My childhood part II

The first apartment which I remember was very old-fashioned.though at least it had running water but only cold. Neither did it have a bathroom. One had washstands in the bedrooms. I remember being bathed in a rubber tub which sat on the floor.The rooms, though, were large and ceilings were high. I have a photo of my father sitting at his desk and behind him in the next room my mother sitting by the window, the sun flooding in.As far as I remember the apartment buildings in that section of town were about a hundred years old when that section of town was under the jurisdiction of the state of Prussia. Unfortunately that part of town was totally destroyed in the last war.I can still smell the old wood in the staircase.

After my sister Jakobe was born we moved to the subburbs into a modern four-story apartment building. Not only was the apartment much larger but it had central heat,hot and cold water, three balconies, one to the street and two to the back and a few practical features such as a bell pull hanging from the wall of the bathtub.This bellpull had a large knob which fit neatly into the palm of a hand and was made of brass.Naturally the brass needed to be polished which the maid dutifully and regularly did.She or my mother also came running when I pulled the cord,which I often did just to see if it worked. Another practical feature was the garbage chute in the wall of the kitchen balcony though we were never able to use it since somebody had stuck an umbrella down which opened up between our apartment and the one below us and could not be reached to pull back up. So much for modern features in our new apartment.

My most favorite place in the new apartment was the entrance hall of which my father in a sense took possession. It wasn’t enough for him that it had nice mahogany panelling, he also had to decorate it. So he hung framed woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer depicting Jesus’ “walk to Golgatha” into the top row of panels. The floor was covered with an antique Persian rug.My father loved Persian rugs but always only had enough money to buy somewhat threadbare ones. On rainy days I would lie smack in the middle of the floor and gaze at the woodcuts.

This panelling went three quarter up the wall, interrupted by the doors which led to the front rooms. Everybody who went in an out of the rooms carefully stepped over me. Nobody ever complained that I was in the way. Above the panelling my father had designed a swirling pattern to break the monotony of pure cream color. I think the swirls were some sort of blue. Maybe they were supposed to give the impression of a busy sky. In any case, this was my domain at the age of four while my baby sister was asleep in the nursery.

In good weather my mother went on long walks with us. At least to me they seemed to be long. I remember being very jealous looking at my baby sister in the carriage lying comfortably looking at the sky whereas I had to walk.Nowadays I see mothers talking into cellphones while pushing their strollers. My mother told me stories while we walked,Every once in a while she would stop and maybe show me a leaf,pointing at the tree from which it came and telling me what sort of a tree it was. On these walks she was always there just for us, never doing any shopping or having long gossipy chitchats with other mothers.

Times are often dangerous nowadays and cellphones can be very useful helping to keeping track of your child, for example specially if you are a mother at work.I guess there are two sides to every story. More about me next time.