My Grandfather was a shoe repair craftsman with a shoe selling shop in the south off the Netherlands in Hilvarenbeek

 (or was it Lage of Hoge Mierde? I have to ask some relatives.) and later in Reusel Noord-Brabant.

 During world war II he repaired the boots and jackets off the german enemy

 and got bread/vegetables/foodcoupons  as payment for it.

 In the evenings he brought the food to the attic where he had hidden some Canadian paratroopers!

 My father was also a shoe repairman with next to it a shoe selling shop at the Slijkstraat in Weesp.

 An uncle of mine had/has two shoe shops in Noord Brabant.

 When I was a kid at primary school and it was too rainy to play outside with my friends,

 I often went to my father's shoerepairshop and looked at how the shoes were repaired

 And shined some shoes,

 So at young age I already knew how it was done to repair shoes and leather bags and jackets.

 At the age of seventeen I could not get any lesson at highschool anymore in my head,

 (too much problems at home caused by the divorce settlement fights of my parents

 and me being at a wrong too high levelled school forced sended to by my parents)

 I decided to visit an old acquaintance who worked for my parents in the shoerepairshop for many years a long time ago.

 He knew me as a kid and was always kind to me.

 I visited him at the Anegang in Haarlem where he worked in a fast shoe repair shop in a beautiful old building

 with expensive antique rounded windows owned by the Family Kerkhof.

 When I explained him everything he straight away called the boss and I was hired!

 I had a good time there!

After a year I got an offer to be a mannager off a shoe repairshop in Amstelveen ( expensive area in Amsterdam)

and took it, but it was not a real good deal, I was still too young.

The army drafted me and a lovely lady from California vissited me, she saved my life.

The dutch army kicked me out after 7weeks and I was on the streets, realy no place to go, I had to survive.

I rented a small room at the top floor off a house under the roof (6.25 sqare meter but I was happy with it!!)

 in Weesp near the city hall at  "Nieuwstraat 47 Weesp" and payed the old landlady cash every week.

I lived there for allmost three years.

The second wife off my father gave me her adress so hereby I want to say again thanks for that.

that thought kept me alive all the years to come.

I put an add in the national shoerepairshopownersmagazine (businesspress) that I was looking for work.

Hakky in Amsterdam reacted and I worked for them for several weeks.

My chef Chris told me that they would fire me after the vacation period  so I just had a good time and saw how the big money was made by fooling

the custumers!! I was too honoust and they realy were using me to fill up the gapp during vacation time for other workers in the compagny Hakky.

Another shoe repair shop owner called me (Den Ouden Utrechtsestraat 17 Amersfoort) and I worked there 3 years long.

 More later, every mont or so I will add more days off my life and will go deeper into things with spicy details!

 23 more years to come, please visit me back soon!

This page is a part off my site in english language ; http://www.hankyswebsite.nl/Shoe_Repair_Hanky.html