La
Licorne
GO!
Obviously life could not go on like that for ever. Agreed that my brothers and sisters secretly may have been admiring my escapades, my parents had different ideas.
It happened however that by the start of the new academic year Francis came along with an exciting tiding. One of the house-boats in Wageningen's harbor channel had been offered to him for rental. This was hot news, because a house-boat seemed to us the kind of independent dwelling one could only dream of. There were half a dozen in the canal and they were known to be occupied by a very independent sort of people. A chance so rare should be grabbed, especially where the fortune could be snatched out of the hands of fellows from a rival students club.
So we did. Our friends were excited, if not green-eyed, and even my parents seemed amused. Only at the Club I saw some seniors frowning their eyebrows. As customary our scanty belongings were shuffled on a carrier-tricycle and we moved in. The boat was small but cozy: in the bow two beds at split level, in the center a living, and aft a kitchen and landing. The living was only two by four meters, but looked quite spacious with the big windows on both sides and all the water around. Of course the cabin had to be furnished in a smart way. On one side we fitted two table-boards for study; on the same we could serve dinner for eight. On the other side a sofa was put together from banana boxes and old mattresses covered with a plaid. We had bottled gas for cooking; the same fuel served for lighting. This worked well as long as we managed to light the lamp with steady hand. However, coming home late nights it happened more than once that the match we held would damage the brittle light socks. Water was collected in a bucket from a public tap in the harbor and siphoned from a shelf in the kitchen to the sink that served as a wash stand as well.
As expected we had good neighbors who minded their own business. So everything turned out well until the weather changed. The coal-stove could be heated up all right, but when it froze -as it did a lot that winter- the floor, the sides and the roof radiated the chill into our bones. When spring came the water in the canal started to rise and one morning we woke up with water all around us. The embankment along the canal stood under water and we cycled, sock and shoes in the hand, to dry ground.
So a variety of surprises had to be attended to, while life already filled our days with seemingly important and mostly pleasant matters. For one thing: the boat proved ideal for noisy parties. Given the assembled daily occupations, time for study was scarce. After often having promised myself to make a real start, I finally set to struggle through the material and managed to pass the preliminary examinations. Admittedly it was a narrow escape, but I had fixed it where some others had continued with the fun and lost another year. The boat proved too much of a problem after all, so I moved back to the town.
In the third and fourth year one was supposed to take an active role in student organization. I laid my hands on the representation of the Netherlands Organization for Student Travel (NBBS). Incidentally, in later years the very organization has developed itself into a successful all-round travel agency. The position was attractive because it brought me in contact with the most enterprising lot of the students. Besides, I learnt about far away destinations, which would be helpful for my future.
For the student population of Wageningen, travel was still a fairly exclusive undertaking. Besides student population was small. So the turn-over of my office was modest as compared to those of other university towns. This fact had not escaped the attention of the headquarters in Leiden, and led to nettling remarks. The organization as a whole on the other hand was doing so well that they afforded expensive business week-ends for their representatives. On those occasions office staff would be present as well. I must admit the gang in Leiden had a good hand in engaging swell looking female staff, who seemed to have no objection to making overtime in the company of so many students. It occurred that during one of those meetings some members of the board tried to corner me on account of my meager turn-over. Clearly they had no idea of the difference between classy Leiden and plain Wageningen, so my defense didn't seem to impress them. I saw them glance at their chairman as to obtain approval for the strike. I remember seeing the latter standing somewhat to the back, watching the scene with an amused smile and remaining silent. So there was a show down, and I was even complimented for my fine performance under tough conditions. The mystic person with dark hair and slim figure who had saved me out of the hands of the wolves was Frits Bolkestein.
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F (Frits) Bolkestein (1933) Chairman of the Netherlands Bureau for International Student
relations in the late fifties. Versatile intellectual who joined national politics in the late
seventies after international business career (Shell). Minister of Defense in the late eighties. High profiled Member of Parliament and Party Leader of the Conservatives. Became Member of the European Commission in 1999. Resigned in 2004 to remain a meddler in the national politics |
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Around the same time I joined my pals Bas and Vic in activities around student theater. Having been charged with the organization of the obligate annual presentation, we used the opportunity to organize a festival in Wageningen where student theater groups from all over the country were welcome to perform and present their dramas, avant garde like stuff and cabaret. Under the name of Stutofes (Studenten Toneel Festival) this has been a recurring event for years giving momentum to the renewal of student theatre in the sixties of the 20th century [refer: (1) http://www.xs4all.nl/~johnknap/De%20Stunt.htm; (2) http://www.sola-augustinus.nl/content/PA2004-1.pdf and (3) http://www.delft.nl/archief/index/352Sanctus.txt].