As a born Wormenese, I can tolerate Marcel van Roosmalen’s many years of complaints about my village Wormer, because: good columnist, sharp observations, sharp pen, very witty, with self-mockery, and he is often right. Moreover, Van Roosmalen only has one position and that is the complaining position, which will not change once he moves to the Watergraafsmeer in Amsterdam. He earns his money by writing articles, spends all day looking for a subject and then articles about the villagers are inevitable.
But after reading the interview with his wife Eva Hoeke in NRC this weekend (‘I can’t get to the real chic’, 4/5) I still felt the need to respond. The couple cannot settle in the village. Let’s go through the reasons why Hoeke came up.
Cultural capital
The first: the village has no fish shop. However, three days a week there is a fish stall in front of the supermarket and 2.7 km from it Zandweg 17, their former address and now title of their theater performance, is the fish shop in Wormerveer. Is that really the reason? No of course not.
Second reason: the people there vote PVV. This is the case throughout the Netherlands, they are the largest party in the country. In Amsterdam, if you do not count imports and only look at real Amsterdammers, the percentage of PVV voters will be even higher. Very sad, but we will have to make do with it. Is that the reason? No of course not.
Then the third reason, put forward by Hoeke. There is no bookstore in Wormer, no cinema and no museum. Did they really not see this coming? Did they expect to end up in the cultural capital of North Holland? By the way, there is a library and a theater, ha! Is that the reason, no of course not, if you want culture, you are in the heart of Amsterdam in 20 minutes by train.
Four. Wormer is isolated, they have no need for imports in the village. What nonsense, since the 1970s Wormer has been a refuge for people who cannot find or afford a house in Amsterdam. At least half of the residents are imports, and they don’t leave anymore, perhaps because it is a pleasant place to live? I just have new neighbors from Ukraine, very nice people. There is also a Pole living in my street, an Iraqi and a number of people I don’t know because they are not from the village. Wormer doesn’t want imports, is that the reason? No of course not.
Anonymous life
Five then. ‘The neighbors didn’t open the door when we wanted to introduce ourselves.’ I have also noticed when I walk with a collection box that half of the houses do not open the door. But if you think this is better in the city, forget it. There people largely live next to each other and do not know who their neighbors are.
Six. Something is said about this in Wormer when you are on the phone on your bike. Rightly so, maybe it was me. I find it very annoying that people are busy with their phones and don’t pay attention to the traffic. But don’t worry, in the city people only look at their phones, no one pays attention to traffic anymore.
Also read
Eva Hoeke: ‘I can’t get to the real chic’
Van Roosmalen will probably soon publish a column in which he complains about this. And here it comes: Hoeke concludes that just as they are leaving, the mood in Wormer is starting to change. The great Marcel van Roosmalen was asked to be present at the opening of the renovated supermarket, because he has pushed Wormer up in the world. It really says it: the woman who complains that there is no bookstore is looking forward to the opening of a supermarket because her husband is a celebrity.
The famous writing couple cannot get along, how could that be? Maybe because there are very normal people living in Wormer?
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