LIFE ON VESTERBRO - with Music – Song – and Dance

When I listen to Carl Alstrup singing “Manden Paa Risten”  I can get quite emotional, because it brings back memories of me walking down Vesterbrogade to Tivoli.

Before entering Tivoli, I always lingered a bit at the Wivex Resturant – next door to Tivoli where homeless men would sit in front on the street.

There where grills in the sidewalk that brought up heat and delicious food odors from the restaurant.

My life on Vesterbro started when my parents split up in 1947.

My parents had been married for twenty years when my Dad left the family and married Sigrid Olsen April 1947. Sigrid Olsen was sister to Karla Olsen who was married to my Mom’s stepbrother, so it was a further insult to my Mom.

My parents had survived the Second World War and now that things were getting better, their marriage fell apart. They had to sell our house in Taarnby and my Mom, my sister Birgit and I moved to Vesterbro in Copenhagen. My Dad moved to Frederiksberg.

I was placed in 5^th grade in Enghave Plads skole, but I missed my Taarnby Skole so much that my Mom would let me go back and finish grade five in Taarnby. When the weather was good, I biked the ten kilometers every day and I never regretted going there.

Nevertheless, I entered Enghave Plads School in “Mellemskolen” – middle school - and graduated from Enghave Plads Skole 1953. The one thing I liked about Enghave Plads school was the foreign languages we learned. I loved  foreign languages and actually wanted to be a teacher in foreign languages; but after school was finished my Mom placed me in Adam’s Transport company as a Bookkeeping apprentice for three years.

 Enghave Plads

I loved going to Enghave Plads Park to watch the beauty there and especially the birds.

I loved birdwatching so much that my Dad bought me a book about birds.

Enghave Plads was an interesting place in itself.  Often there was music by “The Salvation Army”.  I liked listening to their music.  It was a quiet place – a total different atmosphere than when you entered Istedgade from Enghave Plads. One felt SAFE at Enghave Plads.

Vesterbro became a whole new experience for me and now that I look back, I can see that it made me learn and experience so many things that I quite likely would not had had if we had stayed in Taarnby.

Since my Mom and my sister were working most of the time and I seemed to have difficulty finding friends, I spent a lot of time by myself.

 As a matter of fact, I was bullied a lot when I moved to Vesterbro.  The boys would make fun of me because I had “red afro hair”.  They would tie me up to telephone poles and dance around me like Indians making a sacrifice.

I was never good at team sports, so at school when we had to play “Langbold” they preferred not having me on the team. So, I would sit “on the bench”.

Result was that – besides from my seven-year-older sister Birgit – I spent a LOT of time alone.

My Mom would purchase me season tickets to Tivoli for summer time and The Royal Theatre for the winter time. I also spent a lot of time at “The National Museum”, Glyptoteket and all the other museums in Copenhagen.

It never did enter my mind that I was actually getting an education in my free time. Now that I am old, I realize that my mom knew exactly what she was doing. I loved history in school and of course going to the museums regularly helped my grades a lot.

SUMMER TIMES ON VESTERBRO

In the summertime’s, I spent most of my “growing-up-time” on Gasvœrkshavnen  swimming.

Bade ved Langelinje

I LOVED swimming and many, many days I spent all day in the water.  I took swimming lessons and ended up with my lifeguard certificate, but never did work as a lifeguard.  It was enough for me just to know that could do it.

I especially liked swimming underneath the water.  I practiced holding my breath as long as possible.

When I got a little older I became a “Viking Swimmer”, which meant that we had to start swimming 1^st of April.  It was cold, but it was a challenge and I liked that.

I also liked biking a lot and one time biked all the way to Prœstø. About 80 km.

NO BATHROOM AT THOME

Regular baths at home were not available.  We only had a hallway, a kitchen and two rooms to live in. We did not have a “private” bathroom nor toilet in our apartment.  There was a toilet “outside” the apartment on each floor which had to be shared with the neighbor.

So, in the wintertime, when I could not go swimming my Mom sent me “once a week” to the public “Badeanstalt”.  A public “bathing place” where you could purchase a shower or a sauna.

We would get a little bunch of “trœuld” which was a little lump of rough wood pieces and a piece of soap to wash our bodies with before we went in to the shower. There was no privacy at all.  There could be 30-40 women and girls there to have “a bath”. Nevertheless, I really liked the sauna and to feel clean all over my body.

MY MOM and MY SISTER BIRGIT

MY MOM AND MY SISTER BIRGIT

It was always nice when my mom and my sister was home.  Then I was very happy. They were my family and my strength and Birgit became like “a second Mom to me” the rest of my life.

They both were good cooks and I loved – and still do – eating. As a matter of fact, my mom was such a good cook that she often did catering for small parties for people in their homes and she would take me along to help serve.

Birgit was also a good cook and at the time I could easy eat “10” of her frikadeller.

Sometimes we would run down to the butcher – which had a corner store in the basement just below us – and purchase some “Dansk smørrebrød” – open face sandwiches.  Wow, that was a treat.

When Birgit was home we would go places together.  Besides walking down Istedgade and Vesterbrogade -  when I got a little older -  we would go dancing at the evening restaurants and Cafees.

ARTS AND CRAFTS WERE A PART OF THIS DANISH GIRLS LIFE

My Mom was very crafty and did a lot of sewing.  She had an old treadle sewing machine and when I was 12 years old she started to teach me how to sew clothes.  By 13 I made my first dress.  Boy was I proud of that.

Mom and me loved to sit in the evening – when she was finally home in the evening and look through patterns and magazines with knitting and crochet patterns etc.

Girls actually learned sewing in school from around grade 3 and sewing, knitting and crochet and other crafts were something a girl “you grew up with” as being just a normal part of life in Denmark

WORKING PART TIME.

When I turned 14 I started working at the local library.  I really liked not only working at the library, because I liked earning money, but I liked reading.

My job was to put books away when people were finished reading them, so I got to know a lot of titles on books. I also borrowed a lot of books and was very curious about life and eventually about “boys” since I knew nothing about them.

THE MUSIC CONTINUED

One things that my mother brought in to my life and which has made a very strong footprint on me forever, was her love for music.

Every day we would listen to music on the radio and then we would dance around in our apartment. Music and dancing are inbred in my brain and soul and I still love both.

She eventually cut a record – which unfortunately broke in 1970 – just before I had hoped to put it on a tape.

My mind is full of songs that she would sing: “Glemmer Du” and “ Sig De Ord Du Ved” with   Liva Veel. Whenever I think about my mom – the word music – comes next.

I will never forget when we went to a concert to listen, hear and see “Louis Armstrong”.  That was a highlight of both of our lives.

When I got a little older, Birgit would take me dancing on Friday nights at the small cafes.

AFTERTHOUGHT

Yes, I must admit that even though life was not always easy, I have many fond memories of my life on Vesterbro.

Vibeke Lindhardt

31 March 2017