belgianwaffle

Leaving


Posted in: Belgium

Had lunch today with my friend the best dressed diplomat.  To my great distress, she is leaving Belgium in August and abandoning me  (on the plus side she needs to shed some of her wardrobe, so this may not be all bad for me).

She has asked me to recommend 12 things for her to do before she leaves.  These are they:

1. Shop on Rue Antoine Dansaert, buy shoes in Suede on Rue de Tongres. Saunter down the Avenue Louise (suspect you will do this more than once).  Shop in the Galeries de la Reine.  Actually buy something in that nice bookshop.

2. Eat in all your favourite restaurants.  Also go to the Belga Queen (because it’s hip and has those strange toilets) and the Ogenblik because it should be one of your favourite restaurants. Save your shillings and go to Comme Chez Soi.  Just the once, because otherwise you will be beggared.

3. Go to Ghent for the day.  Inspect the altarpiece of the Lamb.
4. Go to the Ardennes for the weekend and do the descent of the Lesse in canoe.

5. Attend the 21 July parade and related celebrations.

6. Go to the musee des beaux arts and gaze at the Magrittes and the Flemish primitives and anything else that takes your fancy.

7. Go for a walk around the Etangs d’Ixelles. Go rollerblading in the Bois de la Cambre (I will lend you my rollerblades, if necessary).  Take the tram from Montgomery to Tervuren.  While you’re there have another look round the African Museum.

8. Take the art nouveau tour.

9. Go to mass in Notre Dame au Sablon. Have breakfast in the Pain Quotidien (has to be done). Wander round the expensive antique market and buy an overpriced antique map of Belgium and then head for the Jeu de Balle via rue Haute/rue Blaes.

10. Have a very bizarre beer in that pub across the road from the Saint Gilles maison communale.  Have a standard beer in the Metropole.  Have a drink in the Grand Place.

11. See something in the theatre de la toison d’or.

12. Come round to us for dinner.

Comments
belgianwaffle

on 05 May 2004 at 09:20

Good woman. We know that you are up for this because you have a tattoo (sp?) on your ankle…very cool indeed. Alas, I’m not sure how to spell tattoo.
For your information, this is the description of the pub in Saint Gilles which I mentioned at no. 10.
“MOEDER LAMBIC, rue de Savoie 68, just next to the maison communale of Saint-Gilles. A place, a temple, a spot not like the others. To put in the tierce of the estaminets of the city. Minuscule and hot as a cocotte-minute, full of vibrations and usual customers. More than 1000 ( THOUSAND!) different beers in stock, no comment. It’s quite simple, they serve you “all the Belgian existing beers”, dixit the waiter. Around gross wooden tables, young sympathetic loudmouths you can easily make acquaintance with. An authentic spot, I tell you! Long life to Moeder Lambic!”
English may be a little dodgy but facts are accurate. Come to Belgium and visit..

Who would have thought Code 46 would be so dreadful?


Posted in: Reading etc.

Just polished off “Running with Scissors” by Augusten Burroughs.  Entertaining description of, frankly horrific, childhood.  Does not, however, entirely live up to the hype.

Last night saw the flic “In this World” absolutely brilliant, but very, very harrowing story of two refugees trying to make their way from Peshawar in Pakistan to London.  Really excellent though director’s social conscience can be a bit trying when he does voice overs.  This is, however, a minor quibble.  You have to get it out on video/DVD.  Suspect this will not be a problem as it is not exactly top of anyone’s list for an evening in (only got it myself because the rom com I wanted was unavailable).  Do see it, it’s fab.

Comments
belgianwaffle

on 13 May 2004 at 13:42

Yes, a bit depressing alright, but still very, very good. You see, I am NOT difficult to please!

Damp and sleepless


Posted in: Princess

Baby woke up in the middle of the night.  Stumbled in to her bleary eyed clutching bottle. Picked up screaming bundle in the dark.  Removed cap from bottle.  Inserted in baby. Er no, discovered that in my befuddled state in the pitch dark had removed entire top of bottle and had just doused myself and my, by now very annoyed, baby in formula. Alas.

Comments
jackdalton

on 04 May 2004 at 22:01

That’ll teach HER to wake YOU up in the middle of the night…

belgianwaffle

on 05 May 2004 at 09:11

Bluepoppy, you are cruel to mock the afflicted. Jack, you are correct, last night she only woke up once and cried in a half-hearted nervous kind of way.

Fascinating flooring


Posted in: Mr. Waffle, Princess

If you consult the pictures of our infant daughter on my photoblog, you will see that she is a messy eater. We have wooden floors which really should be revarnished so the constant addition of water and random food to the floor surface is not ideal. I suppose it wouldn’t be ideal under any circumstances but with the floors needing revarnishing, things do tend to leave marks (we have a trail of vaseline handprints on our bedroom floor from when the Princess managed to get hold of a tub of the stuff and smear it all over herself).

I thought that I would go to IKEA and get a cheap, tasteful, washable floor covering which we could put on the dining room floor. I got to IKEA and, you know what, tasteful and washable don’t really go together. So I thought that I would get a cheapish rug which we could dispose of when the Princess learned to eat without scattering debris. IKEA is not as cheap as all that. The rugs in the size I wanted were about 600 euros. Imagine then my delight when I found one for 80 euros. True, it looked a bit like underlay, but it looked robust also. I snapped it up.

I brought it home. I explained my reasoning to Mr. Waffle over the phone.

“Hmm,” he said, “I don’t know if a rug is what we need, but for 8 euros, I suppose you can’t go wrong”.
“Umm, no, not 8 euros, 80.”

