Battle Royale

Back from a long break, the witloof goes into crusading mode.

El Pais (you have to go a long way to find any news on Belgium these days) brings us news of the success that Galway-based Belgian author and journalist Mario Danneels' has had with his new book, The Trauma of the Throne. Sitting atop the Belgian book charts for weeks now, The T of the T investigates how the members of the Belgian royal family have become totally alienated from the real world and normal life and how this has affected their standing amongst their subjects.

A sex scandal, an embezzlement affair, even an antique chair controversy, there is very little that they appear able to do right at present. You would almost feel sorry for them if they did not have the rather plush castle in Laeken, on the outskirts of Brussels, at which to lick their wounds.

It is this particular piece of real estate that really gets the witloof’s blood boiling. It is 189 hectares of nature situated between the densely populated districts of Laeken and Schaarbeek. Unfortunately it is also surrounded by a very high wall and utterly inaccessible to the general public.

Thankfully, the local representatives of the Flemish Liberal Party share the witloof’s discontent with the offending wall. They have launched an online petition for (at least part of) the park to be made open to the public.

So come on people, sign the petition. And let's tear that wall down!

May Days

May is a tremendous month to be gainfully employed in Belgium. It is a bank holiday fest.

With a refreshing lack of beating about the bush the very first day of the month is off. This year May 1 was, of course, a Tuesday. In countries where work is potentially more sacrosanct (thus defeating the entire point of May Day), this would probably lead to a postponement of the bank holiday until the following Monday, allowing for a long weekend at that point. The Belgians, however, have a better scheme. They engage in the endearing tradition of "making the bridge", which entails turning up for work on neither the Monday nor the Tuesday. Being (reasonably) new here and wanting to ingratiate myself with the natives I decided to try to impress them by also making the bridge between Tuesday and Friday. I think they liked my style.

Oh-la-la-la

Belgian punk rockers T.C.Matic once sang 'Oh-la-la-la'. It is a song title that is conspicuously absent from this, frankly mental, website for a Brussels hotel.

Take a look.

For those of you who have stumbled upon this site while googling Brussels' hotels, then today would appear to be your lucky day.

It appears that, particularly if you resemble Steve Martin, you'll be met at reception by a sexy woman quoting song titles and then you'll partake in some ooh-la-la in a fancy white room.

As T.C.Matic also said: putain, putain, c'est vachement bien.

Old Europe

Donald Rumsfeld may be gone but Old Europe appears to be alive and well in the minds of some other US opinion formers. Dan Bilefsky of The International Herald Tribune has headed to Aarschot and returned with a piece entitled Pining for power, modern Belgians return to the Middle Ages

Apparently..."Across this country of 10 million, a growing number of Belgians are trading in their jeans for suits of armor. They are rubbing stones together to make fire, eating their dinners out of cauldrons, re-enacting heroic battles and participating in mock hangings."

I know a fair few people who have visited the Rubens museum but has anybody noticed any of this slightly more extreme sort of carry on? Has it really become a "national passion"?

Never Never Land

I do not intend to become a repository for youtube clips so i promise i will try to write something original in the not too distant. In the meantime, a reminder that sometimes it is good when promises are broken...

Lost in Translation

this could liven up a few of those European Parliament debates....