Every few weeks we will post an update (with senders’ permission in their original language) of new anecdotes, messages and photos on this page, with a view to integrate them after three months into the site itself. We hope you enjoy these new contributions as much as we do. Message: (Martyn Travis)Hi everyone, great to […]
Anecdotes
More VIPs more help
In addition to the ‘permanent’ assistance such as Pierre and Willem, others also helped. For instance Pink and Hilde when we needed a holiday or Simon and Ad if we or Willem couldn’t work or if it got too busy. Sometimes it was a nice surprise. Others took over at birthdays so we didn’t have […]
Antwerp
The first trip with the tip jar was to Antwerp to the chic Crest hotel. Sixty to seventy Cor-ruptelingen and many members of a pipe smokers’ federation. A somewhat unusual and not entirely harmonious combination. For Cor-rupt, in addition to a weekend away, it was also a sort of reunion. Many old customers and friends […]
Music and language
For Cor, music was as basic as food and drink (just like language, by the way). It was inextricably linked to everyday life. The fact that the café was made ‘sound proof’ by Grolsch was one of the most important if not the main reason to buy the bar. Not to turn it into a […]
Maastricht
After Lochem and Antwerp we went to Maastricht. Why we chose this town, I honestly don’t recall. I know we did want a more cultural outing this time, but I don’t think we succeeded. I do remember, however, that the distribution of the rooms led to some silly situations, we presented our ‘busking’ to the […]
Children and Sinterklaas
Most of Cor-rupt’s customers were in their 20s and 30s. The age at which a lot of people started to have children. So, we saw a steady increase in the number of children and, although it was not the custom in the Netherlands to take children to your local, things like a picnic or games […]
Pierre ‘the famous fighter pilot’
Without Pierre, our life in Cor-rupt would have been much more difficult and, above all, much less humorous. He had cast himself as the ‘helper number one’ and inspired everything. His boat was our ‘supply ship’ when we went for a picnic; he accompanied musicians with comb and a rolling paper, and helped to clean […]
Christmas dinner
By far the biggest challenge for the chef (moi) was the traditional ‘Spaarkas’ meal on Christmas Eve at ten, eleven P.M. This party was a mixture of old Brabant customs, the ‘Spaarkas’ was emptied (in Brabant the regulars saved some cash every year in their local for Carnival, with us for the Christmas holidays), the […]