7 posts tagged “belgium”

As soon as we heard the explosions we ran towards the window. Possibly not the right thing to do but humans seem run towards danger and we are all human. We didn't see what exploded but we could all see the black smoke coming from the burning tyres. The protest was over the imminent closure of some of Poland's shipyards because European Union rules prevent state aid.

It must be summer. Not only has the temperature been up close to 30°C (86°F/303K) today but the man in front of me in the queue at the supermarket was buying a bottle of Mateus Rose. I have distinct memories of being allowed a glass of Mateus while on a summer holiday to the Algarve as a child. I thoroughly enjoyed it and while Mateus has gone out of fashion since the late 70s or early 80s I still enjoy it.

Olof and I popped into l'Atellier just after lunch as he wanted to ask about a booking for a party. While he was chatting with the people at the front desk I took this snap of the door to their toilets. Frankly, it fits the area of the city beautifully and makes it far less likely that anyone dining there will be caught short.

Lord Kitchener famously called millions of young men into the trenches to die saving "plucky little Belgium" from the Kaiser. It was a tremendously successful poster and led so many men to their deaths that when the Americans joined the wholesale slaughter of WWI in 1917 they just copied the poster and Americanised it.

This evening, as I walked home from work I passed the poster below. It's worth noting that the poster is in English, the language used by the Belgian military. I can only assume that the Belgians are so concerned about their internal difficulties that they've decided to gather up a posse and go and invade somewhere. Belgium only borders four countries and one of them, France, has nuclear weapons and so makes a very poor target. Two others, the Netherlands and Germany, don't have nuclear weapons but have significantly larger populations and so would also make bad targets.

That leaves the option that Belgium may be preparing for a land invasion of Luxembourg, whose population is just one twentieth of Belgium's. Luxembourg's population is the world's wealthiest, according to Wikipedia. Frankly, the pillage is likely to be very good.

Nonetheless, I am opposed to any potential Belgian military action against Luxembourg. Luxembourg is a fellow member of both NATO and the EU and ought not to be used in this way.

I suppose it's possible that the poster is supposed to somehow encourage Belgians to think of themselves as part of a nation rather than regions. If so, referring to posters used to recruit millions of men for death in the trenches is in incredibly bad taste.

The Belgian's last went to the polls in June and five months later they still don't have a government because the regions need to work together to form one but can't seem to agree on key issues. Like keeping the country whole.

On the issue of keeping the country whole I was interested to read that 45% of the Dutch population would be happy for Flanders - the Dutch speaking part of Belgium - to merge with the Netherlands. Frankly, it's not so surprising. What was a little odd was this statement in the article:

It is remarkable that 80 percent of the respondents said they "liked Flemings."

I'm not sure if the writer intended to be rude. I'd love to know what proportion of respondents he thought would like the Flemmish people, though.

You have to wonder about people when you read a newspaper article that reports a booming trade for clairvoyants. And when 700,000 Belgians are willing to pay €58 a pop for whatever it is that the fake psychics are selling you start to wonder if there's a major problem in society. Then you read to the end:

The clairvoyant market is poorly checked and regulated, according to the OIVO. The services are often provided at a psychologically difficult moment for the consumer and many providers of these services would not hesitate to abuse the weakness of the consumer.

This is why the OIVO want a special regulatory framework (with more transparency in the business practices) as well as in the area of inspections.

and realise there is.

How can anyone pretend that it is ever possible to regulate clairvoyants, psychic healers and other assorted charlatans? It makes you wonder if someone at the OIVO still wants to believe in tarot cards, and oija boards.

When I lived in Amsterdam I was often disappointed by the quality of the vegetables available in all of the major supermarkets (Albert Heijn, Dirk etc...) and the Natuurwinkel. In fact, I was very disappointed by the produce on sale there are it tended to be quite old and always seemed to have spent some time in bed with a family of aphids.

Dave told me that AH made a point of buying class B fruit and vegetables so that they could increase their profit margins. I'm not sure if that's true but it's certainly believable.

And that's why I'm so happy with the supermarkets here in Brussels. The quality and range of produce is fantastic and everything is really fresh. Cooking has become fun again and I no longer pine for a nearby Waitrose.

I've been cooking quite a lot lately -- well, I've been cooking when I haven't been dining in restaurants -- and it's a lot more fun when the vegetables are fresh, high quality and interesting. This could be a fun year.