I’m still here but without a camera. I sold my last 3.5F and Rolleimarin IV to
a navy diver some time ago. I have tried to reach him to try to buy it back
but so far no response. In any case recent postings have brought back some
memories.
The Netherlands border with Germany was indeed a hot point during WWII and I
once worked with a man who had been in the US army and had been captured at
Arnhem (sorry about spelling).
In 1963 I worked for the Dutch government in Leiden, living in Voorhout. My
work was at The Sterrewacht in Leiden. I drove to Leiden some days and took
the bus other days. When I took the bus I had to walk past the apartment of
Princes Beatrix who was a student at the University at the time. She had a
green door and a small green car parked out in front, along the canal. Times
do change and since that time she has become queen and is now retired.
The postal system was superb. Whenever I walked I would drop off a roll of
Agfachrome 64 in a postbox and the next morning would receive, at home, a
developed roll of transparencies. I am pretty sure the processing was done in
Germany, just across the border.
During my time there I worked on what would later become the most advanced
radiotelescope in the world. It was brought into life at Westerbork, a former
Jewish safety area and later a German concentration camp. I post comments
about this every few years. If you do a search on my Facebook you will see my
comments and some pictures of Then and Now. The radiotelescope is a
significant monument to the people who were interred at the camp and later
transferred to Germany.
Sorry to be so off topic but there are so many memories the current discussion
brings to mind.
Don Williams
