Our parish church in Arnhem was a majestic gothic structure with beautiful glass in lead windows. Attending mass at St Joseph's for the first time was a bit unsettling, as the service was held in two adjoining classrooms of the school. The sermon went over my head, to be honest my english was rather basic, but the prayers during the mass sounded familiar, thanks to the latin. After the 'Deo gratias', we volunteered to put the school-desks back again and the partitions in their place. The introduction and the chat with the parish priest, Father Elliot, had the effect of a bombshell on me. The man of God approached me in Dutch, but what came over his lips were a couple profanities (GVD) he apparently picked up while interned in a Japanese concentration camp in Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia). The Dutch couple in this picture are old friends, their child being baptised. John had a bad start in the first year of his arrival, he lost an eye in an accident at work.