Foreign Insulators
by Marilyn Albers
Reprinted from "Crown Jewels of the Wire", August 1990, page 4
CAROL AND MARILYN CONDUCT INSULATOR
RESEARCH TRIP ON FOREIGN SOIL
PART I
Carol McDougald and I finally did what we had talked about and dreamed about
doing long before any plans actually materialized. We flew to Europe, rented a
car, and spent a full month traveling around in search of neat insulators and
any new information we could find about the companies that made them. We visited
six countries in all -- Holland, West Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland,
Spain and the island of Majorca, which is really part of Spain. With address
book in hand we were able to locate five major European insulator manufacturers
and talk with someone at the management level who gave us catalogs and
brochures. In a couple of cases we were given the name of their Public Relations
person who could provide historical background information on the company if we
would write a follow up letter when we returned to the States.
Large electric
companies, such as Intercom of Belgium, gladly gave us the names of smaller
towns in the area where supplies of insulators were kept in the storage yards of
local electric companies under their jurisdiction. We found some of our best
pieces in their dumpsters!!
Since neither Carol nor I spoke any foreign
language, except for a few words, we were fortunate that there was always
someone who spoke enough English so we could communicate. We told them we were
doing research on European manufacturers and the various styles of insulators
they produced; and of course we would be pleased if they had any samples for us!
Without exception we found that these people were interested and cooperative.
We'd like to share our adventures with you, and since this would be far too much
for one article, our story will be divided into several parts.
Bon Voyage! Marilyn and Carol awaiting departure.
On Thursday April 12, 1990, Carol and I were to leave together from Chicago
on KLM's late afternoon flight to Amsterdam. Earlier that day, as I waited at
Houston Intercontinental Airport to board my plane to Chicago to join Carol, I
had a horrible thought. I never thought I would tell this on myself, but I'm going
to. Maybe I can be of consolation to somebody out there in readerdom
who also does dumb things. I realized that I had forgotten to pack any pajamas
or extra underwear! What I was wearing was all I had with me. With only minutes
to spare, I phoned Carol's house in St. Charles and left a frantic message on
her answering machine, requesting temporary replacements for the missing under
pinnings and hoped I was in time to catch her.
I needn't have worried. When I
saw Carol at O'Hare Airport, she stopped laughing long enough to assure me that
all was well. So as we sat in the coffee shop waiting for her husband John to
come and give us a proper send off, I got to choose which ones to take with me.
John obligingly took the extras back home in his suit coat pockets. All this was
good for a few curious stares.
On Friday, April 13th at 7:15 a.m., we arrived at
Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, looking forward eagerly to meeting our hosts for
the weekend -- Ans and Herman Galesloot and their two sons Guido and Olaf. This
delightful family lives in the city of Utrecht, which is south of Amsterdam. We
soon spotted Guido and his girlfriend Christel, who was holding up a sign with
the letters D.N.I.A. You know -- DUTCH NIA.!!! Well, that was very special.
Christel greets Marilyn and Carol with her
"D.N.I.A." sign at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.
Ans
and Herman have quite a large collection of insulators that they have gathered
over a few years time. Several have come off of abandoned houses or were picked
up along the roadsides as the family bicycled through France, Spain,
and Portugal. It was fun watching Ans unwrap our gifts of American and
Australian insulators, and she was just as delighted to show us the special
shelf in their garage where they had saved all their duplicates for us to take
home. Guido gave us several signs from his collection too which we were very
happy to have. It was like Christmas! What a great way to trade. Carol then
presented Ans with a Crown Jewels of the Wire ribbon for "the best
insulator display in Holland"!!
Ans has another interesting collection. She
saves the squares of decorative tissue that come wrapped around citrus fruits
shipped to Holland from other countries. She has all these in notebooks, each
one smoothed out carefully and enclosed in a vinyl sheet protector. We could not
have imagined the variety of colors and designs. They are just beautiful!
Events
took a bit of a twist that first night in Holland. It is a known fact that Dutch
steps are notoriously steep and narrow. The Galesloot household had such a
flight of stairs and if you are not used to them, fail to turn on the lights,
don't anticipate the curve half way down to notice the lack of a railing at that
point -- guess what is apt to happen? You got it! Marilyn took her "Fosbury
Flop" (made famous by the Olympic high-jumper of the same name) and tumbled
to the bottom, breaking both bones in her left wrist. How to be a welcome guest!
But thank goodness, if it had to happen, it was while we were with Ans and Herman, who were able to get medical help quickly. Everyone seemed to take it
in stride and I wore a full arm cast for the remainder of the trip, doing
everything one-handed. This meant Carol had double duty for most of what had to
be done, and I want to tell you she was a really good sport!
Carol presenting Ans with her Crown Jewels of the Wire ribbon.
Ans proudly displays her collection of glass and porcelain
Citrus fruit wrapper collection belonging to Ans
In spite of the mishap, before we left
Holland, we showed Ans and Herman how to make shadow profiles of their new
insulator finds and we drove with them through the beautiful Dutch countryside
taking in windmills at Kinderdijk and a fabulous tulip farm at Keukenhof. It had
all been precious time spent and it was hard to say goodbye to our new found
friends who had opened their home and their hearts to us. But is was time to go
on.......
Early Monday morning, April 16, our white Ford Escort headed toward Krefeld,
West Germany, where we planned to stop and see Marco Schmitz-LeHanne, a young
collector who had been corresponding with Mike Guthrie (Madera, California) for
well over a year.
But I must save this for Part II because there is much to
tell, not only about our visit with Marco, but also a tour through a unique
electrical museum and some exciting new information concerning the VEGLA glass
works of Aachen. By way of a sneak preview, let me introduce Marco Schmitz-LeHanne.
Here he is shown enjoying the first issue of his gift subscription to Crown
Jewels of the Wire magazine, compliments of Carol. Watch for the next
chapter....
Marco Schmitz-LeHanne of Krefeld, West Germany
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