Haarlem and Amsterdam
Amsterdam is Anton's new home, and he knows it more than Haarlem, but only in a way that one knows someone's face better than one's own. This means that the home in Haarlem Anton was forced to leave behind is his face, where he came from and who he is even though he didn't get a lot of chances to get to know that face.
A dying man
Amsterdam post-war is compared to a dying man that suddenly opens his eyes and comes back to life. Dying city has regained its life and is slowly recuperating itself.
Paper airplanes
Anton isn't much interested in national politics, very much to the disappointment of his father-in-law, or in politics in general. They mean as much to him as paper airplanes to a plane crush survivors which means that he tries to steer clear of them as much as possible.
Present
Anton contemplates the passage of time. To most, the future is in the front and past in the back. The present varies based on personalities. To some it is a ship that drives through the rough seas of future and to others it is a draft drifting along with the tide.
