Goofballsworld

Below Zero

2012-01-29T22:51:00.000+01:00

Finally we'll get some temperatures worthy a winter label....below zero. We kicked it off with a nice -5C at the Belgian heights which will spread in the rest of the country in the coming week.

I learned today that kids do not enjoy a walk at -5C with icy northern wind....neither did the adults but we figured that there was enough whining out loud so we kept repeating that we were almost there. What's the definition of almost anyway? The stretchability of "almost" and the slippery bridges are surely quickly forgotten with a pancake.

And the boglands and fens still hold beauty in any type of weather....still gorgeous as always.

Sloefkes

2012-01-28T22:57:00.000+01:00

I'd appreciate it if guests would not walk into the house with their heavy, dirty hiking boots, especially not the rooms with wooden floor. But if they didn't bring any slippers, I can help them out.

Yes I know, we stay in hotels too often. But we're still working on our collection of bathrobes ;)

Made in Belgium: Scooter

2012-01-25T22:58:00.000+01:00

Last week I heard a good cover in the Laatse Show on tv of this old hit. Timt to dust it off and display it on here And you must excuse me now since I have some dancing around to do. Join me in one of the better flash backs to the early 80ies.

You

5 years citizen of Leuven

2012-01-24T23:06:00.000+01:00

I got a new ID today. I mean the card, obviously I am not changed. Just my picture is getting worse with each edition of the card. Bleh, will have to do with this one for another 5 years. I got my previous card 5 years ago when I officially moved to Leuven. Huh? 5 years? No....that's been 3,5 years or so. 5 already?

Well it's not like I don't feel completely at home here and that Ghent seems already like a far past. And obviously it's already a couple of years that I am part of the dive club here and I've spent 3-4 years in the choir and I take yoga already quite a while (although rather irregularly at the moment) and I went voting here already twice for sure (not quite a relevant fact given the Belgium's election diarrhea). Nevertheless it comes a bit as a shock to be officially confronted how quickly time flies. Up to the next 5 years! And the next :)

It must be stated though that I have been a citizen of Blogger much longer :p.

After the parties, time to catch some fresh air

2012-01-23T20:10:00.002+01:00

It had been ages since we went for a walk, so this felt great despite the icy wind and the snow/hail/rain showers.

A war granate crate in the woods

Parties

2012-01-22T22:10:00.000+01:00

A surprise birthday drink on Friday and a blogger New Year's reception in Leuven yesterday.... Twice fun hanging out , talking while time ticked on. 2 short nights are my excuse not to type much this weekend ;).

Made in Belgium: Yasmine

2012-01-18T23:11:00.000+01:00

At June 25 2009 the music scene was mourning the loss of a great artist. While the international press focused on the death of Michael Jackson, Flanders was shocked by the suicide of the sweet and talented Yasmine.

Hilde Rens/Yasmine was a well known show bizz tv presenter and singer had ended her life (after a painfull break-up with her wife?). She had grown well known with easy listening pop songs, but only truly broke through when she evolved to singer-song writing with sensitive qualitative texts with a personal touch. She presented for over a decade a showbizz program where she was known for her spontaneous cheeky touch combined with a deep sensitive side. We all loved her. I also really loved her Leonard Cohen cover which seems to bring out her most beautiful voice in my opinion.

Such a pity that we've lost her. Let's treasure her music.

Porselein (Porselain on vulnarability, deep in my soul I'm breakable and fragile)

So long Marianne (Leonard Cohen cover)

Diep Rood (Hou me vast- Hold me)

Suzanne (live with Frank Boeijen)

Meisjes aan de macht (hit on girl power)

Mooi (Beautiful)

Dans me

Of course you can do apres ski with kids

2012-01-17T19:50:00.000+01:00

Good party guarenteed

The building hugger

2012-01-16T21:20:00.000+01:00

A huge shadow hugs the round sports center
waving its arms up and down and touching the edge of the roof
giggling while his gloves dangle from the sleeves on a cord

A man calls out and a little boy jumps down from the spotlight
Poof, the shadow's gone

2012 is still so young

2012-01-15T22:49:00.000+01:00

"You can wish someone a Happy New Year all of the month of January" I always heard when I was a kid. I live that vigoursly, ...still kissing everyone a happy 2012 and not having posted my holiday post cards yet. At least they'll get noticed in the mail, I tell myself :). Since I am often abroad, I decided to enjoy my christmas tree just a bit longer before I take it down.

We're also still making the traditional visits to the family . This year the New Year's letter from our nephew was for the first time not a memorised rhyme but it had been hand written and concentratedly read out loud with a proud display of these new skills. As we can digest for the rest of the year, we go from table to table and wish a happy new year again.

And since I have not wished you all a Happy New Year yet, this is my wish for you all

Happy 2012 to you all!!

Made in Belgium: Allez Allez

2012-01-11T22:27:00.000+01:00

Funky African influenced synthesizer pop music......this must be a flash-back to the 80ies :) Early 80ies to be more specific and they only lasted for a couple of years. I was too young to remember them but I am rather amused to find their clips on youtube. The first one "Allez Allez" is relatively well known and African Queen was made as a tribute to Grace Jones.

Allez Allez

African queen

Valley of the Kings

Sliding kids

2012-01-10T23:46:00.000+01:00

We enjoyed our ski/snow-vacation with some good friends and their kids. The latter did a lot of sliding...In their kids ski class or just on the road down to the village. Very cute

And everyone was stressing mid-December that there was no snow in the Alps

2012-01-09T22:13:00.000+01:00

black flag

Village access road

to our front door

too the village

he caught it just in time ;)

Well to answer everyone's question/text messages/telephone calls from the last days.....no we had no trouble getting back last weekend. The road to the village or valley down was blocked on Friday morning after the passage of Thursday's storm but all was relatively quickly cleared for us. We did not lose electricity either.
Bummer that all ski slopes were closed last Friday due to the avalanche risk because it was actually a sunny day again. Oh well, I am not a ski fanatic, so I am not too upset that the weather prevented me from skiing every day.

Making my curves

2012-01-08T22:31:00.000+01:00

It was a little bit quiet here on my blog at the start of 2012....because I was trying to draw stylishly nice big curves on the slopes of the French Alpes without retreating to my instinctive plough as soon as it got a bit steeper (or if heavy snowfall limited our visibility).

Made in Belgium: SX

2012-01-04T19:37:00.001+01:00

Happy New Year to you all. We start the fresh year with some etheric electro pop. SX is a fairly young promising band that is currently working on their first album. Their black video clip got a lot of positive reactions.

Black video

Mr Lion

Graffiti

Ready for sleep-overs

2011-12-29T22:30:00.000+01:00

While Jan was battling some virusses, I managed to finish the painting in the spare bedroom. It's all ready for guests now, so who feels like coming over? I promise to add some more color in a dark floor (to do later) and some colorful bedsheets/curtains/pictures etc to make it less white.

In between the other works the last weeks we've also managed to transform the few square meters of bathroom & toilet floor from a hidious old and cold tile floor to a warm modern cork floor.

Made in Belgium: Will Tura

2011-12-28T22:45:00.001+01:00

20 years ago it was Turalura on tv, a tv program honoring the carreer of 50 year old Will Tura. Rock artists were bringing covers from him on tv, which was very interesting because it's a totally different type of music. Will Tura's carreer started in the 60ies and brings Flemish chanson but explores sometimes other styles such as gospel, country, folk and even rap once. In 2004 I was one of the members of a mega-choir of 5000 singers bringing gospels for the charity campaign 'of Damiaan' (against lepra) starring Lea Gilmore and Will Tura. I must say she has way more gospel in her than he does :p. But over all those decades he has contributed so much to our music legacy that he has been named Knight and he sang live at the funeral of our previous king. Some songs are simply part of my childhood.

20 years ago tonight it was the first Turalura and I remember watching it silently in the sofa, not knowing what to say much at home as we had just gotten the news that day that my grandmother had passed away unexpectedly. And so I sad there watching tv, trying to let the news sink in while my parents were mourning and had to start making practical arrangements. Somehow I still remember exactly that it was Dec 28 and that it was Turalura and now I often link Will Tura to that event. This year there was a 2nd Turalura event for Will Tura's 70th birthday. I must say I like their interpretations much more than the originals which aren't quite my type of music.

