I ran into this little vehicle the other day on the highway while
driving up north to Tripoli; two kids in the back of an old Volkswagen. It brought back
memories.
When I was young, my parents drove a Volkswagen, a white
one. And in summer time, they’d take us (four kids = two adults!) in that
Volkswagen on a holiday, all the way from Holland to somewhere in France; a
road trip of some 1,000 kilometers.
The car had no AC, the
back windows could only open a bit (you couldn’t roll them down), plastic
upholstery, we did not have video games or DVD screens stuck to the back of the
head rest to occupy ourselves, and here we were, four kids, with grey woolen
shorts (My mom insisted on that one) while outside it’d be something like 35
degrees Celsius.
How is it physically and psychology possible to transport
four whining and nagging kids in woolen shorts sitting on plastic upholstery
over 1,000 kilometers of very hot road, without AC and entertainment in a tight
little Volkswagen remains a mystery to me.
I do not have any vivid memories of those road trips, and I
think that is merciful (or maybe I am just repressing them). My oldest brother does, and he never quite
recovered from it, I might add; he forever hated family holidays.
Anyway, all that came to mind when I drove behind this
little Volkswagen with these two little kids. From the looks of it, they were
playing a game my daughter calls ‘Sweet or Sour?” You wave at passing cars, and
if the driver smiles and waves back, (s)he is sweet. If you ignore them, you
are sour. Just so you know, next time some kids in a car wave at you.
5 comments:
You make me laugh with that picture you painted.
I too remember sitting in the back of a VW beetle like that in Holland when I was a kid. Thank the gods not in woolen shorts and not for a 1000 km. It was my aunt and uncle's car and I'd sit in the back with my cousin, going from Rotterdam to Amsterdam or the reverse. We had a great time there in the back. Ah, memories!
From Utrecht to Bordeaux in three days. The worst part was the north of France. Mother liked the Gothic architecture of these 13th century churches and cathedrals and we as a family had to visit them all, many times! Senlis, Compiegne, Beauvais, Amiens, fuck all these churches from the 13th century and what a pity they survived two world wars. Y.
My mom driving from Holland to Switzerland with me in the 'coffin' in the back. I was only a couple of month, no memories. :)
We rented it and with 5 children I laid in the "kattebak" in the back. Remember laying there and looking up at the sky ;-)
I think I was 3 at the time, later we got our own car, an Opel Record.
Goh, wat een ellende allemaal in die beetles! We zouden er een compilation van moeten maken.:)
Post a Comment