I left my hotel and walked swiftly towards the underpass, taking a quick view of the cube houses before descending the flight of stairs to the Blaak Metro station. As efficient as a local, I used the automated terminal to get my ticket for the approximate 3-minute journey to Rotterdam Central. Given over 160 trains are running this route daily, I wasn’t worried about my timing. However, the following travel section was a 45-minute train journey along the 58km route to Tilburg. With fewer trains on this route, I wanted to ensure I had ample time to get my train ticket and arrive ahead of the scheduled meeting.
He suggested we meet at the ‘LocHal’ Public Library next to the Tilburg train station, the halfway point between my hotel and his home. Our meeting time was 11:00 am. My train was due to arrive at 10:30 am when the train abruptly stopped 40 minutes into the journey. A mumbled voice came over the announcement system — presumably providing some information about the situation — but the mumbling was also in Dutch, the more significant barrier to my lack of understanding. Then after about 15 minutes, as quickly as it had stopped, the train revved up again, delivering me to Tilburg with a mere 5 minutes to find the library.
The LocHal library is a former locomotive shed for the local national railway company. It’s an industrial design made into an inviting space accented with colourful areas painted in red and orange hues to facilitate a study group or access a quiet spot to read or, like me, meet a stranger to chat about a mutual topic of interest. I secured a table in the library café facing the entrance to watch as strangers entered and hoped to recognize Wim Daniëls, the stranger I was meeting.
About five weeks earlier, I received an email from Wim:
“A very interesting project you have about/with Karl Creelman. I found your blog today when I was busy finding out how many women and men cycled (more or less) around the world before and around the year 1900. I did that because I’m writing a book about a Dutch man who made two ‘grand tours’ on a bicycle between 1895 and 1898. His name is Albert Sutherland Royaards.”
The timing of the email was serendipitous as I had plans to travel to the Netherlands in the coming month. I responded to Wim immediately, asking if he would be interested in meeting in person to share insights on our related project.
So this is how it came to be that I was now sitting in the LocHal library, keeping my eyes on the entrance, waiting to meet Wim.
And yes, dear reader, I knew what he looked like. After my email requesting to meet, I immediately googled Wim Daniëls. If I had googled Wim first, I might not have been as bold to suggest a meeting as he is impressive and has some incredible accomplishments. Let’s just say that Wim Daniëls has his own Wikipedia page!
I bolted up from where I was waiting when he entered the library to introduce myself, and we exchanged general pleasantries while settling at a table. Then Wim commenced with some questions for me: How did I discover Karl? What type of research did I complete? What documentation is available? Did Karl write a book? Will I write a book? Etc. I responded to the questions in gusto, expanding the answers to include more details, facts and anecdotes about Karl. I rarely gave myself time to breathe as it’s not often that I have such a genuine, captivated listener, keen to hear about this passion project.
Then I turned the tables, and I asked Wim about Albert. How did you discover Albert? What type of research did you complete? What documentation is available? Did Albert write a book? Will you write a book? Etc. Wim responded with equal gusto, sharing the story about Albert.
Our time together flew by. My questions about Albert morphed into questions about Wim, and I found his life story even more interesting than Albert’s. Wim is accomplished in the fields of creative arts, linguistics and writing. From teacher to writer to language consultant to a lecturer to cabaret performer to TV presenter to board game creator. With over 123 published books to his credit, from the first Dutch “COVID-19 romance”, to a children’s book about Vincent Van Gogh, to a book about villages in the Netherlands in the 1950s, which then became a TV series starring Wim. Being talented is an understatement when describing Wim. Underscoring again for me how lucky and appreciative I was of his time with me.
But I was not the only one keen to be in Wim’s company, as his talents are in high demand throughout the Netherlands. As it happened, later that afternoon, Wim was performing in a one-person "lecture-style" show after our meeting. Before going our separate ways, he kindly obliged my request for some photos of us together with a bicycle in the background. Considering we were in the Netherlands, there were countless options for us to pose with bicycles, capturing a moment as we went our separate ways.
So what about the story of Albert? Well, dear reader, you’ll have to wait till next week!
In case you’ve missed them, click here for more Karl Chronicles