I mis je zo

Hopeloos

Het kan niet zijn

Vlaanderen mijn land

Turalura - Hart van Goud by Arid

Turalura - Het kan niet zijn by Will Tura and Triggerfinger

Turalura - Je liegt by Daan

Merry Christmas to you all

2011-12-27T22:10:00.000+01:00

I wish you good time with your family
I wish you a good laugh with the things the kids are saying
I wish you an overload of good food prepared with lots of love
I wish you several days to recover
I wish you a beautiful church service if you care to attend one
I wish you cosy decorations
I wish you a little blanket for in the sofa
I wish you some time to watch a cheezy christmas vacation afternoon movie
I wish you some time to sleep in
I wish you yummy left-overs to enjoy
I wish you a burning fire place
I wish you some candles to stare at

I wish you great holidays with your loved ones, some moments to enjoy & treasure

Some thoughts after 540 days without government and 2 weeks with a government

2011-12-23T23:26:00.000+01:00

Isn't it pure democracy when a (resigning) government is only supposed to execute measures & take care things get done but not make any decisions themselves but leave that up to the parliament? Isn't that in fact the ideal situation rather than a problem?
If a country has 7 governments/councils each with their own authorisations & power due to the federalised structure of the nation...the country doesn't fall apart right away if one government is missing.
Maybe that's the only advantage of having different election dates / periods for the different levels of government: some are still up and running when others fail. Yet they do fail because so many governements with different election dates also provide constant election stress & profiling
It is amasing how (seemingly) effective a government in the background can run when they do not need to be in the spotlight anymore (and cannot make a lot of new decisions).....it's amasing how the public opinion can switch from "they can't do it" to "thank god they are keeping this country running after all".
We must have excellent civil servants & ministries that kept the country's federal departments running through an economic crisis without a panic.
Is there a strategy behind negotiating all night until the morning....then going to catch a nap in order to pick up the discussions again in the evening? I assume fatigue makes you easier to give in....and there's less stress for statements in the next news edition or the effect of a potential leak going viral through twitter is smaller.
It takes experience to negotiate effectively....the fact that so many "new" negotiators were around the table has not done us good. The fact that apparently the negotiators already knew they'd not become an exectutive in the new governemnt and therefor wanted to pinpoint every single detail on paper yet either (but it should increase the speed of execution now).
It's amasing how much we've all complained about not having a government.....then how much we complain that the new government wants to take action too quickly or rushed.
...either that or the unions simply have been impatiently waiting for some government to action against, since within 2 weeks of the new government, we had a national strike against a needed pension reform.
The first struggle in the government negotiations were North-Flemish-Dutchspeaking against South-Wallonian-Frenchspeaking. The budget negotations struggled over left socialist over right liberal contrasts. The current strike discussions seem to polarise over different generations. We seem a quite polarised society.
Some processes apparently can't be shortcut without problems...eg social negotiations with the unions.

Music For Life 2011 finale

2011-12-23T22:26:00.000+01:00

Well no matter how much I find the whole campaign has become a little too much hyped & too much show ....I can't help getting chills when seeing compilation films like these that give such a nice overview how all over the country people all ages & interests have set-up actions for Music For Life. So heart-warming.
No wonder we broke the record again 7.142.716 euro . No wonder wonder the radio & the red cross is engaging themselves for setting up another charity campaign next winter.

Made in Belgium: Isbells

2011-12-21T20:00:00.000+01:00

In these dark days, soft melancholic music seems very appropriate. So it's time to introduce Isbells to you all. While they are currently working on their second album, this group from Leuven won the music industry award for best newcomer 2 years ago. Their fragile sound was very refreshing on the radio.

Reunite

As long as it takes

without a doubt

Dreamer

Music for Life 2011

2011-12-20T22:29:00.000+01:00

In the last 6 years it became a tradition that Studio Brussel organises together with The Red Cross a huge charity campaign just before Christmas. Following the example of the Dutch "Serious Request" campaign (and other glass houses in Switzerland, Sweden and other countries) , 3 DJ's lock themselves for a week in a glass house without solid food and present a week round music at request for which you pay for the charity cause of the year.

The Glass House has been hosted in Leuven, Ghent and Antwerp over the last years and the campaign grew bigger and bigger each time: landmines, malaria, HIV orphans, ...lots of different causes got supported. Each time the actions became a hype and you could not escape "Music For Life": politicians came on prime-time tv quizzes 'for life', the regular popular late-night show has become a 'glass show for life', competing radio stations have an emission 'for life', schools bake cookies 'for life', companies have a Christmas party 'for life'...whatever we do the week for Christmas is 'for life' and raises money for the good cause.

For some incomprehensible reason Studio Brussel has decided that this year will be the last Music For Life. As a closure they have built 3 glass houses, one in Leuven, Ghent & Antwerp again and the DJ's get moved each time to a different city after 3 days. Don't ask me what the added value for the campaign is to justify such an extra logistic cost except the brand image of Studio Brussel?! It made me think of a radio emission 'Interne Keuken' I missed (but caught up partially online) on which Linda Polman told about her book 'De Crisiskaravaan': on the moral of help organisations that are forced to buy their access into countries from corrupt local forces and need to market themselves and the crisises they support for their own existance, .... Very shocking, real and sour food for thought. A book I want to read, yet I am afraid it would make me too cynical.

Anyway, the last Music For Life is currently in full swing with special news paper pages attributed to it to report how the whole region is once again mobilising for one and the same good cause just before christmas. People are car washing 'for life', pulling moving carts 'for life', having sit ins 'for life'...all because we do give a shit ....that too many children die of diarrhea in eg Nepal due to lack of proper sanitation.

My optimism yesterday that I could combine painting in the Ardennes, grocery shopping , driving back and forth and going to see the free concert 'for life' of Selah Sue all in the same afternoon failed miserably . But I did make it at the square for the last half an hour that Music For Life was broadcasting from Leuven before the DJ's stepped in a glass little moving van to ride from Leuven to Ghent across the country (with all the necessary media attention along their road of course).

When you see the whole circus it's become, maybe it is good that the yearly hype will get stopped. And yet...yet I also truly like how for once we all mobilise for the same cause. Music For Life reaches people that probably would not have helped another charity and will next year probably only occupied with Christmas shopping. The good thing is that Music For Life also supports background problems that might not otherwise get all of this attention ....Diarrhea in Nepal is not truly top of mind of world issues, right?

So I'll miss #MLF in the coming years, not only because they bring a week of the best music ever....I hope some other organisation jumps in the void next year and manages to get us going again, maybe differently and in a lot smaller scale but nevertheless. Because charities , whether we hate it or not, also must market themselves and there's an opportunity available next years in Belgium.

Outside white...inside white

2011-12-19T22:36:00.000+01:00

The snow outside worked inspiring...so I tackled the room this morning and gave it a first primer of white.

Metamorphosis

2011-12-19T09:28:00.000+01:00

In one weekend Jan and his dad achieved the change of a guest room room into a slightly smaller room with a new sliding door; 2 new walls and room for a closet under the stairs as well as a new little hallway with staircase to the attic and new sliding door giving access in the hallway! And the new walls have already wall paper on them ready to paint....except for the last square meter because we ran out of glue because obviously you must always run out of something for the last square meter.

Whaaaaa success, never thought we'd progress this well. yippeee.

Stairway to heaven?

2011-12-17T21:51:00.000+01:00

Today had some big works on the agenda: a new staircase to be built in our guest room giving entrance to the not yet developed attic yet. Jan & my father in law went at it at an amasingly speed : new opening in ceiling, doorway opening in hallway, staircase, sliding doors in both hallway openings....all in one day. Hurray for my men!!! They rock, don't they?

First snow

2011-12-17T13:07:00.000+01:00

10 cm was the prediction in the higher areas of the Ardennes....Fortunately I changed my plans yesterday and drove up early before the snow. Lucky me, because last night we got a full 23cm over here. The local ski-hill could even open up!

So I woke up to a winter wonderland ....gorgeous, but a bit painful to shovel the long driveway together with the neighbours, although a fun social activity too :). The neighbour dogs had a ball and weren't as incognito as I would have thought whereas the cat disappeared in the piles of white fluff to snuff curiously everywhere.

My little nest

2011-12-15T08:27:00.000+01:00

Slowly I gain some consciousness in the morning waking up from the depths of my sleep. When I reach out to snooze my alarm in protest of the abrupt & unwelcome ending of the night, I become aware of the coolness in the rest of the room and retreat quickly back in the cosy warmth of my little nest. My soft mattrass in which I can sink comfortably until it gives me firm support and the duvets well tucked under my back. I can feel the position of the rest of my body which has not moved in a while and which is relaxed and comfortable and where my pillow & mattrass reflect my own warmth nicely. Just perfect, no need to change anything, just dosing a little without guilt.

