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Cheerio!

We move house this coming Saturday. We are moving to a place where, so I am told, the local people speak in a strange accent and are difficult to understand...regular readers may want to add their own punch line below:

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Boom, boom!
Because of the move, I decided that I would visit a few old haunts. It didn't get off to such a good start yesterday morning when I made the mistake of taking a different road to the one I usually take and promptly got lost. I've written about this before, but the roads do not work properly in Belgium. They mess with your mind. The road I wanted was shut off for road works and so I could either turn back or take the next road which seemed run parallel to the one I wanted to take. Well, it was a lovely early Autumn day and so I took the next road. Anyone who watches the tv show Lost may find the idea of being able to move an entire island a bit far fetched. Anyone who has enjoyed a walk in the Belgian countryside wont find it so strange! That's the only way I can explain ending up where I did!
I arrived on a busy main road that I didn't recognise, I could either go left or right-technically I could go back the way I had come but I had passed a group of shifty looking farm workers earlier and didn't want to look like I was lost. Lucky for me I chose the right way and 15 minutes later found myself in Oostmalle, which surprised me a lot because it seemed as if I had reached it in no time at all.
I took the bus into Antwerp this morning with the intention of stocking up on some hard to get Asian cooking sauces. It continues to be a really pleasent month here in Belgium and after 30 minutes on a very full bus I just had to get off because I was sweating in a very alarming way! Also I thought that the long walk into the centre of town would be an inexpensive way to experience the delights of Morocco without actually leaving Belgium! I have found over the years that once I move out of a region I very rarely go back unless I really have to. We are moving a fair distance away and I don't think I shall be seeing much of Antwerp in the years to come. It could be said that in my mind I had already moved away from the area because today I only saw it's bad side and not it's good. I bought my goods from China Town and walked on down to the Groenplaats, popped into Fnac to have a look at the new English books, walked past the waffle sellers and realised that I would never have the waffle and cream I'd always promised myself and then spent a penny in the Staadfestzaal, surely one of the most beautiful shopping Malls in the world and well worth a visit if you are ever in need of a toilet!
The photo that accompanies this post was taken in the central train station in Antwerp, another beautiful building and worth 15 minutes of your attention should you ever visit the city.

Video of the Day

A blast from the past, the first of three posts this week. Steptoe and Son is a muched loved sit-com from the 1960's and 70's. Enjoy!

Signs

It's common knowledge that Belgium is made up of those that speak Dutch and those that speak French and there is also a small corner where they speak German. The official language's of Belgium are Dutch, French and German.
If you pay a visit to the cinema then you will be treated to both French and Dutch sub-titles and television stations are split into the two languages. Dutch broadcasters show programmes in Dutch and English whilst French broadcasters show programmes that are dubbed into French or are originally French.
I still find it strange that a country should be split by 2 languages, but what is really strange is the fact that place names are sometimes completely different.
If you squint at the photo above then you may just see the name Mons, British people will be familiar with this name as the place where a big World War 1 battle took place; the same can be said of Ypres. However, in Flanders you will not see Mons or Ypres on any road signs. Instead you will see Bergen and Ieper. Any football fans driving to a match at Standard Liege would be well advised to look for Luik, because that is what Liege is called in Flanders. Looking for Antwerp? Then you may want to head towards Anvers.
I could go on.
I'm lucky that I usually have my wife with me when we drive anywhere, but I can imagine that if you don't know about this then it could be quite confusing. Of course with GPS systems so popular then it is hard to get lost...but not impossible. We borrowed a GPS from a friend when we went to Sweden. It's a great bit of kit, but it does have a habit of telling you that you need to turn in 100 metres and then seems to take forever to count down to zero, leaving me driving past the junction I should have taken because it was still on 40 metres to go when I reached the turn off! I blame the fact that it is a European GPS and uses metres and kilometres rather than the much better Imperial system of feet and miles. By the time I've worked out how many feet to a metre we are heading somewhere else!

Video of the Day