Holiday

As previously stated in an earlier post, In Flanders will be inactive for the next month or so whilst I take a well earned break.

Video of the Day

The Mosselen from Brussels...

As so often happens with my blog, I return to the subject of food. In Britain we call them mussels, and they are usually eaten at the seaside, covered in salt and vinegar, maybe a sprinkle of pepper and accompanied by a hunk of bread. In Belgium they are a gastronomic sensation, given the same status as...actually that's a good point, I'm not sure that there is an equivalent in Britain. In Belgium, when mosselen come into season, you will see many restaurants and cafés put up fancy posters announcing the new crop, these posters usually have a photo of a happy couple laughing as they walk along a beach somewhere, no doubt thrilled with anticipation of an evening plucking mosselen from their shells. Occasionally a child will appear on the poster, next to a happy couple, who will be just as happy, if not more so, than his good looking parents!

Some restaurant owners advertise mosselen by putting a giant mossel outside their establishment. The giant mossel is as big as a Shetland Pony and I often think that if only mosselen were that big, then they would be worth eating! Or maybe someone could invent a mossel with an edible shell! The truth is that mosselen are really healthy foods, high in omega 3 and low in fat. Because of this they are genetically coded to have no taste and all healthy properties are immediately negated because people will dip them in mayonnaise! We had our once a year meal of mosselen last night. My stomach thought my throat had been cut and to compensate I had to have a big bowl of ice cream later, which again totally screwed up the healthy qualities of the mossel.

Wee

There are not too many differences between the English and the Belgians. But occasionally I see something strikes me as a bit strange. It's only because it happened this morning that I decided to write about it, because it's not a particularly pleasant subject. In Belgium it is called wildplassen, and basically means, urinating in public. Firstly, I should say that it is against the law to have a wee in public. But, in my experience, when a Belgian bloke - and I'm not talking about every single Belgian male here - feels the need to urinate then any wall will do, even if its in a very public place, like the supermarket car park, as witnessed by me this morning. I wonder just how desperate you need to be to have a slash where there are lots of people, including children, walking around.
Is this a big problem in Belgium? Dunno. I've seen plenty of men urinating in public since I've been here and I can honestly say it is not something I can remember seeing on more than a couple of occasions in Britain. I'm not saying it doesn't happen in Britain, but if it does, then it is not something that people do in full view of the general public. British wildplassen takes place in telephone booths and car park stairwells! As a foreigner, it is noticeable to me here because people don't seem bothered if everyone can see them. This morning was particularly strange, wildplassen usually happens where there is beer being drunk in large amounts, indeed, there is a bar just down the road from our apartment that has a big red sign up asking people not to urinate against the walls of the establishment.
Am I being a bit of a prude by writing about my distaste for it? Am I blowing it out of proportion? That did cross my mind. I shall only say that we covered wildplassen in one of my Belgian language classes, it has a wikipedia page all about it and lastly, it has an official name Wildplassen. You decide.

Video of the Day

Braderij

With all the excitement of the Rock Festival it would have been easy to forget Braderij weekend. But, a very hot weekend meant an apartment with every window open wide, which was a blessing in a way because if they hadn't been open then I would have missed a great spectacle. I was tipped off by the sound of men shouting and generally having a good time. Looking out of the window I saw a wonderful sight. Now, I have been pretty vocal about my dislike of:
A) Bicycles
B) Cyclists
C) Wieler Toeristen - to remind non-Belgians, these are groups of people, usually men, who ride around wearing skin tight lycra and visit cafés where they drink beer and show off their crotches.
What I saw was six men, pedalling a mobile bar down the street, whilst drinking beer! The bar consisted of two benches on either side of the structure, with a man serving drinks in the middle. The men sitting on the benches propelled the bar by pedalling a standard bicycle type pedal and chain. Genius!
I wish I had rushed for my camera because when we walked down the street later it was no where to be seen.
The Braderij was a little bigger than I remembered it from the last time it was on. Each shop competed with each other to see who could play music the loudest and so the street was a mish mash of noise. There were stalls selling Indian goods, that's native American Indians, and girls were having beads sewn into their hair. There was the usual bouncy castle and all of the shops had money off stickers posted on their windows. Chalk drawings adorned the middle of the road, a competition for children, beer tents and tables and chairs were liberally placed every twenty paces or so for the thirsty pedestrian. One thing that did confuse me was what seemed to be a race between racing bikes and motor scooters. As the racers turned the corner, the cyclists always seemed to be riding in the motor scooters slipstream, "that's a bit of a stupid race," I thought, no contest, the motor scooters will win, no problem. It was quickly pointed out to me that the cyclists were supposed to be riding in the scooters slipstream and as a matter of fact the motor scooters were only in the race to help the cyclists ride faster...I think that's a good example of just how Belgiums love affair with the bike can get out of control and drift into pure stupidity. As an invention, the mobile bar has to be up there with satellites and the microchip, but a race where riders follow a motor scooter to go faster? Well, I'll let you be the judge!
But, unfortunately my feet were still aching like crazy from the day at Werchter and we didn't stay too long, although we did get the bargains we went out for. As the day wore on, we could hear a decent sounding rock band playing into the night and rumours of a mobile bar being seen heading towards Eindhoven were unsubstantiated.

Videos of the Day

A bit of a departure from my normal posting of comedy videos. I have posted the 3 songs I enjoyed the most at Rock Werchter this year. All are performed live, albeit at different venues to Werchter. Recently, music videos on Youtube were banned in Britain, I'm not sure if this ban is still on going but I guess if you can't see the videos then it is.

