ME.TRAVELBLOG
  • ID-en
  • OUR.MAGAZINE
    • ME.ACTIVE
    • ME.TUDE
    • ME.SPOT
    • ME.TALK
    • ME.NEWS
    • ME.FICTION
  • VISUAL.SHOTS
    • INSPIRING.VIDEO
    • MUSIC.VIDEO
    • ME.VIDEO
    • ME.PHOTO
  • COUNTRIES
    • EUROPE
    • ASIA
    • AMERICA
    • AFRICA
    • OCEANIA
  • LIFESTYLE
    • FOOD.&.OUT
    • ME.MUSIC
    • RECIPE
    • MORE
  • CULTURE
    • INSPIRING.BOOK
    • EXHIBITION
    • MUSEUM
    • MORE
  • TRAVEL
    • BUDGET.FRIENDLY
    • CITY.EXPLORERS
    • SLEEPING.BASE
    • BACKPACKING
    • CYCLING
    • HIKING
    • MORE
  • PLUS+
    • SUBSCRIBE
    • OUR TEAM
    • CONTACT
    • ABOUT
  • ID-en
  • OUR.MAGAZINE
    • ME.ACTIVE
    • ME.TUDE
    • ME.SPOT
    • ME.TALK
    • ME.NEWS
    • ME.FICTION
  • VISUAL.SHOTS
    • INSPIRING.VIDEO
    • MUSIC.VIDEO
    • ME.VIDEO
    • ME.PHOTO
  • COUNTRIES
    • EUROPE
    • ASIA
    • AMERICA
    • AFRICA
    • OCEANIA
  • LIFESTYLE
    • FOOD.&.OUT
    • ME.MUSIC
    • RECIPE
    • MORE
  • CULTURE
    • INSPIRING.BOOK
    • EXHIBITION
    • MUSEUM
    • MORE
  • TRAVEL
    • BUDGET.FRIENDLY
    • CITY.EXPLORERS
    • SLEEPING.BASE
    • BACKPACKING
    • CYCLING
    • HIKING
    • MORE
  • PLUS+
    • SUBSCRIBE
    • OUR TEAM
    • CONTACT
    • ABOUT
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

15/3/2023

When chocolate isn't really chocolate

Picture
ME.FICTION - It was summer and two kids were allowed to go with their dad and mom to 'The Forest Farmer', a swimming pond that was famous in Holly Woods and far beyond the borders of Southern Hills.
by Hanan
Nederlandstalig - English
This was the place to be, where one could hope to meet a suitable young lady to marry and start a family with. The goal was to have children who looked like us, rather than resembling the milkman from the village.
My little brother and I were two of the mischievous kids who were set free on the water like floundering, headless chickens. We had already left our diaper days behind, but accidents still happened occasionally, and our mom would hang our soiled sheets out on the street as a lesson. "That"ll teach you," she would say.
It was the late 1970s, and we strutted around in sponge shorts that accentuated whatever we had to show off, which wasn't always much. In those days, summer shorts didn't feature a stripe along the side. But I do recall that during the winter, when snow blanketed everything and global warming wasn't yet on our rader - we sported striped outfits. Dark blue tracksuits with two orange stripes, and a third vertical stripe for the pretentious. In our neigbourhood, it was just two stripes, both on the pants and the sleeves. If you wanted to fit in, you had to own that tracksuit. In the summer, however, sponge material was in fashion. Althought I can't imagine those styles being shown on the catwalks of Paris and Milan at the time.
Both of us were so thin that you could see it very clear when we were half-naked at the waterfront in our sponge shorts. We looked like walking skeletons, with no meat on our bones. back then, no one would have suspected that we were deliberately eating so little as a form of protest. The truth was, our dad would sneak into our room at night and do things to us that we couldn't talk about. It was a dark secret that we kept to ourselves.
Our little white curly poodle, named 'Whitney', was always on board for our trips to 'The Forest Farmer' where we could hunt for pretty girls. She was ahead of her time, being a female dog, but also a lesbian. Our dad was accepting of this, but he could not tolerate when later one of his sons also came out as gay, causing  a scandal in Holly Woods and beyond. In our family of dockworkers, having a homosexual son was not acceptable.
But our Whitney was his treasure. The curls around her snout were showing some reddish signs of aging, but that white doggie remained playful. Her eyes sparkled like a tinkling bell in a rolled-up snowball, and her tail wagged up an down. We made a sport out of throwing small twigs in the water at 'The Forest Farmer', and our little doggie would fetch them back to us.
And then... everything fell apart. My little brother stood waist-deep in the water wearing his blue sponge suit. The images flicker by me in slow motion. He grabbed a twig and tried to throw it, but the twig slipped slowly through his fingers like melted chocolate that I wouldn't even consider licking up. The smell of it was worse than a fresh ball of garlic. Brown sludge dripped from his fingers and seeled to dissolve in the clean swimming water. It was actually our beloved dog Whitney's 'chocolate'.
UNITED KINGDOM | ME.FICTION | LIFESTYLE |
​STORY
* Any remblance to existing people or places is purely coincidental, the text is completely fiction.

