Out to lunch

Today I used my lunch break to pop into town and buy a wedding gift for our friends in Tokyo. As I entered the department store I was forced to make my way through the lingerie department in order to reach my destination. I hate it when that happens:
 
Purchase made,  I scoffed a disgusting burger [...]

Shelf life

For a while the appeal of box sets of tv shows escaped me entirely. My attitude was that it was only worth buying something if you were confident that you’d get your money’s worth by watching it several times over, exploring all the special features, and so forth. Even then, I found it hard to [...]

Maison et Confort

Not that this blog is going to turn into an endless series of posts mocking catalogue tat, but I found this one lying around, inexplicably abandoned in a bookshop the other day, so I had to pick it up. Pictures can be clicked to view large on flickr.
Erik and sgazzetti - you’ll both be receiving a [...]

Next to godliness

When I told a friend of mine a while ago that we’d decided to hire a cleaner, his response was “Why pay someone else to do something you can do yourself?” To which my reply was naturally “Why do something myself when I can pay someone else to do it for me?”
Ok, so there’s a limit to [...]

Dancing about architecture

While strolling around midtown Manhattan the other day, my wife wondered aloud what it must have been like to have lived there in the first third of the 20th century and to suddenly see unprecedentedly tall buildings sprouting up around you. While New York is now synonymous with skyscrapers, only a hundred years ago they were a [...]

Going Dutch

So, after 6 years living in Brussels, we’re finally getting around to learning Dutch (no, not Flemish).
I won’t go into the endless complexities of the history of language policy in Belgium. Suffice it to say that the “Brussels Capital Region” is officially bilingual (although in reality it’s said that the majority of its inhabitants are francophone), [...]

Bits and sods

I’m so glad I don’t have to “date” any more.
Fascinating story.
I’m changing jobs sometime in January (same organisation; different department). Apart from the fact that the new job will be more interesting, and more in line with my past work experience, the location of the new office is more central, which means that I can [...]

What have the Danes ever done for us?

At a recent training seminar, we had to play a stupid game which involved trying to work out which country the other teams represented from a shortlist of about half a dozen possibilities.  We asked one team which food items their country was famous for, and they replied “cheese”.  Since, via a process of elimination, [...]

Whither Belgium?

What does your country mean to you? Is your nationality something that you feel strongly, or do you have stronger ties other levels (region, city, neighbourhood, street?) How “large” is your tribe?
Italians are known for placing their region above their nation (not surprising given that their nation is only 150 years old), and even have [...]

Slow news day

One of the advantages of living in Brussels is that the cable TV suppliers provide you with a range of channels from all across Europe (and beyond). This can be especially revealing when it comes to news and current affairs, as you can see the same major stories covered (or not) in different ways by [...]