h
What do you know about London?
POEKOEL TEROES
HEEFT U ZE AL?
6
Niet veel, hoor ik U al zeggen. Europa is nu eens zo ver weg en tijdschriften en kranten
vertellen je ook al weinig. We leven in een op zichzelfstaand werelddeel Amerika, je merkt
het met de dag meer. Ik ook.
Tot ik op een dag een brief van een TT-lezeres uit London ontving. Tong-Tong lezers
zijn over de gehele wereld verspreid, Indische mensen ook. Lucie Woutersz is een Indisch
meisje getrouwd met en Engelsman. Ze willen erg graag naar Californie emigreren.
Waarom? Als je geboren en getogen bent in een warm klimaat, de tropen geproefd hebt,
blijf je er terug naar verlangen.
Het leek me ardig deze Engelse brief in onze A.T.T. te zetten. Lucie en gezin horen
bij onze enorme TT-familie en het is goed en nuttig kennis te maken met gewoonten en
gebruiken in een ver land.
"Now, first to introduce myself, my
name you will find at the bottom of this
letter and my cradle stood, a long while
ago, in the town now known as Djakarta.
After the Japanese War, I married Henry,
who was then serving with the British
Army of Liberation. Henry, by the way,
in spite of his very Dutch name is British.
Originally, of course, the Woutersz family
were Dutch and we have a copy of the
family tree in our possession which shows
that the very first member arrived from
Holland in Ceylon in the year 1770. Quite
a large number of people from Dutch or
igin still live in Ceylon, and they call
themselves Dutch Burghers. However,
Henry's father settled in India, where all
his children were born."
We have one daughter, Marijke (I insisted
on a Dutch neme), who was born in Poona,
not far from Bombay, a most beautiful place.
Strangely enough, its green hills used to re-
remind me of Brastagi, a hill station near
Medan, Sumatra, where we used to spend
most of our holidays. But that was a long
time ago. Marijke is almost 16.
We came to this country in 1953, and I
must confess, on my part this step was taking
with much trepidation. You know the Eng
lish reputation abroad is not a particularly
favourable one. Well, I need not have wor
ried at all, as on the whole people in this
country are amongst the most kind, helpful
and polite ones. Honestly, after a few weeks
out here I threw caution to the wind and
just relaxed and enjoyed myself. I still do.
Many things in this country are 'differ
ent.' Naturally. One of the first things that
struck me was that shop assistants, bus con
ductresses (we call them Clippies), etc. call
everybody Dear, or Darling, or Love. Pecu
liar. We soon found out, however, that it
had nothing to do with undue familiarity
simply another one of their quaint customs.
My favourite one is 'Duckie.' One of our
telephonists at work, when she is having
trouble in getting a number for me comes
back on the line with: "Duckie, I'm terribly
sorry but Wonder what the Califor-
nians' reaction would be if you started ducky-
ing them over the 'phone. Might be fun
finding out.
You've heard of our famous Fish Chips,
the national dish one has to eat out of a
newspaper? It is patates frites with ikan
goreng. Eaten in true style, the chips
should have a good dose of vinegar. Henry
and I prefer pickles, but young Marijke,
like a real Cockney makes sure the vinegar
is within reach when we have fish and chips,
usually home-made, as the stuff they sell in
the F&C shops is in our humble foreign
opinion - - well below standard. But then,
the English are such an easy going lot, they
put up with anything.
This reminds me of an incident at our
local branch of Sainsbury's, a well-known
chain of grocers/butchers, famous for their
clean shops and high standard of products.
One day I stood in the queue at the cold
meat counter and noticed that not only did
the lady assistant serving have a dreadful
cold, but also she kept handling the ham,
tongue, etc., as well as the money and in
between she produced a grubby hanky from
her pocket to blow her nose. Talk about
Hygiene with a capital H! It gave me the
creeps, but no one else seemed to mind.
Came my turn and I wanted some ham and
egg pies; she promptly put out her germ-
ridden hand to get them for me, but I piped
up: "I wonder, would you mind using those
special tongues, please." Oh dear, great con
sternation. Murderous looks were cast in
my direction, but I was perfectly within my
right and firmly stood my ground.
After years in this country it still gives me
a funny feeling to enter a chemist shop
when I want a film to be developed and
printed. These combination shops are quite
common and sometimes traditional, but of
late the situation seems to be getting slightly
out of hand. Imagine walking into the fish
monger's to buy a lovely oven-ready chicken.
Since when do these feathered creatures live
in the sea, I ask you? But that is not all,
come high summer he also sells apples. The
fishmonger!
Then there is the tobacconist, who besides
smoker's requisites stocks many other things
as well, such as sweets and chocolates, soft
drinks and ice-cream, stationery, cards for
all occasions (wedding, new baby, get well
soon, bon voyage) also newspapers and
magazines. In fact, we do not directly sub
scribe to our papers, books and magazines,
but simply place an order with the tobac
conist and pay his every Saturday. For in
stance, whenever I can I listen in to a Ger
man course on the B.B.C. The accompanying
booklet was ordered through our above-
named friend and received within two days.
Being a true woman (wouldn't it be ghast
ly to be a boy) I am glad to report that the
majority of our sex are very fashion-con
scious and nowadays it is really hard to dis
tinguish between the working girl and the
lady of leisure. The amount of make-up used
is rather staggering and not always in the
best of taste, but at least it shows the person
is willing to 'have a go' and not content
with merely letting nature take its not always
flattering course."
LUCIE WOUTERSZ
LONDON
Tot zover Lucie Woutersz. Is Uw voor
stelling van het meest conventionelestijve
Engeland nu wat gewijzigd? In ieder geval
weet U dat "eend" geen belediging meer is
en net zo vriendelijk bedoeld is als "honing!"
Boeken
Tjies Vincent Mahieu$2.50
Tjoek Vincent Mahieu$2.50
Piekerans v.e. straatslijper dl.I$1.—
Piekerans v.e. straatslijper dl.II$1.50
Njai Dasima Manusama. $1.
(incl. portokosten)
Tong-Tong vlaggetjes
voor auto of fiets.35
tafelvlaggetje (met standaard).50
The American Tong-Tong
P. O. Box 137, Whittier, Cal.
