In the early morning, Vera van den Berg (63) dives into the Seghwaert shopping center with a bag of crocheted work and a kitchen ladder. There she provides the trunk of the tree, in the middle of the shopping area square, with a new sock and hangs decorations on the branches. “The florist only knew that I was behind this a year ago.”
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Due to her fear of heights, her sons Daniël (26) and Adriaan (29) help her hang the crochet work. They take turns climbing up the kitchen steps or standing on the tree bench to help their mother. “Daniël or Adriaan holds the sock tightly around the trunk so that I can sew it up. We usually do this on a Sunday morning when no one is in the mall yet. I don’t really need to be in the spotlight.”
The shopping center is collapsing
Vera has lived behind the shopping center for twenty years and knows many local residents. She thinks the shopping center has deteriorated in recent years. “Every day I drank coffee on the terrace of the café together with shopkeepers and local residents. Social control was great, because if a neighbor was suddenly not there, we warned someone to go check on them. After the departure of the previous café owner and the closure of Bruna, we no longer have a central place in the shopping center to meet. This means that contact in the neighborhood has disappeared.”
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Flag garland in corona time
The then owner of the Bruna store, Karin, celebrated the business’s twentieth anniversary in 2020. But it was corona time, so it was not possible to have a party. “I felt so sorry for her,” says Vera. So she decided to crochet a bunting and make a congratulatory sign. She hung it on the tree across from the store to surprise her. “They, but also the residents, enjoyed it so much that I decided to do this more often. A place where people can come together for a chat or to eat a sandwich.”
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Always a different theme
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A few times a year Vera comes up with a different theme for the tree decorations. At Christmas time she makes penguins and snowballs, and when the Netherlands plays football she makes a red, white and blue sock for the tribe. “In autumn and winter I hang crocheted garlands and figures in the branches. But in the spring and summer I leave the green branches alone.” Local residents sometimes sit with Vera to decide what the next theme will be. “I then keep my mouth shut, because then the surprise is all the greater. I often don’t know what I’m going to make until the last minute.”
Local residents sometimes find themselves fishing for what will grow in the tree
Disappeared into the night
Between two themes, the tree is bare, according to Vera. “At home I crochet a new sock for the trunk and make tree hangers from old CDs, for example. I love crocheting and knitting. It’s something from the past: Every weekend I would do needlework with my mother and grandmother.”
Once, Vera made spinners for the branches together with the people from the Zoetermeer crochet café. “One night they were taken from the tree and taken away. It made me sick for days. But I didn’t like it, so I made new ones again.”
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What a crazy woman
Despite the many positive reactions from local residents, Vera continues to find it exciting to see whether her new crochet work will turn out well. “I do crafts at home, but once in the shopping center it is always a surprise how it looks on the tree.” In the beginning, Vera took into account negative reactions such as ‘what a crazy woman’. But she now knows that people from the neighborhood really appreciate her work. “Neighbor Joop was my big fan and always came to watch. Before his death, I gave the lamppost in front of his house a red coat especially for him. He thought it was wonderful.”
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Who is the next Zoetermeer of the week?
Do you also have a special story? Or do you know a Zoetermeer resident who we really should interview? Let us know via [email protected]. Several Zoetermeer residents preceded you!