<<< XXI The little oil man
(Gelrode, around 1974) The Lions Club Aarschot organises a Saint Nicholas party every year in an orphanage in this castle. In the large drawing room the orphans and the children of Lions members are called forward one by one by Zwarte Piet to stand before Saint Nicholas. The holy man knows exactly what each child has done, good or bad, over the past year. Every year Pieter is scolded by Saint Nicholas because he has broken all sorts of things, has no sense of order, and so on and so forth. Mia and Godfried burst out laughing. The orphans do not talk to the Lions children. They stare at Pieter from the stairs, from above along the balustrade, in the great hall. Before, during and after the Saint Nicholas party Godfried stresses that his children are very lucky to have a dad and a mum.
The co-founder of the Lions Club Aarschot (1964) stands for a meaningful use of his children’s free time and seeks contacts with French and German Lions Club families. So during the summer holidays Pieter stays with the Pansieri family, main Renault dealer in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, and with the Speckgens family near Aachen. When he comes home to Aarschot at the end of August, his only wish is: to go back!
Winand Speckgens (1936-2022)
Winand was a good friend of Frie and had built up one of Germany’s largest tobacco wholesalers.
Winand Speckgens was a born entrepreneur. From a small specialist tobacconist’s shop run by his father, Wilhelm Speckgens, he built up, already as a teenager, with great drive and a strong appetite for risk during the years of the economic miracle, a tobacco wholesale business which, with its three locations, was among the leading tobacco wholesalers in Germany at the end of the 1990s. Even today the former Speckgens branches are part of a family business with a long tradition.
Erika Speckgens (1938-2024)
The Speckgens and Van Kerckhoven families regularly visit each other and enjoy wonderful winter sports together in Obergurgl.
“With household goods the newest is the best, with friendship the oldest.” – Pythagoras
“Stephan, the Speckgens son, has two basset hounds; ‘ILo und Herman’, with whom I often go for walks on Sunday afternoons.” – Pieter
Pieter in Obergurgl
Reluctantly Pieter takes ski lessons until he can handle black runs.
Frie takes Pieter to Berlin with the Lions.
Pieter at the Berlin Wall.
Checkpoint Charly (photo: Pieter)
Pieter experiences a memorable moment during a Lions visit to Berlin. “Through the Checkpoint Charly border crossing we came back to the ‘Wessis’, where I tested the vigilance of the border guards by making a run for it. A thundering ‘halt’ and a machine gun at the ready stopped me. The stay at the ‘Savoy’ in the Fasanenstraße was telling, when in the restaurant ‘Weinrot’ a fishbone from ‘dem Seeteufel mit Meerwasser, beurre blanc und grüne Erbsen’ got stuck in my throat at the sight of kissing ‘leather muscle hunks’ in front of the window. – wow, I want to do that too – Pieter
The Fernsehturm in East Berlin is on the programme (photo: André Matthijssens)
Frie does not want women in the Lions. Members are expected to wear a suit, tie and the Lions Club pin, otherwise they get bad marks. Frie demands annual gala dinners in evening dress.
“With lobster you always make a mess. That is why I gave Father silver napkin clips with a chain” – Pieter (photo: 2002)
Doctor in Aarschot, coming from Mechelen – Stéphane Halleux – This Belgian artist, as crazy as he is brilliant, transforms ordinary objects into extraordinary characters. (Paris, 2025)
(around 1982) At an evening party a doctor, originally from Mechelen but with a general practice in Aarschot, mocks “the common folk of Aarschot”. Godfried reacts fiercely at once: “If Aarschot is not chic or not good enough for you, you should have stayed in Mechelen. We people of Aarschot did not ask you to come and settle here. But the money you receive every day from the ordinary people of Aarschot, you are not squeamish about that.” An icy silence follows and the incident goes on resonating among the citizens of Aarschot for years.
Pieter’s tribute to his father in clumsy Italian (Naples, 2025)
« Avoir une autre langue, c’est posséder une deuxième âme. » – Charlemagne
« La capacité de parler plusieurs langues est un atout, mais celle de fermer sa gueule est inestimable. » – Jean Gabin
« Je me presse de rire de tout, de peur d’être obligé d’en pleurer » – Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais
XXIII Turn off that greasy telly >>>