I presume a solar powered rucksack might be useful for charging things on the go…
But, when you live in Brussels, it’s probably not worth the initial outlay.
Admittedly, it’s quite sunny at the moment, but this guy has been parading round in this for months…
Tags: bag, belgium, solar power
I can’t remember the reason, but I once spent a long time looking up the word owl in French (I was looking in the wrong side of the dictionary, sssh!). Once I had confirmed that OWL = HIBOU, I finally understood why there is an owl on the giant vending machine Hiboo Shop* at Gare du Midi.
The Owl Shop
Once I had made this discovery, I spent a long time pondering why it was called the Owl Shop. It’s a vending machine, it’s open all night… like an OWL!!!
*It’s spelt wrong because the Os are the eyes of the owl. I had to find a picture to confirm the O situation, and the fact that the owl was involved in the make up of the name. Oh yes, we go to great lengths to provide you with the facts here!!!
Tags: brussels, gare du midi, owl, shop
Kim Clijsters - Quite likes tennis
On our road there’s a clothes shop who’s most notable features are the R&B being pumped out of the speakers and the red carpet they’ve laid across the pavement.
On his walk home the other night, my boyfriend spotted some guys in their fifties, one standing on the carpet, singing along and conducting to an invisible orchestra and the other watching his friend while clutching a half drunk bottle of rosé.
On another day I spotted a group of drunks wandering along the road, trying to open a bottle of wine at 8am.
Maybe there should be a sub-category for ‘Belgian Drunks of the Week’ – the ordinary people don’t stand a chance at the moment!
Tanks!!
Spotted in a lift at the Commission some time ago.
Tags: belgium, european commission, tanks
Le Maitre
A couple of years ago, my boyfriend went on a teambuilding day to quite possibly the most Belgian place I’ve ever seen: Fort Adventure.
Look at this guy; he lives there!! Or, you know, works there… one of the two…
In fact, he’s the Maître. I think my favourite thing about him is the Arran jumper he’s wearing under his rags. Apparently he was very scary in real life. With his rags, he looks a bit like the (boy dressed as a) dragon we used to parade around on May Day at school. This brings back many bad memories, not least the fact that I wasn’t allowed to dance around the maypole because I was too clumsy.
Ben showed me pictures of the whole day and aside from the red boiler suits (just pictured) that the maître forced them to wear it reminds me of a particularly unhappy school trip I once took (once again, clumsiness was an issue). I was forced to walk along ropes between trees and canoe. I have no hand eye coordination. It was horrible. I got stuck in the middle of the lake. Ugh. Oh god, I just remembered – we had to sleep in tents. Shudder…
Fort Adventure seemed much more civilised, they had champagne before they had to do anything scary and some of it was indoors which means it scores highly with me. Also, it only lasted half a day so they could head off for a barbecue before any lasting damage was done.
Seriously, this guy may beat the Mini Europe tortue as my favourite Belgian.
Tags: belgium, fort adventure, team building
Metro
Ah, the Metro. So much to love (well, so much material for blog posts). Unfortunately, so much to hate…
This week saw a sudden strike called by the employees of STIB/MIVB because of an incident on Monday, where a driver was attacked by a passenger. The strike took place on Tuesday, and it achieved its aim of cocking up everyone’s lives. It was especially effective since nobody was aware there was going to be a strike until they arrived at their metro stations.
Later on Tuesday it emerged that, in fact, the driver threw the first punch of the twenty minute brawl.
Nice one, STIB.
I would be more sympathetic to the security worries of these people if STIB was a bit more concerned about the security and safety of passengers. It is commonly advised that you should avoid using the Metro, or at the very least, the quieter stations, late at night; even during daylight hours, pickpockets are not uncommon; drivers frequently run through red lights on the line, requiring them to slam on the brakes a few seconds later (and knock standing passengers flying); and finally, the drivers frequently slam the doors shut on people, refusing to open them again, and leaving them squirming to get either into or out of the train.
On the plus side, they do play some rather catchy music on the platforms, and they hardly ever check your tickets!
A Belgian with a Moustache
We saw a brilliant drunk recently. He was hanging round outside Pull and Bear on Avenue Louise, clutching his can of lager (probably Jupiler) commenting on passers-by. We escaped without comment, but only because he’d outdone himself with the guy in front:
‘Oh look, he’s got a big moustache and everything… It’s nice…’
It was an enormous handlebar moustache. Nice, if that’s your thing.
Belgian drunks: surprisingly complimentary.