Those stolen moments before getting up, in the silent dark world, enjoying the cosynest of my own perfect little nest can be pure joy

Made in Belgium: Venus in Flames

2011-12-14T23:51:00.000+01:00

It's been already quite a few years ago I belief that I saw Venus in Flames performing in the popular late night tv show De Laatste Show. I remember clearly that I liked it quite well and made a mental note to remember Venus in Flames.

I always remembered but in honesty I do not often come across. Despite 3 albums and tours through Belgium and the Netherlands, Venus in Flames is not a generally well-known group to the wide public. Yet I heard the group around singer-songwriter Jan De Campenaere last week again on the radio and once again it struck me as nice music. I don't understand why he doesn't get more airplay & bigger hits. Anyway, a bit of surfing learned me that he is recording a new album at the moment that will get released in 2012.

Land of Dreams

Dreamers

Right Here

Save me

Made in Belgium: the Music Industry Awards 2011

2011-12-12T19:49:00.001+01:00

Last weekend the Flemish music industry, the media & public elected their favourites again and awarded the Flemish music talents.   Always a good showcase on the abundance of good music we have in our little country!

So here are the awarded artists for the last year (with a link to my blog posts if I have featured them already in my Made in Belgium series, so you can revisit them)

Milow:   Award for Pop, best Live Act and best Male Solo Artist.
Indeed, I think when travelling it is Milow which I hear most often abroad on the radio. He's doing well in the international music scene and surely deserves these awards!

Arsenal: Award for Dance/ Electronic music.
Ah their sunny sound always brings me in an excellent mood!

dEUS: Award for Rock/Alternative   & best musician (= Mauro Pawlowski)
I really should be able to update my 2-year old since their last record sure proves they are still the kings of the Belgian rock-scene!

Christoff: Award for popular music

No, no hyperlink....not much chance that any of the nominees in this category will show up in my blog. I want to like the music a blog about

Bart Peeters: Dutchspeaking music
It should be no surprise for you all that I heart Bart Peeters since he's been featured regularly enough on my blog. He rules!!!!

Dez Mona: Artwork

Raymond van het Groenewoud: award for Auteur/Componser
As a lot of tweets claimed: Raymond should simply get all awards. We probably don't even realise his full talent

Gotye: best video clip and hit of the year.
told you so! Discovery of the year....May he stay for long with us as he's good company :)

Selah Sue: Award for best selling artist, best female solo artist and best album
Holy cow, what an achievement at such a young age but totally deserved. You rock girl.
Hooverphonic: Best group
In 2009 I wrote that they have not been able to match their album "the magnificent tree" anymore and that they were looking for a new singer. Well I should sooooo update that post since Noemie joined the group last year and since then they have wings again. Oh yeah, they are present again all over with their own renewed sound.

Intergalactic lovers: award for break-through
yes I promise they'll get a post dedicated to them soon!

Puzzling

2011-12-11T22:21:00.000+01:00

More to come next week!

Sunny but freezing

2011-12-11T22:16:00.000+01:00

A year ago Belgium was already (quite exceptionally) covered in snow. So far we only get to enjoy the freezing temperature in the Ardennes which results in a delicately white frozen landscape in the mornings.

When the sun comes out only the icicles around the little creeks remain.

Dec 6

2011-12-08T22:28:00.000+01:00

We've been good this year :)....

Made in Belgium: Selah Sue & Tom Barman vs. The Subs - Zanna

2011-12-07T22:59:00.000+01:00

It's Christmas time again....since 7 years time for the charity action "Music for Life" from radio Studio Brussel & the Red Cross where famous radio DJ's lock themselves in a glass house for a week without solid food presenting 7/7 24/24 live radio while the entire country goes crazy in actions to collect money and pay for the music played all week. Unfortunately this well be the last year Studo Brussel is organising Music for Life :(.

Themesong is Zanna, which you can buy for this year's theme "Dhiarrea in Nepal" . I sure like it. (the song, not dhiarrea of course) (because we do give a shit).

Di Rupo I

2011-12-05T22:22:00.002+01:00

It took another couple of days before the 6 involved political parties had approved the negotiated agreement at their congresses and another 20h marathon negotiation to divide the different minister responsibilities over the parties...but we finally know our new government that will get sworn in tomorrow at 3PM.

How strange, we'll have to get used to the idea! A real government, gosh what will our neighbouring countries need to joke about now? We'll become so boringly normal again.

For the first time in my life-time, Belgium will be led by a Frenchspeaking prime minister: Elio Di Rupo. He had to promise to improve his knowledge of Dutch as that's quite a sensitive topic. The fact that he's the son of poor Italian immigrants and openly gay is not even important enough to get a lot of media coverage. Some things in our society are simply right ;)

And while the country was waiting for the final white smoke, the international press followed the shaving of Koen Filet. He's a well-known journalist, who (together with some other celebs) stopped shaving his beard out of protest for the lack of progress in the government negitiations.

Planning & measuring

2011-12-04T22:00:00.000+01:00

The last untouched room in our weekend place is ready for a serious make-over, this time with some structural changes. We will not be bored over the next weekends.

I can already proudly declare the house finally 100% styrofoam free :) . And there's another bag of old wallpaper to be brought to the container park :). Yippee

535 days

2011-11-30T23:36:00.000+01:00

...and we have a government agreement.

It'll be strange to become a normal country again with an assigned federal government as of next week. Weird. Let's hope they last longer than they negotiated upfront.

Made in Belgium: Gotye

2011-11-30T23:22:00.000+01:00

Welcome at the start of year 3 of my "Made in Belgium" series on Wednesday. I hope you've enjoyed all the Belgian music so far. I start this new year by cheating a little bit: Gotye is a Belgian but has grown up since the age of 4 in Australia. Ha, this is my blog so I can cheat a bit when I want to. Because Gotye was for me the revelation of the year.

The hit "Somebody that I used to know" seemed to come out of nowhere on the radio thanks to the many iTunes downloads & youtube views. I just love it! Love it! Great how it builds up from a fresh quiet sound to something that really breaks open ans is perfect to put on repeat in the car and sing along very loud while the fingers can direct the little xylophone sounds.

Immediately Gotye was a star, not only in Australia anymore but only in the country of his roots where he sold out several countries at record time (hmm after one hit?!?) and where Wouter De Backer now shows up when talking some very cute mixture of English & dialect Dutch that his parents used to talk.

Funny enough a Canadian friend shared a link for Learnalilgivinanlovin from Gotye this summer on FB claiming how much she loves his music....featuring a 2008 song from him that I knew quite well but I did not know it was his.

This week it was in the news that he has won 3 ARIA awards in Australia: Single of the Year, Best Male Artist and Best Pop Release. In Belgium he's nominated for 3 music industry awards: pop, solo artist male and video. I told you he was my discovery of the year.

Somebody that I used to know

Eyes wide open

Learnalilgivinanlovin

Heart's a mess

Making off

Music in the attic

2011-11-27T22:28:00.000+01:00

No wonder nobody heard the doorbell ringing....there was a party going on in the attic where the new generation discovered previous generation's music.

The urgency of change

2011-11-26T18:09:00.002+01:00

In management trainings you learn about Kotter's 8-steps towards change. Successful change management is often where big corporate projects go wrong so it is not something to get neglected. But everyone has a natural resistance to change. Therefore the first step towards change, according to Kotter, is creating a sense of urgency. You need to convince people somehow that a change is necessary and it is needed right now. Without that first conviction, it will not happen. You need that before the next step: build a willing coalition.

Turns out that you are often mistaken on what is urgent in the mind of others. Take the big Belgian political parties.

The elections did not create them a sense of urgency to build a new government agreement quickly
The fact that their negotiations started to take longer than the previous time (known for a political crisis that lasted too long until the economic crisis forced them to form an economic temp agreement after 6 months).
The fact that we approached and passed the world's world record in government negotiations last winter...which used to be listed for Irak and Cambodja
The fact that European countries one after another got into budget problems and that the economic world started to loose trust in Belgium also with its high national debt while being without government
Citizen protests, absurd "nogov" parties and Belgian celebs not shaving their beards anymore until there would be a government
The fact that our resigning prime minister from our resigning government had found a new international job and wasn't going to continue to save their ass forever.
The fact that our LT interest rated cracked the symbolic 5% safe and approached the dangerous 6% rate quickly this week.
The fact that while they were fighting on a few 100mlns savings or taxes....we had to pay already a billion more interest last week due to their lack of progress
The fact that a Belgian bank had to be saved last month
....

No none of these facts created the effective sense of urgency to move from their positions or to not break the promise to negotiate till the end 3 times etc.

You know what worked though? Standard and Poors bringing Belgium's rate down from AA+ to AA. If I wouldn't need to pay that effect in my taxes for the coming years, I'd almost thank them because hey....guess what....we have a budget agreement after a marathon meeting.

if in the next days they can quickly sort out what they'll do on justice, police, immigration and other policies and get to decide who gets which minister assignment, we might have a government next week! Imagine that.

