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Henning Wehn

Ever wondered why you never hear Henning Wehn talking about aardvarks?

The inside cover of this dictionary would have probably told you it’s the property of Theodor Heuss Gymnasium, Hagen, and must be returned. But the cover has long gone. Along with any words before ‘acrylic’. And even extensive gaffer tape usage didn’t prevent what’s left from splitting into three parts. Not that the book’s less than ideal condition deters me from consulting it on an almost daily basis.

It’s a habit I must have inherited from my father, whose most trusted frame of reference was his 1954 issue of Knaurs Lexikon. This led to bizarre situations when playing Scrabble, such as when I was told there’s clearly no such thing as ‘internet’ as otherwise it would be in his encyclopaedia.

His self-imposed ignorance is exactly what I’m striving for, too. “Aardvark?! Nah, mate, don’t exist.”

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Hugo

This watch has two sides so you can wear it either way. It was given to me by my daughter ten years ago when she was 15. It’s manual so I have to keep winding it. My daughter still lives in Madrid but she visits me often.

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Joy

These are knick knacks I bought in Greece when I was working there teaching English to children in a family in the 1970s. It was a difficult time then; there was a military regime and a great deal of student unrest, real bullets and tear gas were used in the demonstrations. There was a curfew and we had to be in by 9pm. I couldn’t speak the language but I had a wonderful time and I’d love to go back. I keep these in a glass cabinet at home.

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Khelan

I was born in North of Iraq, Kurdistan then my family and I moved to the Netherlands. It reminds me when I was a child making a snowman. My mother took the photo from the window. I’ll give it to my daughter.

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