Ten-year-old Lupi calmly sends the water hose over the Renault Clio on Sunday. It is the first time she washes her father’s car. She usually stays in the car when they go through the car wash, but because of Father’s Day, the tables have turned and the car wash is also completely free. “We wanted to do something fun for fathers on this day,” says Piet van Beurden of the Tilburg car wash.
Lupi received free coins from him to start the machine. Her father looks on with satisfaction. Of course, Rob Wolters also received a nice drawing from Lupi very early on Sunday. And chocolate and a book about the Rolling Stones. But this Father’s Day surprise makes the day complete. It just takes Lupi the effort.
“My father died two years ago and after that I took over this car wash from him,” explains Piet van Beurden. “He always handed out presents on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. trifles. A flower for mothers or a pair of socks for fathers.” He continues a tradition with the free laundry promotion. “Children don’t have to be afraid of chemicals in the car shampoo here, because we are the only one in the Netherlands to use environmentally friendly soap.”
Rob Wolters watches with satisfaction as his daughter washes away the dirt from a six hundred kilometer return trip to Friesland in a concentrated manner. Every now and then she recoils from the force of the beam, but then she pulls herself together and, with both hands on the handle, she takes care of the wheels. “Wow, I’m totally impressed”, says Rob when the job is done. Lupi himself is also satisfied. “But I mostly liked it,” she says.