Random old thoughts

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.