A Coventry Kid's Tale

Chapter 9: 13 years old

When Easter came the school broke up for the holiday, but the next day everybody arrived for the school holiday to Belgium. On the coach they all got, then they were taken to the train station. It was a long trip and the child does not remember all the details but the boat train finally arrived at Dover, then they all went onto the ship ferry, which then went to Oostende. Being on board a ferry was a new experience for the child. The duty free shop was in the middle of the ship, this being a hatch with two sliding doors, half way across the doors would close and 30 seconds later reopen with everything priced in francs instead of pounds and pence. Down below decks you could lay down on a bunk as the crossing took hours. When they arrived at the port they all got onto another coach to take them to Blankenburgh.

The hotel "Rose Marie" where they were to stay was owned by a very pleasant lady who seemed to know Mr. Douglas very well. The child now wonders how well, also did they meet during the war? Since starting to write, the child has found out that he will never know (2009). Mr. Douglas died of a brain tumour that occurred very quickly many years ago. He was a nice teacher.... hard but fair.

Breakfast was a lovely treat for the child, as much coffee as he wanted (this coffee being very nice) and bread rolls with unsalted butter (very much to the child's tastes) and jam. After breakfast it was off on educational tours, one of them being a war-graves cemetery, these trips were very enlightening and the child enjoyed them all. He also enjoyed the crazy bikes on the beach, he had never seen anything like them before. Turn the handlebars to the right and the bike turned left, another one with the saddle going up and down, pedal forwards and the bike went backwards no two bikes were the same, many variations. Also the child found you could hire a car by the hour. The car would hold four children so the child and his friends paid the money and drove away. Being the same size as a normal car this one was pedal powered, and with four children in the car it could do a fair lick of speed. In the evening it was time to wash and change for dinner. Soup first and more if you wanted it (the child always did) followed by the main course (with seconds of course) then sweet. Not forgetting coffee at the end. All the meals were very memorable. Time to go out for a walk, then back to the lounge in the hotel. The hotel owner's son (I think) used to play the guitar and everybody would sing-a-long. 10pm bedtime, but nice times had by all !!
The child also remembers the sand dunes with the pillbox gun emplacements and playing in them, left over from the war.