The underwater world moves....me

2011-11-25T22:02:00.000+01:00

After the pictures, here are the video's!!
(our video's and one on courtisy of our new diving friends from divehut.co.uk!)

Our dive at the famous Dunraven Wreck

Our friend Tina the turtle

A lionfish

the stunning beauty at Temple reef...or how beautiful a safety stop can be

Me

Time is not more on our side

2011-11-24T22:48:00.000+01:00

529 days without a government

Several weeks ago we had agreements on the constitutional reforms, agreements on restructuring of the federal responsibilities etc....The pain points that had paralyzed this country for 4 years had been resolved.

And then the work started that each country must do: budget & priorities on the actual governing. In the midst of the Euro crisis and a Belgian bank that had to be rescued, the discussion tensions were no longer Flemish/French or a North/South contrast but Liberal versus Socialist discussion (ok ok, respectively that is also a Flemish/French difference) . Budget savings or new taxes.

And the water seems to deep. We've managed finally our constitutional reforms, but fail in agreeing on the ratio of savings versus taxes. So now they are thinking about their position and if they want to continue.

Sure....as if in this economic turmoil where our interest rates are going up spectacularly and Europe warns us , time is on our side. Hey, 529 days only, we surely can do better!

Made in Belgium: Ferre Grignard

2011-11-22T20:36:00.000+01:00

Ring Ring I've got to sing is one of those classics that you simply know when you grow up, you can whistle along, they stick in your head....but in honesty I had no clue on background of this song or the singer. It's only when I was already grown up when I discovered much to my surprise that Ferré Grignard is a Belgian hippy sing-song writer living in Antwerp.

Corals

2011-11-19T23:28:00.000+01:00

When I started diving I was looking for fish....smiling at Nemo's, searching for murrays & beautiful lionfish etc and totally getting excited over anything bigger or more rare.

Now that I've seen all of those more often, I notice I start to enjoy & watch the beauty of the abundant corals much more. Gorgonians, impressive big table corals, little pulsing flowers, hard corals in multiple corals....Very beautiful

A ordinary Saturday

2011-11-19T20:26:00.000+01:00

Lots of little chores done

a simple day

yet so fulfilling

Back among my friends

2011-11-17T21:03:00.000+01:00

It had been 1,5 years since I had seen them. Remember my friends? I miss them already very much

Jack & Olly the banner fish who were having a family reunion

Chloe the crocodile fish

Beatrice the bat fish & her friends

Morris the giant murray and his cousin Malcolm

Louise the lion fish

Nemo and his dad

Tina & Tiny the turtles

Nathan, the Napoleon

Mr Ray on a night stroll

Made in Belgium: Millionaire

2011-11-16T20:00:00.002+01:00

Tim van Hamel isn't only a creatif source in Broken Glass Heroes but is also part of Millionaire (and ex-dEUS...). Millionaire brings indie rock and has been touring with Queens of the Stone Age and Muse.

Champagne

Come with you

Me Crazy, You sane

On our way to meet some friends

2011-11-15T20:37:00.000+01:00

Last week we went to see some friends we hadn't seen in a while. It took some travelling

and waiting

and messing with equipment

but a rewarding effort to see our friends again

Don't feel like resurfacing yet

2011-11-14T22:24:00.000+01:00

Last week I spent most of my time underwater. Yipeeeee, it was great. Absolutely great to be back in the blue. And now I don't feel like resurfacing again, so join us in the Red Sea

La Coupole

2011-11-10T22:56:00.000+01:00

It's been already more than a week now but it seems appropriate to post now, just before Remembrance Day, about our visit to La Coupole near St-Omer in the north of France. It's the impressive site that the nazi's were building with forced labour in a query site to manufacture V2 bombs & launch them on London . Fortunately it's never become operational. Currently it's a museum testifying the horrors of the first & second world war in the north-french region and the impact of missiles.

Insane...what about the current war zones in the world, are they just as devastating & cruel to us?

Made in Belgium: Suarez

2011-11-09T20:00:00.001+01:00

The Maes.Be Musicbox booked a Suarez concert in the south of Belgium this fall. Knowing the top class groups they book in Flanders , I figured I needed to check them out and get to know them.

What a pleasant surprise, it sure is time we get to know them over here as well. At least I see they are booked in the AB concert hall over a week, but unfortunately I can't go there. The group consists of a Belgian with Spanish/Italian roots from Mons & 3 mucisians from Madagascar. It creates a great mix of French pop/chanson with a contagious happy exotic touch. Ha, they won me over....how about you?

On s'en fout

Qu'est-ce que j'aime ca

L'indécideur

Comme t'es belle

Around the Somme river bay

2011-11-07T19:47:00.001+01:00

Walking around in Hourdel, Valéry-sur-Mer and Montreuil-sur-Mer

Walking on a temporarily dry river

2011-11-04T22:47:00.000+01:00

Over the long All Saints weekend I went with 2 friends to the Bay at the Somme river estuary at the north of France. 2 years ago on our way to Normandy we had passed by the Picardy coastal area and I had made a mental note that there seemed to be a lot of nature & history to check out there and that the distance to Belgium was really small.

And so there we were on an early grey morning with our rubber boots and a load of other tourists at the tiny one-street village of Hourdel waiting for a guide to take into the bay and search for some resting seals.

The fact that you had to wear some rubber boots was no luxury advice. One family had clearly overlooked that advice and were forced to tiptoe on bare foot through the water & sand and walk in half wet jeans. Well they were not really cut-out to go on a group walk anyway, never following the guide, dragging behind and in the end returning early without the group.

For the rest of us, it was a really nice morning, discovering eadible salty plants, watching the seals from distance and then watching the bay fill back with water at an amasing speed.

left 2 people, middle a green buoy, 3 dots = seals, group of people and another buoy

view at Hourdel


Incoming high-tide overflowing the Somme Bay

Made in Belgium: Mira

2011-11-02T22:07:00.000+01:00

Mira brings a mixture of jazz & kleinkunst ('small art' ....intimate dutch performing songs) in a slight Antwerp dialect. As always I find kleinkunst very pure, honest music (cfr Eva De Roovere, Yevgueni, Buurman, Hanelore Bedert, ...) . Very unpretentious music , recognisable texts....very refreshing sounds.

In de fleur

Het liefst

Loslopend wild

Some days I adore fall

2011-10-30T14:29:00.000+01:00

This post is funny enough one of the most googled & read posts on my blog....it's still valid but sometimes fall is absolutely adorable. When our fall is unlike most days sunny, dry & mild and the automn storms did not blow down all colored leaves down into one big wet puddle yet.

So what to do when automn comes in all its glory?...search on the map for a deciduous forest nearby and go for an absolutely stunning walk in the soft sun! We drove to a forest in between Eupen & the german border known for its many beeches and we indulged in all the beautiful fall colors. Absolutely stunning.

A nice hunting menu in the restaurant that evening just completed it :)

It's a secret pact to spread the Flemish accent across the world

2011-10-27T23:21:00.000+02:00

I was talking to a colleague in the Amsterdam office when all of a sudden an expat in Amsterdam turns around, stares at me and states "hey, you have the accent of Mega Mindy" . 2 desks further another expat turns and replies "no I think she sounds more like K3".

When I was a kid we were often watching Dutch tv as the Belgian tv was boring. I grew up with Ome Willem, the Dutch Sesame Street, .... But Belgian tv boomed in the 90ies and became more creative and now I doubt that many Belgians still watch Dutch tv. Studio 100 became a big child tv production house ...a bit like our local Flemish Disney studio's with programs & shows ranging from toddler cartoons to pre-teen series, and several theme parks also abroad. Because they succesfully export their products.

