A quiet day and time for a stroll down memory lane. A return to a childhood home, stories at gravesides and people watching. In some places time has stood still, in others only the memories remain. Lives that might have crossed if only the hand of fate had played a different card. Patterns that echo through the DNA and appear decades later having unknowingly crossed paths in this ancient town.
Four decades have vanished since my original visit to the 1200 year old town of Minden. At that time the town felt very Germanic, the Deutsch mark was still the currency. The people I then considered a part of the older population wore traditional costumes, whilst the younger ones were all identifiable by the scarves they wore. Neither do anymore. Having moved from one generation to the other I now blend in, only distinguishable by the language I speak.
Hagemeyers, the busy department store is still open for business after 145 years. Along with branches of C&A and Woolworths, no longer seen on UK high streets, but somehow survived here.
In 1909 the House of Herman Schmeiding was built in the market place. Its five storey carved wooden facade depicts the stories and history of the town. At midday a door on the fourth floor musically opens to reveal two figures. The words inscribed below : ‘Min’…..’Den’ are from the old Germanic language, Min meaning mine, whilst Den means yours. As two villages amalgamated, each bringing their own uniqueness, the new town name was formed: Minden, ‘what’s mine is yours’.
The day finishes with a visit to my goddaughter. She has a new house, a new husband and a new baby on the way, so naturally, I made her a quilt. The houses in rural Germany benefit from space. A home and garden here can occupy the same space of four UK houses with small gardens. An evening stroll along paths around the arable farming land brings many greetings and a time for this friendly community to share the day.
We return to the garden with fruit trees, flowers and a wooden chalet, a perfect hideaway haven for setting up a sewing machine and a typewriter. I wonder if she will notice if I move in and stay.