Picture
POST BY
Thierry Hanan Scheers
With a backpack  and hiking boots Hanan travels around the world. Destination? Somewhere, nowhere and everywhere.
backpacker and storyteller
PHOTO
Thierry Hanan Scheers
15 March 2023

Comments are closed.

- MORE FROM ME.TRAVELBLOG

TRAVEL

Picture
Budget-friendly adventure: 7 backpacking travel trends to explore the world
​- by Hanan
Picture
Hiking through the untouched beauty of Belgian Luxembourg: a journey from Melreux to La Roche-en-Ardenne
​- by Hanan
Picture
Unveiling the natural wonder of Indonesia: experience the magic of Harau Valley in Sumatra
​- by Hanan
Picture
A journey through the mystical High Fens: hiking across borders and through a stunning nature reserve
- by Hanan
Picture
Why I think Kuta in Bali is a nice place for backpackers?
​- by Hanan
Picture
Experience the real Senegal at Sandicoly Ecofarm
​- by Hanan

CULTURE

Picture
Experience the silence: my Nyepi Day in Bali
​- by Hanan
Picture
The Islamic World in the British Museum in London
​- by Hanan
Picture
St-Anne's Museum in Lübeck n the Baltic Sea
​- by Hanan
Picture
Pearls of Java - Prambanan
​​- by Hanan
Picture
Walk Ireland's poignant National Famine Way
​- by Hanan
Picture
Pearls of Java - Borobudur
​- by Hanan

LIFESTYLE

Picture
Stray Kids takes Indonesia by storm: the phenomenon sweeping the nation's youth culture
​- by Hanan
Picture
​Indomie-nificent: the mouth-watering noodle love affair of Indonesians
​- by Hanan
Picture
Discover halal food in Chiang Mai: a foodie's guide to Thailand's vibrant city
​- by Hanan
Picture
10 Indonesian coffees you may never heard of before
​- by Hanan
Picture
​Vikings and Guinness in Dublin
​- by Hanan
Picture
A spicy Indonesian Ramadan
​- by Hanan

ME.TRAVELBLOG is in the first place an online travel magazine, with extra focus to culture and other related matters. It contains travel tips for adventurers, backpackers and people who like to travel. We try to give you a nice dose of travel inspiration, so that your bucket list won't stay empty for long. From backpacking or hiking adventures to city trips, or beach holidays in paradise destinations. In short, ME.TRAVELBLOG is a world trip through various continents. Are you ready to travel?

ME.TRAVELBLOG

ME.ACTIVE
ME.TUDE
ME.SPOT
ME.TALK
ME.NEWS
​ME.FICTION

VISUAL.SHOTS

INSPIRING.VIDEO
​MUSIC.VIDEO
ME.VIDEO
ME.PHOTO

LIFESTYLE

FOOD.&.OUT
ME.MUSIC
​RECIPE
​MORE

CULTURE

INSPIRING.BOOK
EXHIBITION
MUSEUM
​MORE

TRAVEL

BUDGET.FRIENDLY
CITY.EXPLORERS
SLEEPING.BASE
​BACKPACKING
CYCLING
HIKING
MORE

PLUS+

SUBSCRIBE
OUR TEAM
CONTACT
​ABOUT
About - Contact - Privacy policy - Site map
​©​ metravelblog.org - 'ME.TRAVELBLOG'
​Thierry Hanan Scheers
​
2011-2023 All rights reserved
ME.TRAVELBLOG | MATA.NUSANTARA