And hence the Flemish accent gets familiarized into the next foreign generations. Wooohaaaa, global domination starts small ;)

Made in Belgium: Steak number eight

2011-10-26T20:00:00.000+02:00

It's not the first time I post "Humo's Rock rally" winners here, and this is another one out of that talent pool. Steak number eight won the rally in 2008 . This young metal group brought out their second album this year, produced by Mario Goossens (Triggerfinger). Their current track pyromaniac is doing well in the alternative hit lists but is too rough for my taste. Yet their first big hit "the sea is dying" is intriguing to say at least.

the sea is dying

Pyromaniac

A young reader

2011-10-24T22:15:00.000+02:00

Deep concentration

while the finger moves forward

over the printed sheet

Letter by letter

discovering a new word

by tasting the sound

Today I

2011-10-22T21:40:00.001+02:00

woke up in a strange bed by the sound of a baby
had breakfast next to a little chatting girl with a piglet piture on her plate
felt that the early mornings are reaaaally becoming cold now
got warnings from the library to return a book, they'll have to wait until finish it.
stood in a traffic jam around Brussels when not feeling great
am greatful for probiotics
have heavy legs
learned that you can already spell a great variety of words with a limited number of letters....and a child that learns to read is fun to watch
think tv programming on Saturday sucks
cleared my ironing backlog but postponed my other work for tomorrow

Fortunately she started asking where her green purse was

2011-10-19T23:11:00.001+02:00

It had been an exhausting day full of financial Q3 reports to aggregate & analyse after a very early alarm clock and the weekly long & delayed trainride to Amsterdam. "Just a quick meal, one dish, I am going to return to the hotel quickly" , I had warned my colleague who joined me for dinner, while I guided him to an area with multiple little restaurants where I go more often.

While we look inside to check if there's free tables, we hear a big bang and right in front of us I see an older lady smacking down on the street while a scooter and its rider are rolling down the sidewalk towards us.
Instinctively I run immediately towards the lady while I didn't notice anymore that the bike was sliding dangerously close towards us. Fuck fuck, I need to do first aid, what do I do? Other people were yelling to phone an ambulance and the 112 emergency number so I knew that was taken care off. Silly enough I remembered very well the introduction sentence, learned in my emergency first response course, which seemed pretty unusefull at the moment and also the fact that I did not have any plastic gloves on me to put on as we had drilled in that course and which importance I had found rather exaggerated.

The lady was inresponsive and making weird scary gorgling sound while her mouth seemed to hang a bit. I really feared she had a serious head injury, but didn't dare to lift or turn her head. All I could, dared or thought of doing was touching her cheeks and talking non-stop to her in different languages, asking if she could hear me & that help was on its way. It was pretty scary and I was cursing for the ambulances to come faster. Other people came to cover her with some coats, which made me feel so guilty for not thinking of that. I should have known to protect her from shock. All of a sudden a girl stopped on her bike, telling she was a doctor so I was relieved to let her take over from me. The lady just became a bit more concious.

While retreating back to the sidewalk, I could see the man from the scooter was also back on his feet, looking very confused and appearing to want to drive off...which triggered multiple people to take pictures of him & his number plate but in the end they convinced him to take the offered chair from the restaurant to sit down again with a little blanket on his shoulder. Than I realised I was standing next to the ladies husband, who stared silently to all the fuss around him.

Much to my relief the lady started asking repeatedly if we could check where her green purse was. Thank goodness she was asking for a green purse which we found under the pile of coats on her...it gave me a relief that she was concious & less confused by the time the ambulances arrived. The sound of the sirens approaching has never been so welcoming and there was probably 5 to 10 of us waving them closer when they turned into the street. I noticed very clearly that the police spent the first minute on site putting on...yes, plastic gloves :p

We stood by very uselessly for a while on the sidewalk watching both victims being taken care off by the ambulance personnel , not certain if we were required to stay as witnesses but the police didn't seem very interested in our story, having plenty of restaurant people as good witnesses. After all the coat owners had been identified and coats, chairs & blankets returned where they came from, we went in pretty shaken up to force ourselves to have a small meal even though we had no appetite for food.

And now I wonder how the lady, her husband and the scooter rider are doing? Are they still in the hospital?
I could have offered the husband to phone somebody but only thought of that when going to bed. Some man gave the husband a business card with the question to give him an update later....probably the least of the worries the husband had at that moment. Oh well, everyone really tried to help and that was nice to notice in such a situation. I wish the 3 victims all the best.

Made in Belgium: Victor Laslo

2011-10-19T20:00:00.002+02:00

As a little kid, Belgium won the Eurovision songcontest....and in 1987 it was hosted in Brussels and presented by Victor Laslo. I had never heard of her. What a weird choice I thought then. However she seems to be one of the only true classy glamour ladies we have in our showbizz and a true talent. She's never a big commercial hit machine but keeps scoring a hit now and then in some european countries. Her career start when she could sing the titlesong Backdoor man of the French movie A Mort L'Artribe.

Backdoor Man

Ansiedad

Breathless

Sweet Soft n Lazy

Total disguise - 2004

A picture on the wall

2011-10-17T22:43:00.000+02:00

makes such a big difference

This weekend's thoughts and observations

2011-10-16T21:45:00.001+02:00

An alarm that goes off at 4.15 AM is waaaaay too early.
I don't hate the fall if it comes with a lovely bright soft sun. Not my usual idea of the fall. But yesterday it was absolutely lovely to stroll along the beach with a friend and have a drink outside. And today it was absolutely lovely to walk over the Sunday market.
It's amazing how many leaves one tree in a little garden can produce...and it's amazing how green that tree still looks. It'll be probably more amazing how quickly you don't notice anymore that I've cleared all the leaves today.
I saw a few guys breaking into a parked car today...Visibly forcing a long tiny stick through a crach in the door , in front of the window towards the lock. I walked by and let them continue. The fact that they were cops made it seem legitimate to me.
I've finished today a big to do list of cleaning-up tasks and getting the house reorganised....Great but all the fun stuff on the bottom of the list, like reading all your blogs will lack time. Pfff, I didn't forget you guys but now I must go and do some ironing first.
They are pretty comfortable
I was last week on a training and leadership styles and motivational profiles etc was part of it....now I can't stop analysing what I do and why....intriguing stuff but it can probably drive you mad

Quote

2011-10-15T10:48:00.002+02:00

If a man knows not what harbor he seeks, any wind is the right wind.

Seneca

Made in Belgium: Lords of Acid

2011-10-12T20:00:00.001+02:00

In the past I've introduced Maurice Engelen to you as an active music octopus. In 2010 I brought you from him Praga Khan and now it's time for his succesfull acid house band Lords of Acid. A bit too dark hardcore dance for me, yet very influential in the dance scene.

I sit on acid

Scrood by you

Progress

2011-10-08T22:11:00.000+02:00

3 weeks after the first agreement....the negotiators in Belgium keep getting agreements on difficultl points. They will now actually start talking economics & budget instead of state structure/language disputes.

They might actually end this record holding political crisis. And I personally love the fact that federal & regional elections will take place at the same moment. A few years without electoral stress & coherence in coalitions between state levels will hopefully bring us all more stability.

Made in Belgium: Tom Helsen

2011-10-05T21:41:00.000+02:00

Last week it was in the news that Tom Helsen would stop his career as singer-songwriter, cancel his planned tour this fall and would concentrate on his love to write songs for others and mentor young talent's careers.

Wow what a decision to take just before the launch of a new album and a tour??

Sun in her eyes

Home

Change yourself

don't let them get you down

Night & Day - Regi featuring Tom Helsen

Summer walk in October

2011-10-02T22:11:00.000+02:00

We had a brilliant hot summer (including nature fires) in early spring and now we have a brilliant hot summer week in the fall....it is sure welcome after a crappy june/july/august where we burnt the wooden fire each evening to warm up, where we had to cancel dive/camping weekends due to rain and where we couldn't out of the door without a rain jacket & sweater.

Anyway, since mid previous week we have splendid summer weather....hitting 26-28C at end of September. Brilliant & bizar but sure welcome!

We had one of the rare occasions to walk through the high fens and enjoy the moor lands in a hot sun, in our T-shirt & short & sunglasses , secretly hoping to get a sunburn in October. Quite a contrast to last year's mushroom weekend...the mushrooms now weren't as flourishing as they had been a month ago. It was lovely now in bright sun & blue sky. And we ended our evening with some mojito's & a barbecue among the fallen leaves in the early sunset.

Ready to step into the world

2011-10-01T23:15:00.000+02:00

The Lincoln Lawyer

2011-10-01T22:55:00.000+02:00

Warning, Michael Connelly is seriously addictive

That's the warning on the backside of my book. I already know that, been through quite some Connellys although not all of them are as good. The first one I ever ready from him 'City of Bones' got me immediately in its grip and 'The Poet' was chokingly good.

I started this book, completely unaware that it had been turned into a movie already. I was dragged into the rollercoaster where lawyers & clients do not seem to be what they pretend to be at first sight, their goals aren't quite what you'd expect and a power struggle with lives at stake is ongoing. Very addictive indeed. Aaah I love such books

Made in Belgium: The Wolfbanes

2011-09-28T22:23:00.000+02:00

Time for an oldie, some Belgian rock from the 80ies although they are making a come-back

As the bottle runs dry - 1988

things too much - 2010

Man Hunt

Some like it hot

Edinburgh in a golden autumn sun

2011-09-28T08:40:00.000+02:00

A few months ago I learned I'd have to go for a few days of meetings to Edinburgh previous week. It didn't take Jan and I much tought to combine that with a free weekend there, since we always love to go back to the place where Jan used to work and live. Always good fun to reconnect with our friends there!

