belgianwaffle

Archives for November 2006

It’s a hobby


Posted in: Mr. Waffle

Me (looking up from typing): We get so little time together without the children.

Him (looking up from the paper): Hmm.

Me: Do you mind that I seem to spend most of it playing with my blog?

Him: No.

Me: Do you think I’m obsessed?

Him: No, it’s a hobby.

I’m very relieved. So, as part of my hobby, I intend to participate in National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) as suggested by Mrs. Kennedy. I will post every day for the month of November. Go on, admit it, you’re delighted. No sarcasm, please. In the spirit of the event I have decided that I will go through my bloglines blog roll and talk about each of the blogs I read two by two. I know, you’re looking forward to it already.

Here we go with the first two:

ex20six is my first category. 20six was my first internet home and I loved it but it revamped and I left in a huff and so did some others.

Bobble

Bobble is a photographer. Her photos would pin your ears back. They are spectacular. Her blog is an insight into a sophisticated London world of banking, post office fraud (not by her, you understand) and mature students.

Let there be another leaf

Marvellous Norah. The woman who made dull office working into art. Funny art. She is a mother now and not working in an office. This is good. It has cut down on her posting. This is bad. But it looks to me like she’s gearing up to get going again.

Setting


Posted in: Reading etc.

I am reading an excellent collection of essays by Siri Hustvedt. A freebie from my kind sister-in-law, the publishing exec. Everyone should have a relative who works in publishing. I digress. Siri Hustvedt is married to Paul Auster whose books I do not like very much but let us not hold that against her.

Almost every sentence she writes makes me think differently about the world. This one made me laugh, though:

“I can’t remember how Paul [Auster] and I started our discussion of place in fiction or how we arrived at his startling comment about Pride and Prejudice. But I clearly remember him saying that Austen’s novel had taken place in his parents’ living room in New Jersey.”

Blogroll celebrating NaBlPoMo – More ex20six

Don’t mention the skiing

Heather was the winner of this year’s Swiss blog award. In fairness to the Swiss, this would appear to show them as open minded as Heather’s blog features, in hilarious detail, her attempts to settle in and learn Swiss German. The woman who found humour in Switzerland. Also, she posts, sometimes, about her family history and those entries are fascinating, inspiring and beautifully written. As, indeed, are the comments on the Swiss. Well, perhaps not inspiring, particularly not, if you’re thinking of moving to Switzerland.

Minkleberry

Minks is a friend of Jojo’s (of whom more anon, be patient) and that’s why I went to look at her blog. There she was doing some exciting foodie job and, it seemed to me, having a great time. But she jacked it all in to stay at home with her two children (both of whom were born online, if you see what I mean). I am lost in admiration. She is inspiring about childrearing and it is extraordinary to see her dealing with all her crises with aplomb (including nearly dying in childbirth). And yes, of course, she’s very funny. I like that.

Reasons to stay in private practice


Posted in: Work

Me: I have to think up performance indicators for the office.

Friend (who as only ever worked as a solicitor in a law firm): What are they?

NaBlPoMo – More ex20six

Kate Evans

Kate Evans has moved to Canada. She would like the Canadian nation to stop hugging her. She would like people to stop buying water filters. She has a baby too but she didn’t when I knew her first. Really. She is a cool blogger. I imagine her looking a bit like Kate Moss. I would like to emphasise that she really loves Canada, despite the hugging.

Jojo

Jojo was appointed by the powers that be to enliven 20six, look after us and create a community. She did all that. She commented on new blogs, she pointed us towards interesting things and she solved our problems. When she left 20six, I packed up my virtual bag and left too. She’s a journalist with all sorts of items appearing in real publications that people pay good money for. She also still has a blog wherein she outlines the travails of keeping down a full time job as a free lance while looking after her son. She’s lovely.

More from multicultural Ireland


Posted in: Ireland, Reading etc.

I had to go to the local shop to get a packet of tampax. To avoid theft and to torture customers, small shops in Ireland keep tampax behind the counter. I looked at the crowded shop and thought “I am 37 years old, I have given birth to three children, I can surely ask for a packet of tampax without undue embarrassment”. I came to the top of the queue and faced the Chinese man behind the counter. Two elderly men in flat caps stood patiently behind me.

