My favourite person - my Grandfather

There were seven of us grandchildren, and another three, but they live too far away to come often. My grandfather was always so very pleased to see us. His house was in the middle of the forest, a few miles from a small town called Mierlo. Grandfather was a tall man, he always wore a hat, as he was bald and he thought maybe we had not noticed him being bald, as he was wearing his hat also inside the house.

In the morning he came down and did his moustache. He had these long moustaches, that reached way past his mouth. Every morning he lovingly curled the ends over with a pair of hot plyers, which he heated on the wood stove. You could hear his moustaches crackle by the heat.

We loved him, he seemed a happy man and laughed a lot. He took us for walks, and told us stories. One of his stories was in the war time; how he went swimming in the river. As he looked down in the water he saw these German soldiers lying on the bottom of the river.. There were four of them and they had their eyes open.

Years later, we found out he couldn't even swim.

At night time, as we kids were noisy waiting for our food, grandfather would sit in his easy chair and play his recorder, loud and tunelessly. I think he did that so he wouldn't hear our noise.

In the mornings he'd take us to the local tip in the sand dunes, and we all searched for things he could use, such as old cans, cups, vases, and old lightbulbs. I think he could use anything, really.

In the afternoon, he'd sit at his little table in the sun and work with a sand and concrete mixture covering, with endless care, an old bottle with the mixture, and producing a piece of Art, with a rose on the one side and the head of a small devil on the other. Underneath, he'd write a few words of Latin and the date, 15 BC. He had a whole garage with these masterpieces.

Once a week he went to the pub and sold his bottle to anyone who'd have it, for five dollars. His bottles went like hotcakes.