World Cup

I don't know anything about the World Cup, but I have noticed a marked difference in the behaviour of the fans and the reaction of the police to them here in Brussels.

There were quite a few English fans here on Saturday. Perhaps they got lost, or perhaps they were just stopping off on their way to Germany- I don't know, but before the match there were hundreds of them on Boulevard Anspach outside the Irish Pub "O'Rielly's". They were, on the whole, young men dressed in the team colours. They were all drinking heavily, singing and generally seeming to be quite threatening. I saw a large number of people cross the street to avoid going past them. There were police and paddy wagons everywhere and I even saw a water cannon being driven around the city. I didn't venture out later after the match so I don't know how they celebrated England's victory over Paraguay, but I can guess... on Sunday morning there was quite a few broken bottles and a lot of litter outside the Irish Pub...

In stark contrast, last night when heading home after the Hash I saw (and heard) the Italian fans celebrating their victory. There is a large Italian community here in Brussels and they were out in force. There were loads of cars with girls sitting on the doors out of the windows waving the Italian flag, while the drivers were tooting their horns and they were all shouting "Italia! Italia!" and waving to everybody and anybody as they drove around the city centre in very high spirits. When I got within a couple of hundred yards of "O'Rielly's" I found the police had closed the road to traffic. I wondered if there was any trouble at the bar, but there wasn't a paddy wagon in sight (unlike on Saturday). When I reached La Bourse, where "O'Rielly's", is I discovered why the road was closed - because the Italian fans were dancing in the street. It felt like a great big happy party that everyone was welcome to join in on - very different from the Saturday.

It may be a bit disloyal, but I hope Italy continues to do well - apart from the tooting of car horns late into the night their fans were causing no agro, and they really seemed to be having a good time and they certainly know how to celebrate! Shame I can't say the same about the English fans...

A Picnic

On Saturday I had a good walk around Schuman area recceing next week's Bloom's Day Run (I'm co-hare) and afterwards, over a cold beer in the Mort Subite, I thought to myself "That was a nice walk, but it would have been better in the shade... and with a picnic".

As I had nothing planned for Sunday I decided to sieze the moment. I went straight to the supermarket and bought some pate, cheese, olives, salami and tomatoes and stuck a bottle of wine and a few beers in the fridge. I was all set to go by myself, but I realised I had quite a lot of food and wondered if there was anyone else feeling in need of a picnic and a walk in the woods. I wasn't sure who to invite, so I just put the message out on the internet on Saturday evening to the members of the BMPH3 suggesting a walk and picnic in the Foret de Soignes on Sunday meeting at a well known Hash venue on the edge of the forest, the station at Boitsfort at 1pm.

On Sunday when I arrived I was really expecting no one to take up the invitation, but to my surprise there was Trash Can Man waiting for me . He had only seen the message only an hour before. As he was stuck alone inside his apartment my suggestion struck a cord and he decided to come along, and I'm glad he did.

After an obligatory beer we set off at 1:20pm and returned to the station at just before 6pm having stopped for an excellent picnic lunch in the heart of the woods and for a couple of well earned ice cold beers at a bar on the outskirts of Boitshort village. We were walking the rest of the time, so I guess we covered around 18km (3 hours walking at 6kmph)!

The woods were beautiful, cool and peaceful. Once we got away from the edge of the wood there were very few people around, just some on horseback or bikes and one or two joggers but no crowd, no noise, no heat, just lovely green coolness - ah bliss... We stomped along for hours putting the worlds to rights and enjoying the wonderful woods...

A Good Puzzle

My friend Eric passed me this link; http://fizzlebot.com/cdt2.php

It is to a website with a series of 10 games for which there are no instructions. You just have to figure out what is done by clicking on things and seeing what happens.

The series of 10 puzzles took me 2hrs 28mins to solve which I am sure is not very impressive; nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.

Give it a try and let me know how you get on. Don't worry it remembers who you are and how far you have got so you don't need to solve all the problems in one go.

A bit of culture

I went to a concert last night (Friday). It was put on by the "Brussel Operettetheater" and was held in the very grand auditorium of the KBC Bank at their HQ which is about a 15 minute walk from my apartment.

The reason for going - above and beyond hearing some lovely operetta being very well sung was to see a friend of mine from the Brussels HHH sing. Francisa (Cissy) Vanherle is a soprano as well as being the Grand Matress of the BMPH3 http://www.bmph3.com/ I have heard her sing once before in Der Fledermaus, so it wasn't such a surprise to hear wonderful classical songs issuing from her rather than the usual Hash songs.

There was a full house - of about 250 people to hear her and a tenor (Yves Saelens) sing selections from Lehar, J. Strauss and Tosti accompanied on the piano. The Hash representatives, and there were 6 of us, were under strict instructions to be on best behaviour and not to mention Hashing, beer or Cissy's Hash name.

The evening flew by.

Once it was all over I discovered that there was a House Warming party being held at Puss In Boots new house. I grabbed a lift with Higgins to the new house in the Merode district of town via a stop for chips in Place Jourdan and to buy a bottle or two at an all night shop (it was now 11pm).

When we arrived the party was in full swing. We were given a guided tour of the 5 storey house. It was very nice with a huge open plan living room and dining room on the first floor (upstairs from the front of the house, but with a small garden at the back) then on to the second floor with 2 huge bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms (though only one works as the renovations are not quite complete) and then on up to the third floor which is a vast open plan office come study area complete with its own kitchen and bathroom and then on up again to the fourth floor which was an attic room.

I had a good time and poured myself into a taxi at about 1am having drunk a lot of wine and done quite a bit of dancing.