belgianwaffle

Illness continues to stalk my household


Posted in: Mr. Waffle

You know the way yesterday’s entry disappeared, well here’s my loving spouse’s approximation of my style, because I couldn’t face retyping:”Disaster has struck. Mr Waffle, who was perfectly able to go to work yesterday, has decided to come down with an illness. Not a macho stop-you-in-your-tracks illness but a “sore throat” if you please. This emerged last night. To be fair to him (reluctant though I am to do so) he was tossing and turning all night and does appear to be in some pain. Today we cancelled the hotel and I spent virtually all day with the Princess while Mr Waffle recuperated.

The morning was somewhat trying. Today is Ascension Thursday, as the more God-fearing of my readers will know. I decided to combine several good deeds and go to Mass with the Princess, leaving Mr Waffle to nap at home. As the Princess wakes up at 6.30 we had no problem getting up early, and 9.30 saw us in front of my favourite church, the Notre Dame au Sablon. Inconveniently, the House of God was closed. Apparently they preparing for a special Mass for the Guild of Archers (Brussels has a lot of these odd guilds. Who joins the Guild of Archers these days ?)”

He got a bit tired of it after this, so you may never know what happened next, but you may award his text marks out of ten, should you so wish.

Comments
mamothingson 24 May 2004 at 08:24Fascinating. Ascension Day is barely recognised in Pagan Britain these days. Shame.
Angela(Homepage)on 24 May 2004 at 13:53

I would award several points for his ability to write in your clever style, but I fear that awarding him too many points might make you hesitant to return.
So, zero points. Zero!
I hope this message finds you all quite healthy and relaxed.

belgianwaffleon 24 May 2004 at 14:21OK Jack, MUCH too enthusiastic. He will be pleased though. However, Angela, you’ve got the right idea – zero points is the answer I was looking for.
Brightfield, Ireland is pagan as well, which let’s face it is much more shocking. Without wanting to sound really ancient, I think that we used to get a day off when I was in school but I suspect now they just labour on… poor little things.

And what can we do for you, Madam?


Posted in: Family, Mr. Waffle, Princess

As you know, this is a bank holiday weekend in Belgium and to celebrate this we are going away tomorrow night. Yes, Thursday night only. Try to keep up. Yesterday, I began to wonder what we would do in our château, so I called the châtelaine.

Me: Hello, we’ve reserved a room for Thursday night…

Ch.: Yes. You know you can only arrive after 6.30.

Me: Yes, I know this.

Ch.: And we don’t take credit cards.

Me: Yes.

Ch.: And you have to check out by 11.00.

Me: Yes. Um, I was just wondering whether we could book in for dinner on Thursday night.

Ch.: We don’t do dinner.

(Why advertise two dining rooms on your website then?)

Me: Oh, I see, well could you recommend a babysitter.

Ch.: No.  Are you bringing a baby?

Me: Yes (and we told her this when making the booking, so I don’t know why she sounded so appalled, maybe she’d repressed the memory).

Ch.: Well, you’d better have all the equipment for it, because we certainly won’t be able to accommodate it.

Me: Ok, fine.

Hmm. The Princess goes to bed at 7.30 – 8.00 and she likes it to be dark. Are we going to spend our night away sitting silently in a dimly lit room?  Apparently.  Do you think we would be able to order Chinese to the château or should I bring sandwiches?

And Mr. Waffle came home this evening with a cold.

I am feeling very positive about this.

Comments
Angela

(Homepage)

on 20 May 2004 at 00:21

Jeff and I went out of town last weekend, and when MC went to bed at 8, we were also forced into going to bed at 8.
Oh, we *tried* to watch Harry Potter on the television, but the flickering light kept stirring our wee one, so we were forced to turn it off.
And sit in dark silence.
And as we sat, I wondered if I would have any luck sticking tiny earplugs into MC’s ears. Also, one of those sleeping masks in a tiny tiny size…
Good luck to you!

stroppycow

on 20 May 2004 at 17:50

I had not seen such customer focus in a long time. Very funny.

belgianwaffle

on 20 May 2004 at 19:10

Jack, I am touched by your enthusiasm. Angela, for all the wrong reasons, tiny earplugs are unnecessary. Stroppy, we may never know what she is like in the flesh.

jackdalton

on 20 May 2004 at 19:54

Yes, but I love all that stuff about Waffle-generated chaos — half-brains and keys and change…..

belgianwaffle

on 24 May 2004 at 14:41

Jack, suddenly I am less keen on your enthusiasm and slightly reluctant to blog on my unfortunate w/end cinema experience but, deep breath, am sure that it won’t at all confirm your views as outlined above. No, really.

LRB personals


Posted in: Reading etc.

And this week’s winner from the personal ads is:

“Don’t reply to this ad. There isn’t enough of me for you all, and it can only end in heartbreak. Gorgeous, well-educated, well-hung man (35) waiting here for all the pretty ladies to 25 to tango into bed with me. All you have to do is get through this bald, gnomic, flatulent 67 year old exterior and the night will be ours. No refunds. Box no.09/07”

In fact, there are a range of excellent candidates but I can’t be bothered retyping the longer ones. You’d think that they’d restrain themselves as it’s 70p per word, but no.

I offer this short one as well:

“Please send me money. And pictures of yourself naked. And cigarettes. Lifer. Box no. 09/08.”

This edition also contains a piece on Israeli-Palestinian relations by Ilan Pappe who is the head of the Emil Touma Institute for Palestine Studies in Israel. Now, there’s a challenging position.

Noi Albinoi


Posted in: Reading etc.