Horrified silence.  “You shouldn’t have told me that. I mean all we really needed was a square of lino for under her high chair”.

“Actually, it’s called vinyl flooring these days”

When he came home, he took one look at the rectangular, dark green rug and said “Ah, the 80 euro putting green”

And, inevitably, it’s a bit of a disaster, whereas before debris could be swept up or mopped up, now we have to get out the hoover after every meal.  Also, given that it has the texture of underlay, it is a little rough on the royal knees.  I may have to take it up, I suppose what I really need is a square of lino.

Comments
Locotes

on 30 April 2004 at 18:16

It’s true. Never correct the other half in matters of cash. It’s safer. That’s assuming of course you keep the accounts under tight lock and key. It’s safer.
Oh well – I suppose you meant well eh?
😉

belgianwaffle

on 03 May 2004 at 14:59

You two want me to deceive my husband…never!

Thank you for not smoking


Posted in: Family, Siblings

A series of unrelated ramblings which are all, somewhat tenuously, connected by my family (no pun intended).

My sister is thinking of changing her phone number. She has only just got it, but it appears that the previous owners were bad debtors. She has been fielding calls all week from annoyed credit agencies. On Saturday night she got a call asking whether she would take “a collect call from Will”. She doesn’t know any Will, so she said no and hung up. A couple of minutes later she got another call would she “take a collect call from Will?”. She said no and hung up. The phone rang again would she take a “collect call from Will”? She decided that unless she spoke to Will, this could go on all night so she said “ok”. A recorded voice then told her “please be aware that this call is being made from inside Cook County correctional facility”. She decided not to talk to Will after all. Clearly, these people were very bad debtors.

Things continue to be uneventful on the job front. Got this email from my brother:

“How are you, are you job hunting like crazy or has the extended period of  unemployment induced apathy? How’s the Princess getting on, has she done anything that a godfather should know about like walk, talk, got teeth/hair, or got a new job (at this rate she’ll probably enter the labour market before you)”

I am beginning to feel that he might be right.

My mother has laughed cruelly at our holiday plans. “Why on earth would you stay in Dungarvan?” she asked between snorts of hysterical laughter. I appreciate that Dungarvan may not have the cachet of West Cork or the wilds of Kerry but, I’m sure it will be lovely. While I’m speaking of West Cork cachet, I heard the following mildly amusing story about one of the local hotels in Schull. The hotel bar was open on Good Friday which it shouldn’t have been (Ireland is a catholic country in fits and starts). The car park was full to bursting as parched punters from all over the county turned up for an illicit pint. They furtively drank their drinks in the full knowledge that by being on the premises they were committing a variety of offences.  However, there was one offence that was not committed, the car park was full of smokers dutifully complying with the smoking ban and having their fags outside.

Finally, went to the paediatrician the other day where the Princess was pronounced healthy and bouncing. She weighs 8.3kgs, measures 72cms and got a shot. That was very traumatic for me, but she didn’t seem to mind much. She opened her mouth to howl and her face went ominously purple but then she decided not to bother. My daughter is the picture of bravery.

Comments
Locotes

on 28 April 2004 at 18:42

Who would have thought Dungarvan would have an official website – how the times are a changin’. I don’t have a problem with the place myself – though I suppose it lacks a bit of glamour alright. When are you heading over?
By the way, your brother was a bit cheeky wasn’t he? Personally I think he deserves your wrath more than your sister…silveretta: pavement smoking is alive and well, and yes at times you have to fight your way through the crowds. Still delighted with the ban though.

belgianwaffle

on 29 April 2004 at 14:58

Actually, haven’t been in Ireland since the smoking ban arrived (well, was there for day 1 but then hightailed it back to Belgium) so am not really sure what it’s like…but am very enthused by forcing unfortunate smokers out into the rain.
Locotes, do you have a younger brother…they’re all like that – am struck by a sudden thought – you are a younger brother, aren’t you?

Locotes

on 29 April 2004 at 21:50

I sound like an older brother? No you were right the first time – I do have a younger brother. He’s more a messy slob…though he can be a cheeky bastards as well now I think about it.Well if you’re a non-smoker you HAVE to get out and about and make the most of it. A great feeling. Even more amusing to watch friends depart on their lonesome to the cold outside. Har har. Not that I laugh in their face or anything. That’s just rude.

belgianwaffle

on 30 April 2004 at 08:57

Yes, indeed, the younger brother, Cork model, your only man. Can’t wait to see smoking ban in operation. Am a cruel fascist non-smoker. Clearly.

Famous to 15 people


Posted in: Reading etc.

As I seem to spend a lot of time in the car and my books on tape are all finished, I was listening to the World Service again the other day (I know, it’s like a terrible affliction). There was a programme on blogging. I particularly liked this comment:

“The artist Andy Warhol believed that everyone would be famous for fifteen minutes, but now – say the wits – with a weblog everyone can be famous to at least fifteen people.”

Quite.

And I finished “The Dante Club”. And it is brutally disappointing. In my heart of hearts, I know it is going to be made a huge Hollywood blockbuster, just to spite me. Like bloody “Cold Mountain”.

And finally, from this week’s London Review of Books:

“Summer, 1974. Everybody was kung fu fighting.  Not me, I was revising the sociology of Paulo Freire.  Who’s laughing now, sixth-formers of Sherbourne Fields School, Coundon?  Mortgage-free M and perennial Friends Reunited outcast.  Box no. 06/06”