Danny is On the Move - again !
The day came in July or August. GK sent a "Maggie" (Magirus-Deutz) canvas-top truck to take our belongings to the Volkspark, having first collected our washing machine from Stores; we went in the car, and of course were waiting for the "Maggie" when it arrived. There we found that its normal task had been - coal delivery to the MQs!! Mary's beautiful pram was now well coated with coal dust (for they'd not covered it in any way), and it was ages before we could get it all out. We were not amused !
And then we started to explore the vast space (which seemed even bigger after the tiny Dutch "flat"). As far as we remember, we had five bedrooms. But the bathroom was small. We had the most enormous lounge, you could hold a Ball in it. As the house was far too big for us, we simply shut-off all the parts of the house which we did not use.
I immediately set out to investigate the heating arrangements (for das winter kommt bestimmt ). There was a large boiler room in the cellars, and it seemed that unlimited coal and coke would be supplied free on demand * - but no hitzeler. That task would fall to me (it was the same in OMQs). But I was skilled in the art: it would be no problem. And I'd radiators in the garage too !
* also free electricity and gas (?): courtesy of the German state.
And now I've been digging into little more detail about the post-war history of the Volkspark (with the aid of Google/Wiki), and have turned up far more about it than ever we knew while we were there. A website devoted to the Service schools on the place quoted the surprising total of no less than 3,000 Service MQs in the Park area. Clearly we'd built a sizable British military suburb in this enclave at the South end of Cologne, (similar to the military "cantonments" of British India). Naturally, there was a large NAAFI shop, and there must have been a Medical Centre (although we never needed it), and Cologne was just up the road for anything else we might want.
Now our house (and doubtless all the rest) were proper, solidly built places, good for a lifetime (I've mentioned before that ours was designed for easy conversion into two flats) at some future date when (I assume) they would revert to the municipality of Cologne. And Cologne (when Bomber Command had finished with it) would have a housing shortage that could well last twenty years !
When USAAC General "Hap" Arnold (the instigator of the eponymous Scheme (in which I learned to fly in '41-'42), toured the German cities in 1945, even he was shocked by what he saw. "One gets a feeling of horror," he wrote on seeing Cologne: "Nothing, nothing is left." (D.Tel. "Review" on 19.10.13.).
You would therefore expect that, when we finally pulled out, the local authority would welcome this windfall with open arms. But now a surprising thing: if you turn up the map now - it's all gone ! The whole Park has returned to open green space. Hitzelerstraße (runs N-S through Park) is still there, but Grossrotterweg ? Gone ! And there was a good 40-50 years of life left in these houses. Why ? - It's a very long shot, but if anyone can explain it to me, I'd be very grateful.
Goodnight again,
Danny42C.
Waste not, want not.
Last edited by Danny42C; 6th Nov 2013 at 16:45.
Reason: Add Text.