The weeks before had been quite busy for me (you might have noticed I was a bit more quiet here) and therefore the anticipation of a prolonged stay in the Scottisch capital was a good one. I'd stay after my meetings were done and Jan would fly in for the weekend too.

During our meetings the weather was rather crappy with lots of rain and a harsh cold wind, yet by the weekend a nice late summer sun came out and stayed giving the city a glorious gold shine. Absolutely lovely. And the advantage of being on a weekend city trip in a city you know already soooo well is that you do not feel obliged anymore to get up at a decent time to visit all the "must visit" places from your tourist guide. It's just relaxed walking around, enjoying the sun and meeting up with friends or sleeping in in the beautiful appartment we had rented for the weekend.

Made in Belgium: Hadise

2011-09-21T21:33:00.000+02:00

Several years ago a young Belgian girl with Turkish roots participated in the Belgian Idols in 2003. Without reaching the finals, she received a record contract anyway. She brought us Turkish influenced pop and R and B music.
Her fame also grew both in Belgium as in Turkey where she presented some TV programs while finishing her studies in Belgium. She has also presented X-factor in Belgium but due to her , in the mean time, super star status in Turkey, she participated for that country in 2009 in the Eurovision Song contest with Dum Tek Tek.

Dum Tek Tek - 2009

superman

Mesajımı Almıştır O

A good kiss

Bad boy

Maes music.box: Customs in Mechelen

2011-09-20T00:47:00.000+02:00

Last year Maes & Studio Brussel launched the container "music box" concerts: in several Belgian cities in September & October they announce that the Music Box is arriving. They also have a list of Belgian top acts that will perform. ....but you never know who is in the container until it opens. So in fact they are all surprise concerts. Free surprise concerts , live on the radio, from top bands.

Last year there was never a date or location that worked out for us, but last Friday the Music box was in a nearby city , in Mechelen. After a very too budy work week, and still more left to catch up & prepare for the start of the next week, it felt great to escape for a moment.

We hit some traffic jam and just barely made it to the square to see the container opening....so cool & exciting to stand and wait and guess. Triggerfinger was last week in the music box so they dropped from the list of candicates. Jan was already in Mechelen that afternoon and had seen they were setting up & soundchecking for guitars...so we ruled out Ozark Henry already from our guesses. I was hoping a bit for Hooverphonic.

At exactly 8 PM, the container side slowly opened up and 3 men with guitars walked to the front ()....It was Customs in the box. yeaaay, never seen them yet before and since my post on them, they've scored some more fun hits.

And so we enjoyed the free concert on the square with some good beer of course ;). Thank you Maes & Studio Brussel!

Euphoria?

2011-09-18T22:15:00.000+02:00

Last Thursday, the Belgian newspaper headlines were euphoric
Last Thursday, most Belgian politicians seemd euphoric
That night and that morning there were extra news editions
I got feliciations from my colleagues in the Amsterdam office

After 15 months of failing negotiations since last elections (because that government fell because they couldn't find an agreement to (amongst other) split the Brussels electoral district), 8 years after the court houses ruled the current electoral district unconstitutional, more than 40 years since its existence....8 Belgian political parties had found a compromis to restructure Brussel-Halle-Vilvoorde, define the electoral rules in the 6 "facilities" municipalities in Flanders just around Brussels with a Frenchspeaking majority, and how to deal with the 3 mayors that do not get appointed by the Flemish government.

"Congratulations, you have finally almost a government, I heard", said a Dutch colleague.
Well not quite yet, they still need to negotiate on a restructure & refinancing of our federal state and if that succeeds, they need to negotiate on the topics each government needs to deal with " the financial crisis, budget, economics, justice system reform, ....". So euphoria is probably a bit misplaced still, yet they've cleared a huge hurdle that blocked any governing of Belgium since 2007 really. So yeah, I was happy.

Made in Belgium: Leki

2011-09-14T20:00:00.002+02:00

Almost a 100 posts of Made in Belgium ago, I started this series with Technotronic. The singer of Technotronic, Ya Kid K, has a younger sister and she introduced her to the record company at the age of 12. That was a little too young for a career, but Leki recorded her debut album at the age of 16 but it never got released. However since 2004 she brings succesfully Belgian hiphop while she is also known as a presenter of multiple music tv channels.

Latin lover - 2004

Over the rainbow - 2008

Love me another day - 2009

Breaking out - 2004

Crazy - 2004

Polarisation

2011-09-12T22:17:00.000+02:00

The last couple of weeks, there's government negotiations going on. Big deal, you might think, that's been ongoing in Belgium for over a year now.

Well not quite....in fact the many political parties haven't been in a room gathered around one table since August 2010. That is over a year, so it is a big deal. For an entire year, the king has been appointing negotiators who made their tour of all political parties, getting their point of view, checking where there could be margin, then after many weeks, writing a long report which in all cases have been shot down as a base for negotiation & compromise by one of the major political parties. And then there was a round of blaming for those not accepting the document as a starter to negotiate. And then the king could assign someone from another party to try to do it all over.

Just before our national holiday, just when our king had delivered an unusual , very emotional & upset speech on tv, there was all of a sudden a majority of political parties that could find themselves in a document that would serve as the base of true discussions. The most radical Flemish party in the group threw in a big veto but the others have a sufficient majority to continue. And all of a sudden our national holiday got a breeze of hope.....and the negotiators claimed they had deserved some vacation after all that hard work...Qué? WTF?

Anyway, since the end of August, they are truly negotiating. And the polarisation of all media continues.
I am so sick of political statements, speeches, online forum comments etc that talk about "They" and "We" as in "We should not give in" "It's about time they understand they must obey the law" "We should not let us overrule by their demands" ...
Who are these "they" and "us" anyway? Can these speakers please explain me how "they" wrongly effect their day-to-day life and how "they" giving in would help them forward? In most of these messages I miss and objective analysis of the problem and a matching solution.

Sure the BHV voting district is unconstitutional by the highest courts, but the courts don't command how it should be fixed. So if "they" suggest a national voting district, it is untrue to state that "they" do not obey the law or "they" don't want to negotiate, but that "they" simply give a compromise that "we" do not wish to consider. And if "they" demand more money for Brussels, "we" should not forget that some of "us" live there too and not only "them".

If some regio's would show more corruption or more inefficiency in government spending or ..., we should fight corruption or inefficiency in government spending or ... but I don't always understand how transferring powers to regions and splitting is always an automatic solution. sometimes yes, sometimes no. Not a single party has succeeded in explaining me this?

Anyway, I really miss nuances in all messages and I hate this polarisation. Hopefully the negotiating parties can lift themselves over this all and come to a conclusion so we can finally move forward.

Random old thoughts

2011-09-09T22:14:00.001+02:00

I found back 2 very old unfinished posts with random notes that never got published

We sometimes get a local German newspaper in the Ardennes and I notice I can only understand the articles about topics I already know....which makes it rather useless to read no?
A few weeks ago there was a newspaper article that there are too many fries shops in Belgium. Huh? how can that ever be? I can assure you that in Leuven there's always too long waiting times and we do have 4 fries stores within a few 100 meter in each direction of our house!
We've been the victim of a break and entry in our little garden house in the Ardennes last winter. Jan made the discovery that we have had uninvited guests! The surprise however was that they had filled each bucket or box that was standing on the floor with a layer of hazel nuts and pinecones, which Jan promptly threw out. Poor squirrel or whatever it was that was using our storage room as his....must be hungry when he returns to the empty buckets. We will need to check the floor and roof for holes however.
The mystery of our whimsical plug in the bathroom is finally solved. Our electrician explained to us that some sort of old-fashioned safety was active ensuring the plug only functions if the light is on. .....right.....sure.
You can tell you are at an IT event if there's a queue for the men's toilet and not for the women's.
If you organise a quiz for a group of IT managers...be aware that they search all answers on the internet using their smartphone and that the quiz turns into a speed test for the different models and systems.
On a long tired drive home, the song "Ik sta op wacht" (I'm the guard) is hilarious. And when you're already giggling and goofing along and then happen to drive along the nearby army base upon which Jan opens his window and salutes and signals that this song is for them while ....you can't stop crying anymore :D
All hotels/motels in Canada offer complementary shampoo and a small soap bar (and body lotion and ...). But none of them offers shower gel which is standard in Europe (but then you often do not get a small soap bar in Europe). So are you supposed to shower with the soap bar? Or do you use the shampoo as a body wash? It confused me.
A little kitchen unit or at least a microwave seems to become standard in Canadian hotel rooms as well. I love it. Europe lags on that point; Since I am spending weekly time in hotels, I'd appreciate being to prep a simple meal in my room sometimes.
It seems very fashionable for NHL hockey players to wear a beard. Gosh, it seems to become fashionable to wear a beard for all men.

