| Rheindahlen | ||
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Not
far from Mönchengladbach in Germany is a place called Rheindahlen.
It's a garrison town, colonised
by the army, our army. My mum, dad and brothers lived here for
a year, just after I was born, and this is where my first memories
were formed.
There are some photographs at my dad's house of all of us at the pool. This pool has since become the true pool of my imagination, the first pool, so let me describe it to you. It's outdoors, hundreds of people lounge on the grass surrounding the pool, or pools plural I should say, because this is a whole complex of them. The sky and the water are the same colour. Swimsuits are all bright acid colours. Mothers and children, fathers and children, kids everywhere. White skin turning pink in the hot sun. Towels and picnics. Arched showers and footbaths. There are high diving platforms, kids leaping from every available surface. The mass of water spreads in front of you, cool and clear in the overheated afternoon. |
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