Tag: Belgium

Courtesy of David Massart, whose office in Brussels I’m visiting today (with a view out my window of the Greek Embassy, of all things), a couple of shots of me getting stuck into a tarte à citron. The Greek Embassy through mesh: The Greek flag in closeup, through mesh and artificially enhanced. (Or the Shroud […]

OK, one anecdote while I’m still shifting back to my normal, antipodean, boring lifestyle. Remember gueuze? I had, as you’ll recollect, formed an unhealthy attachment to this most excellent of lambics when I was in Brussels. On the evening of July 9, I was back in Brussels from Athens, in order to fly out the […]

Well, I’m not posting this from Brussels but on arriving in London, coz damned if I’m going to pay TWENTY MOTHERLOVING EURO for four hours’ internet at Zaventem Flemish Airport, to be consumed in an hour. I don’t care if work does pay for it. I’m so disgusted, I think I’ll fly across the English […]

This is written the following day, so it will be telescoped. Work today, at the workshop I was signed up to attend. Didn’t say much during the workshop, and Nigel (who was speaking) had to prod words out of me in public at the end. I am shy and retiring when I’m in an unfamiliar […]

Euh, one of the results of growing old is that one gets bored of doing tourism fairly quickly; I ran out of steam soon after Grand Place. The highlights of the peremptory tour of Brussels were: The Lonely Planet guide got ignored fairly soon, as I got disoriented. Brussels is tatty and pleasant. A disordinate […]

Of course, the flight was delayed a further 1.5 hrs — by the time I got to the hotel, it was 10 pm. Crashed at 11, woke up at 3, crashed at 6 again, woke up at 9. Hope that’s not a promise of things to come. Massive noise outside my room around 11 pm; […]

Derailed by Dubya The flight over from Hong Kong was the usual zombie-generating hell, like any transoceanic flight really. There were bouts of sleep, wakefulness, and sojourns of drinking blood (there was a nice documentary on The Doors’ first album, which helped with the latter.) In between, I managed to catch up with some Australian […]

Boarding the flight to London in Melbourne, I overhear the couple with baby in front of me discussing with airport staff their transit to Brussels. The following conversation ensues: ME: Oh, so you’re going on to Brussels too. GUY: Yah. ME: My commiserations. *blink* GUY: ˈæktʊəliː, ai hiːr ɪt ɪz ə ˈwʊndəɹfuːl destɪˈneːʃən. ME: Oh. […]