Made in Belgium: Rocco Granata

2011-09-07T20:00:00.010+02:00

Just a few weeks after Adamo, I present you another Italian immigrant. Rocco's parents came from Italy shorty after WWII to work in the Belgian coal mines, just like Adamo's family did...but Rocco's family ended up in Flanders. As a young boy already he played in a little band and he composed Manuela when he was 18. No record company was interested and so he produced the song himself...and quickly added a b-side "Marina". Marina became a world hit, was covered by over 100 artists including Louis Armstrong and Rocco Granata could go perform at Carnegie Hall.

Personally I find his music rather outdated, even though I got to know him as a kid when Marina was remastered to a new beat hit with the help of The Confetti's.
But this summer all of a sudden he got a hit together with Buscemi "Sarracino". . And much to my own surprise I find it catchy and happy and funny. A fun summer hit.

Rocco con Buscemi : Sarracino

Marina - 1959

Manuela

GP 'Poeske' Scherens

2011-09-05T22:03:00.001+02:00

Leuven kermis started again last weekend with all its attractions and flower carpet, etc... And a good traditional kermis also has a cycling race "around the church tower" as we tend to say. Well the GP Jef Scherens is more than an ordinary local kermis race but is a UCI 1.1 one-day classic where the cyclers from several international teams turn 13 times around the circuit making a total 183 kms. The winner was Jérôme Pineau (FRA, Quickstep Cycling Team).

The race traditionally passes by our door but when the rain stopped we decided to start walking along a big part of the circuit....with the racers coming by all the time :) as well as the famous "Rodania" cars at the start of any cycling race, yet they had replaced their famous jingle with Flemisch schager music. Ugh.

Summer as it should have been 3 months

2011-09-04T22:14:00.000+02:00

Working from home
Lunch in the garden in the sun at 26C
Doing routine work in the garden
Big salad dinner in the garden while texting some friends
Going for drinks with friends downtown in the city

Visiting family & friends over the weekend, sitting outside in the garden in the shade because it's so hot

Aaaah I could spend an entire summer like that. Unfortunately we had a very crappy summer, but those first 3 days in September were very very enjoyable!! Too bad it's over again already.

Gosh what happened to Dorre the Baker

2011-09-01T07:00:00.003+02:00

This sight was quite a shockto me last weekend......help, where is Dorre The Baker? What horrible tragedy was revealed here?

For the non-Leuven readers: in the main pedestrian shopping street is in the middle a statue of a pre-war baker, picking up dough from customers to bake it for them in his oven. But clearly Dorre was no longer there with only his amputated foot remaining :(. The poor man had already regularly and mysteriously lost an arm in the past, victim of some baker hating vandals.

Some googling learned me that last Thursday a truck backed up stupidely and basically ran Dorre over and amputated his leg. Ouch , poor Dorre. I hope there's some good baker surgeons around and maybe someone should pick-up the left-behind foot so Dorre can cure and return in the future.

Made in Belgium: School is cool

2011-08-31T20:00:00.001+02:00

Well just before the start of the new school year I had to post this new upcoming band. "School is cool" got founded in 2009 but they already won Humo's Rockrally in 2010, usually a source of great new talent. New kids in town was a hit last year and this summer I really like their new single. their clips seems somewhat absurd as is their band name, but I like it. Yeay, great to see new talent doing well.

New kids in town - 2010

In want of something - 2011

The world's gonna end tonight - 2010

Museum M

2011-08-29T07:00:00.003+02:00

Some images of our free visit yesterday where we saw part of the permanent collections and the Romantics exposition

Tea anyone?

the museum part housed in the 19th century hotel Vanderkelen-Mertens

Descent from the cross- following Rogier Van Der Weyden

Baking waffles in the early 18th century....some things never change

Leuven auto-free

2011-08-28T20:50:00.002+02:00

2 years ago Leuven would join a lot of other Flemish cities to be auto-free for a day and the local neighbours , who all live along the same busy road, started organising a neighbourhood party with lots of activities to profit from the occasion. However 2 weeks before it was about to happen , the city of Leuven cancelled part of their plans because they figured it would hurt the downtown businesses if some major roads were traffic free as well. Bullocks...needless to say the neighbours were hugely disappointed to have cars driving by after all and we simply went diving instead.

Last year I have somehow missed that there has been a traffic-free day in the summer but now I had heard from it and Jan had found a note from some neighbours that they'd do a drink in the middle green park.

So we came back from the Ardennes to Leuven where indeed across the street all cars were banned, leaving a very very empty street. Not quite what I had expected. Just a few kids down the street riding their bike and crashing down on the asphalt but the damage didn't seem to be more than lots of scratches for the kid when we checked it out. The traffic stewards that guarded the fences at each intersection had the text "event and crowd support" on their back....it seemed rather ironic.

We went for a walk downtown where there were more people out as there were some practise circuits for little kids bikes, info stands on Cambio (a car sharing program) or special bike types etc and in the main shopping street some weird sculpture invited you to sketch your dream city. Still, the activity downtown wasn't exactly buzzing. Maybe we were on the road too early as some stuff would only start later on and a lot of neighbourhoods had local parties in their streets.

At 2 PM eg a bicycle tour started that circled the entire city ring road

Arriving back home some neighbours had gathered outside so we went out to meet them. City life along a big road, with some houses populated by ever changing student residents isn't always very optimal to get to know your neighbours easily. But everyone had brought out some food and drinks and it turned out to be a very nice afternoon.

Turns out we have very colorful neighbours who enjoy a little funny dressing up for a small local parade

Afterwards we went downtown once again to enjoy the opportunity of a free visit to Museum M.

Biking near the F1

2011-08-27T18:58:00.000+02:00

One of my German relatives works for a grand prix travel agency and therefore can always be found near the Belgian F1 race circuit of Spa-Francorchamps at the end of August. And that happens to be nearby our place (with a good westwind we enjoy all the race sounds just by opening our door).

Since she's on duty part of the day and came by bus with a group of customers and since we'd have difficulty getting our own car near the circuit entrances without being guided around, we parked in one of the villages nearby and bridged the last kilometers by bike in order to meet her.

I didn't quite conquer the long 8% climb to the Francorchamps village itself and some car fans thought my sweaty red face was quite amusing. But if also found it rather amusing to cruise my bike through F1 memorablia selling stands and people with Ferrari T-shirts with the loud sound of race cars nearby whose fumes were noticable. We got there fine and it was good to hang out for a while with my family.

And going back we took the Ravel (old railroads turned into bike roads) with a very gradual climb which was just lovely. Another drink in the pittoresque little village was the reward of a lovely afternoon.

Belgian gold

2011-08-25T21:59:00.000+02:00

Belgium's own gold bars

Just one centimeter wide

Crisp delicious fries

After a long day's work

a comforting pack of warmth

with a homely smell

Made in Belgium: Aedo

2011-08-24T20:00:00.001+02:00

I realised that I haven't played any folk on here anymore for quite a while so now it's time for Aedo to hit the stage. This very young band (age between 19-24) has already been active for almost a decade and brings very dancable folk, just the way I like folk to be. They've played at major folk festivals in Belgium and abroad.

I'm not sure but I've seen a very young but fun folk group performing at a friend's wedding in the early 2000's and since I've heard Aedo a few years later, I kept wondering if both were the same group. Always forgot to ask.

Iron Scottisch

La larme

Reels

Leuven at a summer sunset (bis)

2011-08-22T19:43:00.000+02:00

(orginal post here)

A weekend full of contrasts

2011-08-21T20:57:00.000+02:00

It was a strange weekend full of contrasts....It started with my uncles funeral and ended with 2 birthday parties, it had joy and sadness, heat & sunshine & threatening storms (and those can be fierce & sudden we unfortunately learned last week). I saw most of my relatives and hang out with a lot of friends. I topped it all with a big sinus cold that keeps me sniffing with itchy eyes.

Here's some pictures of the better part of the weekend, the birthday parties

A monster truck!

Finally a sunny day...for now

Oh yes he still blows his candles in the most cute way

Yes we both speak Dutch

2011-08-19T21:56:00.002+02:00

"So is that the 'kleedje' your refered to this morning or is it something else?" , he asks while pointing to my cardigan "because I was confused, "kleedje" is what we put on the floor."

