Surroundings

The Mussengang characters frequently undertook excursions into the surrounding countryside. For example, to Café Hammingh in Garnwerd (28), where sisters Mathilde (bottom right) and Yvette de Bruyne talked about love. Or to the Reitdiep canal (29), where squatter Fredje impressed his housemates with his skating skills; or to Sauwerd (30), home of writer Luuk Hajema. Annie Stortemelk had to switch trains in Sauwerd after accidentally taking the train to Roodeschool on her way to Delfzijl to visit her aunt Trui.

A special mention should be made of the drawing in which Annie Stortemelk crashes into a cyclist while driving the handsome Citroën DS of housemate Stanley Druiprek (bottom right) (31). The incident occurs in Garnwerd, on the bridge over the Reitdiep canal.

The unfortunate cyclist is Tammo Tamsma, biology teacher at the Martinuscollege secondary school and passionate cyclist. This illustration (32) appeared in parallel in Nieuwsblad van het Noorden, the newspaper for which Bert Cornelius and writers Luuk Hajema, Frank den Hollander, and Peter Bügel created the Ripperda serial in 1992-1993, featuring Tammo Tamsma and his family. Soon after the start of this serial, Tammo’s daughter Isabel moves to a rented student room. Guess where? In Mussengang House, of course.