On Christmas Eve, a phone call brought all merriment to an abrupt end. The news of Joep’s sudden death struck us like a bombshell.

He was only a year older then me. Always enjoying the good life;  Having recently moved into a new house with his girlfriend and having the wedding plans laid out for the near future.

He was the driving force behind many of our Trips, Vacations, Parties, BBQs. And wherever he and Suus were invited too he always made sure he had a good time.

We were asked to collect all our pictures of him and send them on to his family. I found that over the years I had snapped him over a 100 times with a digital camera. The one I am proudest of is posted below. I took this picture of him last summer during a small open-air concert in Waalwijk. It depicts him like I will always remember him. Enjoying life to the fullest.

Joep, we will all miss you very much. Things will never be the same again without you.

Rick

…I hope.

Added the pictures from the Völkel Try-out at the Mads

Völkel

Also added some photos from an old roll of film I had in a Argus C3 for over a year. They’re scattered throughout the forum, mostely in the living-history section. Good luck in finding them all; Best chance is by clicking on last uploads

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy new year!

Rick

*Currently listening to “When I send you a picture of London”

I guess my updates are like Taxis, there’s never one around when you need it and then there are like 3 all at once.

I’m feeling rather tired at the moment. After a week of working in the new house and taking a trip to the Ardennes, my first day at work was like a blow to the face. Shame I’ve not got more days off this year.

The trip to Bastogne was great fun. Like every year I participated in the Historic Walk, taking the 20km route, and managed to do it in 4 and a half hours which is not bad concidering the shape I’m in….lack of exercise *cough cough*. We were staying at a Gite in Flamierge, where we spent all our down time drinking beer, playing games and enjoying the warmth of the hearth.

Bastogne Historic March 2007 (All taken with a Panasonic Lumix TX-3)

I took about 15 shots with my PH-324 but the film got torn up on the take-up spool. So those were unfortunately lost. I did take some more photos with my Kiev 2A. Hopefully those will turn out alright, but I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until I finish the roll of Kodak BW400CN I’ve got in there.

I’ve also gotten back some pictures after 2 weeks. One roll of film was over 2 years old but the images were still pretty crisp. The other was from 2 months ago. I’ve already scanned some of them and uploaded them to the proper foldes in the galleries:

Commemoration Ceremony in Helvoirt 2007

General Maczek Museum 2007 (the last 10 or so images)

I guess it will stay pretty quiet for the next two weeks, until after new year when I go on a small vacation with friends. And of course the other holidays are coming up as well, Christmas, New Years Eve, Carnaval. Should provide some nice opportunities to burn some film.

So thats it untill I find something else to bore you guys with. Enjoy the photos.

Rick

*Listening to Finntroll - Rivfader through Last.fm

After 1.5 months of suffering (lightly but still) at the hands of Spammers, I’ve decided to upgrade to Wordpress 2.3.1 with all new features…. you’re not gonna see much of this but be assured my job’s gotten a lot easier. And Spammers will be hard put to spread their stuff to my webpage (again).

Well here are some more pictures I promised yesterday. These were taken during the recording of two documentaries about two children passing through Camp Vught during World War 2. It will be used as part of an educational package for schools before they visit the Camp.

You can find some more (Dutch) info on this project here:

New Educational Project “Camp Vught in the Class

Empty Spaces in the Classroom

Filming starts on “Camp Vught in the Classroom” 12-sept-2007

Last monday I finally signed and got the keys to a new place to stay. We immediatly started redecorating the place. Removing some Hedera from the garden and sanding what needs to be repainted. Work started on the Central Heating room, which needs a new floor and a new ceiling.

You can find some photos of work in progress and the house in general here. I will be gradually adding more and more pictures over the next few weeks.

Someone already gave me a workbench for in the garage and a 1870s piano….go figure.

This evening I came home from the Cast & Crew premiere of two documentaries about Camp Vught I participated in (as a member of ‘the dark side’, the only time you’ll see me wearing one of those uniforms EVER!). I’ll put up some of the pictures I took during filming. I think I was on screen for a the whole of 30 seconds in the 2 half-an-hour documentaries, that was 4 days worth of filming….

In the mean time I’m getting ready for the Bastogne Historic Walk event. This will be the 4th time I’m going. Last year I didn’t quite finish, but this year will hopefully be better. To be honest I’m starting to feel this event is becoming a chore. I’ll gladly do the walk, but all the other stuff like mock battle training is not something I want to be dragged along to (I’m not even taking a rifle with me this year). Can’t be bothered. After 4 hours of marching I don’t want to be in the back of a halftrack getting rained on for another 1.5 hours, just so some guys can pop some blanks.

Anyway, I think I’ll turn in now so I can get an early start on the house tomorrow.

Rick

*Listening to “The Hammer has Fallen” by Sabaton