Me: Could I have a packet of tampax please?

Him: Sorry?

Me: A packet of tampax.

Him: What for?

Me: Sorry??

Men behind me in queue: Cough, cough.

Him: What it for?

Me: Um.

Him (enlightenment dawning): Ah, sorry. Small, medium or large? (I love that question).

Me: Medium.

Him (triumphantly smacking a packet of thumbtacks on the counter): Here you go.

NaBlPoMo – Still on 20six

Geepeemama

The clue is in the title. She’s a GP and a mama. Her daughter is very like mine to my great amusement. In fact, in many ways, her life sounds like mine, except of course, that she is a doctor bringing joy and good health to humanity and I am a worker drone thinking up performance indicators and writing annual reports. As well as writing about her children, she does the odd post about seeing things from the GP’s side of the desk and this is all very interesting. Let me give you a tip, if your doctor has a bad cold don’t say “Doctor, you should be the one taking antibiotics”. Apparently, though she will laugh politely, it palls after a while and, anyway, she will be itching to tell you a cold is a virus.

Pog

When I started posting at 20six, I instantly noticed that there was someone who seemed incredibly popular. Who was this pog anyway? I started to lurk on her site. She was a London party girl, that’s who she was. I started to enjoy a glitzy social life involving all night parties in cool London locations as well as a day job in something mediaish and exciting (though she was rather dismissive about this latter). It was another world. A lot of the blogs I read are more of the same world; I like that, it’s nice to be reassured that you are not alone and it’s entertaining to find others in the same boat as you but pog is a completely different world and I like that too. As it turns out, the cool girl has a heart of gold and now regularly reads my blog (can I tell you how excited I was the first time she left a comment?), which I hope will mean that she will keep up with the partying rather than settle down to produce kiddies in the short term. The cool girl is also a cook and when I was unable to eat anything in the later stages of my last pregnancy, sent me recipes artfully combining the few things I could eat. She also made bread from scratch. Including the yeast which she described as heaving in her kitchen in a large vat. What else can I say?

Roomservice!


Posted in: Princess

The Princess likes the world to come to her. The other morning she was lying in bed shouting “Mummy, mummy” with increasing urgency while I was dashing around seeking to accomplish various tasks. When I, eventually, er, sped to her side she said “Mummy, could you send in Doggy, please?”

More blogs for NaBlPoMo

Lilo

Another working mother blogger. I like that. Unlike me, she is rabidly imprudent and writes about work; immensely enjoyable stuff. I see her doing the juggling thing as well and it is great to feel that you’re not the only one failing to hit all your targets. She has two beautiful small children. Yeah, since you ask, she is funny too. Doesn’t everybody love funny?

Bruxelles, Ma Ville (in French)

It is to Thierry that I am indebted for any local information and views about the town where I live. He is a bit of a screaming right winger by Belgian francophone standards (which is to say screaming left by American standards). He also has great Brussels photos.

Travelling back


Posted in: Daniel, Princess, Reading etc.

We came back from Dublin yesterday. I am still a shadow of my former self. On the plane back, the Princess sat by the window, Mr. Waffle sat in front of her with Michael on his lap and I sat beside her with Daniel on my lap. As we were sitting on the runway taxiing about, the Princess and I had the following conversation:

Her: I want to do a poo.
Me: You can do a poo when the fasten seatbelts sign goes off.
Her: But I want to do a poo NOW!
Me: I’m afraid you’ll have to wait.
Her: But the poo wants to come out.
Me: Well it will just have to wait. What is that awful smell? And those funny damp brown marks on Daniel’s back?
Her (giggling): I think he did a big poo Mummy.

Once airborne we retire to the toilet where the Princess sits on the toilet while I try to stop Daniel eating anything dangerous. When she is finished, I change Daniel’s nappy and all his clothes. He wriggles. The toilets on planes are small. That’s probably all the detail you need. When we got back to our seating, the long-suffering man on the outside stood up to let us troop in.

