March 17th.

Today is just a day.
An ordinary monday in March 2014.
Monday the seventeenth.
In 1966 this day was a Thursday.
An ordinary Thursday and I had my usual homework.
I also needed to prepare for a test to make the next day.

So, early in the evening I ran upstairs for my work, which could only be done well while listening to the radio.
Especially on Thursday evening.

I still have the uncomfortable habit of waiting till the very last moment.
All the hours before a stressful deadline is for relaxing in advance.
So when on the early evening of Thursday the seventeenth, my sister asked me to join her to bring away the moped for repair, I was ready to go.

We brought the vehicle to a neighboured village and had to walk back home.
It's a long, dull road, through the forest.
In March it's already dark in the early evening.
I wanted to be home before 7:00 o'clock and urged my sister to walk faster.
'You know what ?' she said, 'if a car is going the same direction as we are, we can ask for a ride home'.
Not many cars came by at a silent, half dark country road in 1966.
So when we finally heard one coming, I quickly turned around to wave and to let him stop.

To this day, my sister and the rest of the family are convinced I wanted to cross the street.
To this day, everybody who wasn't there is certain that it was me who had been so careless.
And to this day, they don't hear me when I tell what had happened.
I never wanted to cross the road.

But when I woke up after approximately 20 minutes, all I heard was:
"She wanted to cross the road!"
A woman was crying. Someone else called for a doctor.
I did not hear my sister.
A male voice said: "Her eyes are open."
And suddenly there was a small crowd with a lot of questions.
- Who's the girl ? Is she alone ? What happened ? Where's the driver ? What's the time ?

The time !
I felt my watch, opened my eyes again and read 7:15 PM.
"Oh, no ... I missed the Beatles Show !"
"She's probably still unconscious" the man said, "she worries about beetles!"
Then I realised there would be no test for me but a hospital room instead.
I smiled and that is my last memory of Thursday the 17th. in 1966.







17-03-2014