This Icelandic film is described as bleakly funny.  It is not bleakly funny, it is bleakly bleak.  Most of the film is spent establishing how bored and miserable our hero is. The director masterfully conveys just how little there is to do in a small town in Iceland in Winter. The five minute shot of a fly climbing up a wall is a highlight here. The film ends with all of the characters who have speaking parts (other than our hero) being wiped out by an avalanche. Fun stuff.

Socialising


Posted in: Mr. Waffle, Princess

I was just about to finish a really excellent entry, no truly, when I lost it all by going to check on Google whether the Czech foreign minister really is Polish or whether they were just laughing at me at the party on Saturday night.  I’m not sure whether I have the heart to start again. And I still don’t know whether the Czech foreign minister is Polish.

To summarise. Went out Friday night to Glam Potter’s where she had foregathered a selection of her glam friends and me. Prize for glamness goes to the girl who’s just managed to get herself seconded to Miami for work. On full pay. To do research. Plus a per diem allowance. She wants us to know that she also applied for Pittsburgh. Second prize for glamness goes to the GP herself who launched into an anecdote as follows, “when I lived in Miami, I had this convertible…”

Saturday saw myself and the Princess loyally supporting Mr. Waffle and his team in their attempt to win a work tournament. They lost. They must continue losing for a number of weekends before they can stop. Let’s hope the weather stays fine.

Saturday night myself and Mr. Waffle went to a party upstairs. The Anglo-Czech couple on the top floor sent everyone in the building notes inviting us to come and asking us to let them know, if they made too much noise. Since they are the only people in the building who make no noise, this was particularly endearing. We got an oral invitation as well, because I feed their cats when they are away. I thought the cats were named after a flying beast and a fast train respectively but my sister-in-law the publishing exec tells me that they are in fact called after 16th century English choral composers (and a small prize is available if you can tell me their names based on these hints alone). Despite the undoubted pretension of their cat naming policy, they are very pleasant, so we were happy to trip along on Saturday night. It also gave us a chance to see what they had done with that awkard space behind the sofa (bookshelves, since you ask, but, you know, I feel, behind the sofa is a bit unsatisfactory for bookshelves).

Everyone at the party was either English or Czech. There was also a three week old baby who was both. There are a lot more Anglo-Czech couples out there than you might think. I now know a lot more about the Czech republic than I did last week. I offer you the following:

Women from Prague are very pretty;

The same cannot be said for the men;

Czech women get a year’s maternity leave on 70% pay and up to three years in total. During that time, they do not leave their children. At all. I was an object of wonder because my baby was downstairs with a babysitter – Fluid Pudding, there is a nation out there that relates to you;

Ostrova is the third city and good for mining and clubbing. People from Prague do not go to Ostrova and laugh uproariously at the suggestion that they might. I tested this theory on the sample available to me and it seems to be true. Comparisons between Cork and Ostrova are unhelpful and unworthy, now obviously, if someone were to compare Limerick to Ostrova, we might be getting somewhere;

John Kerry is Czech.

Their foreign minister may be Polish.

They’re a friendly bunch the Czechs.

On Sunday we finally tried to book something for next weekend. It’s a four day weekend (if you’re American, you should know that in May, Europeans hardly bother working at all) and the thought of spending all of it in Brussels was unappealing. Obviously, we are not the only people who think this because everywhere is fully booked. We finally got a room in a chateau near Lille for Thursday night. That’s it. I have determined that to prolong the holiday spirit through the w/end we will get a babysitter on Saturday night and go to see Troy. If you feel that this is a terribly bad idea, please tell me and make a better recommendation. Note, however, that you are speaking to a woman who intends to watch “Noi Albinoi” on DVD tonight. Yes, that’s right an Icelandic film. Hmm.

Comments
belgianwaffle

on 19 May 2004 at 09:14

Entirely correct. You are a brilliant Belgian with a bizarre knowledge of English choral composers. As prize, I will tell you that the other one is Byrd.

Thierry

on 19 May 2004 at 12:42

Thanks!
In fact, I just had to goggle a little bit ! (?_-)

Renee

(Homepage)

on 19 May 2004 at 14:43

They have a cat named Byrd? That’s funny!

belgianwaffle

on 19 May 2004 at 15:27

Renee, this aspect of matters had not occurred to me until now. As you observe, it is funny.
Thierry, am impressed by your googling though your reputation in the field of English choral composers is now in freefall.

Ethnicity


Posted in: Work

I got an application form for a job with a UK public body in Brussels. The application form came with a further form which I was asked to fill in. I was assured that the form (the latter form, do try to keep up) would be kept confidential. It was for the purpose of monitoring the recruitment process only. Question 4 was as follows

Ethnic Origin

White 1

Irish 2

Black African 3

Black Carribean 4

Black other (please specify) 5

Indian 6

Pakistani 7

Bangladeshi 8

Chinese 9

Yes, obviously, my ethnic origin is Irish, but I am Irish. I appreciate that it’s for UK domestic use, but it is a little odd. And is the order of ethnicity relevant? Why is white first? Is it because there are more white people than anyone else? Does this mean that after white people the second largest ethnic group in the UK is Irish people – possible I suppose. Very strange. I suppose that it is done with the best possible motives.

And another thing, why do people assume older people need extra special advice – there was a feature on this on the radio. Someone was in saying they should be specially warned that people giving investment advice in banks are tied to the banks. They’re old, they’re not stupid. My father, who is, of course, not old as such, but certainly older, could buy and sell me and had to eventually give up in despair after many vain attempts to explain to me what exactly p/e ratio means. I remember when e-voting was piloted in the last election, a reporter descended on an ancient nun asking gleefully whether she’d had any difficulty casting her vote. She replied scornfully “of course not, it’s simple, sure a child of six could do it.” Good woman.

And finally, do check out the link to Everquest on Jack Dalton‘s post. Outstanding.