtained a floor in a house owned by acquaintances, Mr. and Mrs.  Van W-D. van L. The house was situated in the part of The Hague called Bohemen. It was just a ten minute bike ride away from coastal Kijkduin where my father and grandparents lived before the war. The Mimosastraat house was our residence between September 1954 and early 1958. It is the house in the middle with the two lamps switched on. We lived on the second floor.

10 Tramstraat, Den Haag-Loosduinen

And then finally, 13 years after the war, my mother managed to get a house all to herself and to her two sons. Again this house was very close to Kijkduin and the North Sea beach. It was situated in the former village of Loosduinen, now part of The Hague. We lived in the house with the white curtains on the second floor from early 1958 until September 1963.
For me this was a very happy move because here I met the girl who is still my wife today. That memorable event took place during the first half of 1959. 

124 Pisuissestraat, Den Haag-Loosduinen

In 1963 new apartments were built just around the corner from where we lived. This opportunity was too good to be true, a new house with an acceptable rent! So we moved again. Our house is in the block to the very left and just out of sight. I lived there until the day I married on October 29, 1965. Until that same date my future bride lived  in the block that is pictured so prominently here. Her parents lived on the first floor to the very right. Together we moved to the neighboring city of Rijswijk.

To be continued

Photo credits
'Damaged houses' taken from Wikipedia
'Pisuissestraat' has been scanned from a picture postcard I have
The color pictures have been taken by myself on April 11, 2012, Jan. 18, 2012 and Feb. 22, 2007 resp.

Sepia Saturday - Vehicles

Alan suggests that this week's theme could be overalls, workwear and the like. That is an interesting subject and what is more, I covered it already a couple of months ago. You can see my granddads at work here. Having thus accomplished my mission for this week, I might as well wish you a very nice weekend. However, I do not want to be the cause of Sepians in literary distress, walking around and desperately asking themselves what to do now. 
Looking at the "Oshkosh picture" it occurred to me that we are looking at a photograph of buildings in a street. And what is a street without vehicles? So I have been digging in my many shoe boxes and came up with a few, I hope nice examples of not so current models.

Austin A40

This first picture is that of an Austin A40. It was taken in the Mimosastraat in The Hague approx 1955. My mother is next to the car.

Austin A30

A little earlier, it must have been 1954, my kid brother is standing next to a smaller model Austin, the 2-doors A30. The location I don't know but it looks like somewhere in the middle of the country, possibly the Veluwe.

Me, on my first motorcycle

I still recognize the location where this photo was taken. It is the Thorbeckelaan, again in The Hague. A relative of ours lived there. I guess I was about 3 or 4 years old. So it is 1947 or '48. I haven't got the foggiest idea about the make of the motorcycle. It looks like a single cylinder engine.
Update Apr. 30, 2015:
An unknown person commented that this motorcycle might very well be a CZ 125 t. And indeed there is some resemblance!

The Czech CZ 125 t

My father on his motorcycle

This picture makes clear that I inherited my father's motorcycle genes. However, I have to truthfully declare that I never rode one again after 1947/48... The woman in the passenger seat is probably my mother but it is difficult to see. The people looking at them are my maternal grandparents. They are doing so from their house in the Mispelstraat in The Hague. The year? 1938 or '39.

A pre war Opel cabriolet

I am not an expert on vintage cars so off hand I couldn't tell you the make of this car. But enlarging the wheel caps reveals that we are looking at an Opel. The model? Don't know. I'll leave that to the experts. My father is seated next to the driver, my mother is seated in the left hand rear seat. The other couple are friends of my parents. Also this picture is taken in 1938 or '39. The car has German plates, my father's friend was employed there.

During a school trip in the German city of Göttingen

My mother is the girl on the far right looking to us from her roof position. The school bus was owned by the then well known company VIOS from Wateringen near The Hague. The trip probably took place in 1933.

During a sightsee tour in Koblenz, Germany

Here is another of my mother's school trips to Germany. I couldn't even start to guess the make of this roofless bus. 

Austro Daimler

But it looks a little like the 1934 Austro Daimler (thank you, Google). I am led to believe this school trip took place in 1932 so maybe this is one of its predecessors.
Having finalized my post I just hope you did not forget that this week's theme is about workwear. So for the latest models I can recommend you turn to the Sepia Saturday site.
BTW In the unlikely event you want to see all the cars I ever owned, please see this post. The text is in Dutch but the pictures are not ;)