Him: Three children – a lot of work, eh?
Me: Hmm. I suppose. Princess, sweetheart, can you get up off the floor please.
Him: I have two sons 27 and 29.
Me: That’s nice. Are you from Belgium?
Him: Yes from Mechelen.
Me: I like Mechelen.
Him: It’s handy for my work. I travel a lot. I was in Ireland for work. It’s very expensive.
Me: Yes, isn’t it? Sweetheart, what are you doing down there?
Princess (muffled but indignant): I’m picking up papers to put them in the bin.
Him: Are you working in Brussels?
Me: Yes, what do you do yourself?
Him: I’m a businessman. I sponsor the IMPAC literary prize.
Me (vaguely aware that this is the largest literary prize in the world): Goodness, that’s very impressive.
Him (pleased): You’ve heard of it?
Me: Absolutely. Daniel will you please stop pulling your sister’s hair? You must be very interested in literature.
Him: No, it’s really for the publicity. My passion is art collecting. When I’m in my New York office, I like to go to the art galleries.
Me: What kind of art do you like to collect? Are you biting him?
Princess: NO, I’m kissing my little brother.
Him: I like Cobra and I have a lot of these works.
Me (faintly): A lot?
Him: Yes. I also collect….[inaudible]
Daniel: Waah, a bottle, waah, I need a bottle, also she did bite me.
Him:…and a small Picasso that I keep in the kitchen.
Me: Good for you. Here, sweetheart, have a bottle.
Daniel: Glug.
Princess: I WANT a bottle.
Me: Well, I haven’t got a bottle for you.
Princess: Can I have some crisps then when the “any drinks or snacks” lady comes?
Me: OK, then.
Him: I’m also really interested in the symbolists.
Me: Oh yeah, did you see that whatshisname, Belgian symbolist, um..
Him: Khnopff?
Me: Yes. Horsey, horsey don’t you stop, just let your feet go clippety clop…
Daniel: Big grin.
Princess: When will it be MY turn to sit on your lap?
Him: Did you see that picture of his sister in the dress with all the buttons?
Me (warily, considering that almost all the pictures were of his sister – Khnopff appears to have a number of issues here): Yeees.
Him: Do you collect at all?
Me: No, not really, no.
Him: I had my house repainted in the colour scheme on that painting. Why not, eh?
Me: Why not indeed, um, do you have a very large house for your large collection?
Him: Art nouveau house, 600 square metres.
Me (swooning from envy): Lovely. Sweetheart, look out over England, see all those things sparkling, they’re fireworks (it was November 5 and the English like their fireworks for Guy Fawkes – it was an extraordinary sight).
Daniel: UH OH.
Me: Princess, could you pick up your brother’s bottle?
Her: No, I’m looking at the fireworks.
Him:Have you been to see the Spilliaert exhibition?
Me (holding Daniel on the chair with one hand while rooting round on my knees on the floor for the missing bottle): No, not yet, though I do like Spilliaert. He’s interesting in a weird Belgian kind of way.
Him: You think Belgians are weird?
Daniel: The bottle woman.
Me (inserting bottle in indignant mouth): The home of surrealism, I think so, yes.
Her: Can I see Aunty Publishing Exec’s house?
Me: No, sweetheart, we’re too high up and anyway, we’re over Belgium now.
Him (pensively): Having children, it’s a lot of work; I’m not so sure about having another baby. I think I will offer a million to the first of my sons to have a grandchild.

I’m not sure whether he was serious or not but I bet he wished that aer lingus hadn’t dispensed with business class for the weekend flights.

More blogs for NaBlPoMo 

Peggy (in French)

Peggy is a working mother of two little boys. She works on European stuff but is Belgian. I know this sounds odd, but it is hard to meet Belgians in Brussels. Please trust me on this. Peggy is like a Belgian friend. Through her blog, I get an insight into what it must be like being a Belgian in Brussels. I won’t say anything further because I don’t want to unnerve her by behaving like a weird foreign stalker but I do like her blog.

A Little Pregnant

Julie, mother of one after (trust me here), not inconsiderable difficulties.  Polemical, opinionated, funny – what’s not to like?