******
A few hours before we were complaining about the weather when I had exclaimed a bit desperately that I had put on a dress that day and now it was so cool and grey again. Turns out he had heard me exclaiming that I was wearing a rug. And I thought his smile was about the fact that I underdressed for the weather, but I had no idea I was overdressing :D

More walks in the east of Belgium

2011-08-19T07:41:00.001+02:00

Expecting and getting sad news when you're having guests over for a long weekend is both a curse and a blessing. You desperately try to constraint your emotions not to spoil the atmosphere, although they would understand but you're still very restrained to react... and yet they do give you the much needed distraction . And the quietness & beauty of the around nature was helpfull to clear my mind a bit and find silence & peace.

The Ovifat red ski-hill slope in the summer

The Baheyon river

Baheyon waterfall (stronger than in dry period)

Rocher de Falize

Croix de Prieur

Destroyed infrastructure from the April fire

At Belgium's highest point

Robertville lake

Made in Belgium: Adamo

2011-08-17T20:00:00.000+02:00

After the 2nd World War, Belgium welcomed a lot of of Italian workers to work in our coal mines and help restore our country in an organised and structured immigration wave. Salvatore Adamo immigrated as a 3 year old boy with his parents from Sicily to a mine region in Wallonia.

Salvatore started participating in music contests as a teenager and brought out his first single in 1961. He was immediately very succesful in Belgium and the surrounding countries, particularly in France as well. Now all these songs are classics that belong to our musical heritage although Adamo is still performing alive and kicking as a living legend. He got many awards for his life-time career and carries the title of knight.

Tombe la neige performed in 2006 for Japanese television - 1964

Vous permetez Monsieur - 1964

Dolce Paola- A song he wrote for the young Princess Paola who arrived from Italy to marry a Belgian prince and brought the Italian flair to our country. Paolo is since 1993 the queen of Belgium.

C'est ma vie - 1976

Inch-allah

Les filles au bord de mer -1965

(by the way, Arno's modern version you can here in this post)

Lucien

2011-08-17T09:42:00.000+02:00

Dear uncle Lucien,

You looked so fragile and silent when I just visited you. This is not how I remember you. As a little kid I was a little bit intimidated by your nice straight posture and your accent mixing the Flemish I was used to hear around me with some Brussels influences and your specific favourite expressions. You loved telling stories about the many people that crossed your path each day and your big smile & laughing eyes accompanied those little stories. When you knew we were coming, you kept guard at the window, checking the free parking spots down in the street and as we pulled into the street you were signalling where to park. As a true gentleman you always escorted us back down the staircase to the car. When I was working crazy overtime during a project in Brussels, my mom and you arranged that I should not drive home anymore late at night but I was welcomed at your home to get pampered there.

You looked so fragile and silent when I just visited you. But I'll remember your tremendous courage and your love for your family that enabled you to fight for so long against all odds. When you were in pain, you wanted to know how our vacation had been or you told us the funny things your little great-grandchild had just said that morning. When you moved to a different hospital department a few weeks ago, you invited us to come & visit your new room.

Now you've just made your last move to your final destination. Rest in peace, uncle, you do not need to fight anymore. We will miss you very much.

Made in Belgium: Balthazar

2011-08-10T20:00:00.002+02:00

So this is the band we missed at the Lokerse Feesten last week because of the pouring rain. Darn darn, quite a missed opportunity. I sure hope to see them another time on another one of the many Belgian festivals! With their 2 albums so far, they've sure created their own sound and gained their place in the Belgian music scene, so I'm sure they'll cross my path again, hopefully on a non-pouring moment.

This is a flirt -

Fifteen floors

I'll stay here

The boatman

Leuven at a summer sunset

2011-08-10T07:00:00.000+02:00

Lokerse Feesten

2011-08-09T22:04:00.001+02:00

Some of our friends had too many tickets for the Lokerse Feesten and I try to discover a new festival each year and Jan wanted to see Morrissey so we took the tickets for last Thursday.

In all honesty I didn't know Morrissey at all, ...despite all my music blogging I have huge cultural black spots. But he sure got himself in the media the week before the concerts with pretty disgusting remarks that Mc Donalds is worse than the drama in Norway. He had already demanded that the city festival of Lokeren would be meat-free on the day he'd perform. I wondered what an arrogant ass he was to be so pretentious to push his ideas upon the crowd. Yet I was also curious who was such a big star that he succeeded in doing so and still get so many enthousiastic fans that put up with all his shit ...how good would his music be?

The entire day in the office I was freezing to death in the airco and the pouring rain that started the evening didn't encourage me to drive to Lokeren. Fortunately Jan also didn't feel like eating a hamburger at the very succesful food stands just outside of the festival terrain (ha, eat that Morrissey) so we went first out for dinner somewhere dry inside and yes, I ensured to take a meat dish. Because of that, we missed the concert of Balthasar which I regretted nevertheless.

The first group we saw on stage was Gogol Bordello. Yihaaa, crazy gipsy party , a mixture of The Levelers, Manu Chao and Shantel: that was right up my alley! And the rain cleared up so I was happy that I had showed up.

And then Morrissey took the stage. And despite the completely unknown set to me, I did enjoy his voice (even more when he talked, very nice voice & English accent) and the songs that clearly had attention to the music arrangments more than the show element. I could see why he is so popular. During his song '"Meat is murder' a explicit video on our industrial meat industry full of shocking images was shown. Now that seemed to me a much more convincing & efficient way to communicate his ideas and food for thought for me. I can respect his vegan conviction and if he'd taken a different approach I might have spent with pleasure a vegetarian day as I do know it wouldn't hurt me and the world, on the contrary. But banning meat on a festival just triggers defensive reactions, I belief.

As closing of the night it was time for 2manyDj's. Oh yeah, time for some beats & good mixes. Good closure of fun and mainly dry evening :)

Canadian roadsigns

2011-08-08T19:32:00.001+02:00

Flee-market, castles, woods, lakes and little firemen

2011-08-07T22:34:00.000+02:00

Today my sister-in-law and her family came to visit us in the east of Belgium. Fortunately the sun visited as well, so we could stroll over another flee-market in the neighbouring village of Robertville and make a walk through the woods to castle.

Back at home we played with the neighbour cats and we met a little firemen who offered to protect our house. Aren't we lucky.

Made in Belgium: Jasper Erckens

2011-08-03T20:00:00.000+02:00

A few years ago a 15 year old boy stunned everybody at Humo's Rock Rally. His self-written songs accompagnied by guitar got tremendous airplay in Belgium and a new young star was born. He got to open the concerts for Adele or Milow or ... One year later, in 2009 he was the youngest artist at the Rock Werchter festival ever. His mother drove him to most of his concerts but he took his bike to those nearby :p

In 2010 he got admitted in the BRIT school in London where other lot of other famous performers went to school so we are very curious to see what he'll bring with all those new influences.

Crazy - 2008

Waiting like a dog - 2009 (live)

The Brighter Story - 2009

M-id/zomer festival at Museum M

2011-08-02T23:23:00.001+02:00

"Feel like a concert downtown on Thursday" was the text I got from Jan in the train last Tuesday
"Euh sure, whereabout, what?"
"M-id summer festival "

Last summer I had heard about this festival at the brand new museum M without truly knowing what it was about. Something organised by the museum to attract the attention but they had not succeeded to catch mine, although afterwards I saw some cool pictures on my blog.

"Ok, cool"

And so I headed downtown last Thursday without truly knowing what was going on , except that there was a concert by John Cale from the Velvet Underground which was popular as the night was completely sold out but clearly there was a lot more because the doors already opened at 5 PM.

At the entrance we were handed a leaflet with a plan from the museum and got pointed out what was happening where. Many arrows on the walls were helping us as well to find either the concerts, stand-up comedy, dance, or other performances. Gosh, so much going on and choices needed to be made what to do. Indeed, this 4-day festival combines the arts of the museum with big names concerting in the cosy inner courtyard, dance performances in the exposition halls and stand-up comedy or word performances in the basement, other acts, library corners etc.... The public was more arty-farty than I am used to and we could spot several tv celebs but I enjoyed this combination of arts as well. I love museums as they are, if I can combine them with an evening of music, dance and having a drink with friends in the garden of this gorgeous modern building....how could I not love it, despite the fact that I did not truly know John Cale's music and the dance performance by students from the famous Belgian choreagrapher Anne Therese De Keersmaker was quite abstract to me. The audio-visual portraits by Eva Mouton & Styrofoam were much more intriguing to watch and next time I'll definetely reserve more time to hear the stand-up comedy as well and explore through the museum longer.