November 11th is Armistice Day (also known as Remembrance Day) in Belgium and it commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning — the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" 1918. The date was declared a national holiday in many allied nations, to commemorate those members of the armed forces who were killed during war. I attended the Armistice Day ceremony in Brussels that occured at the Place of Congress at [View Full Entry]

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13th February '09: Groan. We’re parked on loading bays of a warehouse on Middelmolenlaan, a street utterly devoid of character. It’s drizzly and cold, the sort of weather that makes you tuck jumper into jeans without caring a jot about looking foolish. The warehouse is empty until the containers of equipment for AC/DC arrive tomorrow. This is the type of place, in short, that proper lorry drivers go. Incidentally, is it worth describing places any more? I recently read an article on the future of travel writing that debated this topic. In Eric Newby's day, for example, we cou [View Full Entry]

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This past weekend I took the train from Brussels to Marbehan, which is a small town in the Belgian Ardennes. My uncle and Sylvie, who live in Paris, came for Brassigaume, which is a beer festival in Marbehan, and they rented a house and invited me to stay for the weekend. The Belgian Ardennes consist of several small towns that are all quite close to one another, and the house that my uncle and Sylvie had rented was in Rulles, which was about a 10 minute drive from Marbehan. When I arrived on Saturday, we took a quick drive around the [View Full Entry]

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Look up forgetfull in the English dictionary and there might be a picture of me, if there isn then somone should write to them and say that my picture needs to be added; granted you can find it with that spelling. I have now lost or forgotten, at various places, one of my lighters, swiss army knife, one of my chapsticks, passport, bottle of advil, and now to add to the list all of the posters that Ive bought along the way. DAMN! that last one really chapped my hide. The lost and found doesn open until Monday, so the soonest [View Full Entry]

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My Thanksgiving in Brussels was tons of fun! I decided to cook a huge Thanksgiving dinner for the other interns from ISB, two of whom are from Belgium and had never celebrated Thanksgiving before. We had dinner on Sunday night and I made chickens (I searched all around for a turkey, but its impossible to find one in Belgium unless you order it well in advance!), stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, gravy, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie for dessert. It was my first time cooking the entire meal by myself and it turned out quite well! On Monday, which [View Full Entry]

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Got up this moring and Rob checked on Garycat who was fine, he was in his wee igloo so had obviously had a comfortable night. Headed into the restaurant for a full cooked brekkie, was awfy guid, set us up for the day’s driving. After that we just got our stuff oot the cabin and parked our butts in the lounge area, played some cards, Rob tried to teach me Bragg but I decided afer 5 mins it was too much like Poker and too hard to understand so I said I didn’t like it and we played Blackjack instead, I [View Full Entry]

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Up early moring to finish packing up, finally finished the car jigsaw puzzle then went to Asda for the travel supplies then to the Crooked Glen for some lunch. After that we went to my brothers hoose to see The Bear, stayed there for half an hour playing with her and got cuddles and an Eilidh style kiss haha!!! Was sad saying goodbye to her, will miss her so much but her aunite Beni will get her doon to her hoose next week so I can see her on the webcam. Went to Bucklyvie and got oor GaryCat out, his wee [View Full Entry]

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They warned us that the long study tour would be exhausting, and they weren't kidding. All the academic visits that we did are like a blur, so I'll just highlight the parts of the trip that I like best/remember best. Day 1 is nothing but driving. Really. I wake up at the crack of dawn and a bus full of my classmates departs Copenhagen at 0845. We drive south, cross to Germany on a ferry, turn west, stop in the Netherlands for dinner, and arrive in Brussels at 2300. Our hotel is called Maison du Dragon ("dragon house") and it is [View Full Entry]

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11th February '09: Anybody who puts a tea break in the middle of a concert is a star in my book. There’s nothing worse than needing the loo an hour into a show, and having to stand there like a lemon, crossing your legs.. The first half closes with; 'we don’t need another hero..', and “pyro”, dangerous stuff mere mortals don’t understand. The pyrotechnic boys are clothed in mystery, emitting lethal-sounding bangs and producing propane flames on stage. The fire looks so impressive that I sometimes wonder if I forgot to turn off the iron backstage. Blimey, the ba [View Full Entry]

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As we found out our last night in Brussels, 5 Duvels seemed like a good idea at the time, particularly when two were free, not so much when you have 3 hours sleep and then have to catch two planes..... Anyway, we arrived in Brussels after two days in Antwerp at Brussels Central, a train station only a short way from our hotel. The only problem was finding a road sign to identify exactly where we were. As the rain grew heavier and heavier, we gave up at headed to the taxi queue. After giving the drivers the address of the [View Full Entry]

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