Coldplay-Viva La Vida

The Killers-All the Things I've Done

Elbow-Weather to Fly

Rock Off!

Things to expect at a Rock festival:
1. Music
2. People
3. People shouting "WOO!" a lot and randomly waving their hands in the air.
4. People throwing various objects, usually a container of some sort filled with liquid, possibly beer (mmm...) or possibly water. Old hands at festivals will not wear their best or favourite items of clothing. I was once on the edge of a Chinese take-away shower at the V Fest in Chelmsford, England a few years ago and although I missed my share of sweet and sour pork balls, it taught me a valuable lesson. On friday, a group of teenage girls about five sardines in front of me, caught the full force of a cup of water. The look of outrage on one girls face made me laugh, which she saw and I think she suspected that I had thrown it. If looks could kill...Of course, there are other things that get thrown: toilet paper(unused), inflatable balls and the odd hat. It must be said that most people find in hard to resist throwing a sombrero to see if it flies like a frisbee!
5. Small people. I think there should be a height restriction for Festivals, like there are for some rides at Fun Fairs. Small people live under the mistaken belief that they are missing out on something if they can't see the stage. They don't realise that everyone else watches the big screens for much of the time and so they insist on sitting on a friends shoulders so they get a good view of really tiny groups on the stage and everyone else behind them gets to see NOTHING except their stupid backs!
6. Beer and the hazards of trying to negotiate your way to the beer tent from the middle of a group of people and trying to find the way back without spilling any! Lucky for me someone else went! Thanks hun!
7. Rock stars asking everyone if they are alright.
Guy Garvey (Elbow)- How's everyone doing?
Everyone except me- WOO!
Me- Actually, my feet really hurt!

Brandon Flowers (The Killers)- Hi, how's everyone doing?
Everyone except me- WOO!
Me- I could really do with a foot massage!

Chris Martin (Coldplay)- Hi , everyone having a good time?
Everyone except me- WOO!
Me- Get me an armchair and a pouffe!
8. Laws of averages dictate that when you get many thousands of people standing together in a field, then a certain proportion of them will be annoying idiots. Or Dutch. Or both. I had the pleasure of standing next to a group of Dutch people, one of whom blagged a squeeze of my finacée's sun cream and then insisted on using my sun glasses so he could see his reflection, because he didn't know where abouts on his face his nose was. He then announced that I was a really cool dude and then returned to his friends. There was a gap of a few seconds and then he suddenly shouted "Hey! She is a lady boy!" and pointed to one of his female friends. I'm not sure if he meant to say "Hey, she is a lady, boy!"(which didn't need pointing out to me) or, I think he might have meant" He is a lady boy." Whatever. We didn't exchange email addresses.
9. Funny fags. I have never smoked anything stronger than a Silk Cut, I guess I led a sheltered life in my youth, but I've never smoked pot. At every gig I've ever attended you always get a waft of burning un-washed socks, which I presume is either pot or actually is un-washed socks being burnt in some sort of secret Rock Festival ritual that I know nothing about, a little like the Masonic secret handshake.
10. Really drunk people. Usually, drunk people are only funny when you are just as drunk as they are. But, I find it amusing to watch drunk people walk (or try to) and it was especially funny on friday night to see a young man who was really drunk do what no one else could do and that was part the sea of human bodies that was trying to leave the Festival grounds. He half ran, half stumbled with impressive dexterity, through a crowd of maybe fifty people until inevitably he disappeared from view as his legs caught up with his drink addled brain. It was good while it lasted!
We had a great time at Rock Werchter, Elbow were majestic, The Killers were excellent in places and Coldplay were not as good as the first time I saw them, but still rocked. The weather was excellent, none of that promised rain, just hot weather and some nice cloud cover. And yes, my feet still hurt!

Video of the Day

Rock On!

For a few days every year, the village of Werchter becomes the Rock capital of Belgium. As you can see from the picture, it's taking place this year and I shall be going. My fiancée and myself decided last year that we would do a day at the festival, if the groups were good enough. When the line-up was announced earlier in the year, it was a toss up between today and friday. Today, Oasis are performing and I would love to see them. But how could we resist Elbow, The Killers and Coldplay, all playing on the same day! It was a no brainer. If that wasn't enough, tomorrow we are promised thunderstorms! Brilliant! I shall take my wellies...
Another thing going on over the weekend in this neck of the woods is Braderij. I'm not sure if it should be 'a Braderij' or 'the Braderij,' but whatever it's called, it's on and it's here! It's one of those things that we don't have in England. I'm not sure if it's unique to Belgium, probably not, but it is something that I really couldn't see being held in Britain.
Once a year, in the town, they close a number of roads and the shop keepers have a sale, bringing their goods outside and making a sort of impromptu street market. Not only that, but a travelling Fun Fair sets up in every available nook and cranny.
Actually, that's another thing that is different to Britain. In Britain, Fun Fairs are usually set up on fields or empty car parks. In Belgium they are set up in the most unlikely of places. If it wont fit in a car park then they will just put a Shooting Gallery or Food Stall in the next bit of space they can find. Hence, the road opposite our apartment being closed and a ride of some sort being erected across its width. It's still a bit weird to me after 3 years.
But, I have to say that despite this bit of Belgian strangeness, it creates a nice atmosphere, especially with a couple of beer stalls dotted around the place. Braderij takes place over 3 days and I expect we shall take a stroll down the road to see if there are any bargains to be had.

Video of the Day