ALL ANTWERP. “I used to have a pub in Borgerhout” (Antwerp)
Every day our reporter and photographer pick a casual passer-by off the street for a nice conversation. Want everyone has a story. And certainly in Antwerp. Today: François Mols (74).
I first went for a walk in Deurne and then I took the tram from Berchem Station to Linkeroever. And now I’ve walked through the pedestrian tunnel five times already. I am focused on Sint-Anneke. That’s why I like to come back here. That wasn’t quiet in the years, was it. Then we went to Borgerhout. My parents have a cafe there in the Statielei and I later took it over. That was a small farm cafe: Café Stoopken. Then I also have a lot in the gazette stood. We organize carnival in Borgerhout and round races. And there were performances by Tony Bell and Luc Caals. A real people’s cafe, then. I stopped doing it 23 years ago. I also worked on the harbour. I kept the cafe open after my shift, but in the long run that becomes a bit much.”
“Now I am mostly walking. I decided for myself that I need to move more. It’s been really bad lately. If I took a thousand steps in a week, so to speak, it was already a lot. And now I have such a pedometer. Yesterday I took 22,000 steps. Now I’m already at 8152. So I’m going to hit 10,000 steps today.” coat