MISSION 1/2 : COMPLETED

Well it turned out to be a very smooth three days - with (almost) everything going to plan... On Thursday evening, after landing in Brussels i went with my dad to see a couple of flats, but nothing really interesting. On Friday morning, after spending the night with friends Sarah and .s (hey Karen, sorry i missed you - had to squeeze in too many things as usual - but in less than 4 weeks I will make it up to you!). On Friday I had the big Job Search... hopefully in due course i will be able to make the comment Mission 2/2 : completed... Fridaynight I met up with friends David and Paulus and played cards (sounds a bit old'ish but it was great fun!) and on Saturday - after a wobbly start (don't ask) - I finally got the flat we really wanted... I celebrated this fact later that day with S&.S again and than back in my hometown with Karlien, Jan and Roel...

Really looking forward to the move now... these are gonna be four exciting weeks now... and of course... i'll keep you posted!

flat/job-hunting

A man with a mission :

the task : finding a job and a flat in two days...

the tools : A busy schedule, starting as soon as I set foot on ground - going to Antwerp to see three flats with my dad - who kindly offered me to pick me up and bring me to Antwerp. Then tomorrow for the job (and seeing another flat) and on Saturday I go to see three more flats as well - including the one we have set our eyes on... always save the best for last, non?

the result : read here soon hopefully!

Strike

There's a general strike on in the UK today, organised by one of the major unions (as far as they still exist) to protect their pensions. Which - on the practical side of it - left me taking a cab this morning to work (well, I have to admit - i kinda slept in yesterday as well and had to take a cab as well...). And I must say that I could get used to having a driver each morning taking me to my work and dropping me off in front of the door... i'll start filling out those lottery forms again :-)

Jetlagged

I am totally jetlagged... i love the fact that the hour changed - and we will have more daylight now... but the feeling of getting up one hour earlier... bweeeuuuuuuuu... where's the tea-ine/caffeine....

Oh nooooooooooooo!!!!!
What is happening with me? Someone who knows me a little, knows that I am not a morning person at all... if you let me sleep, i can stay in bed till long after noon...
But this morning i woke up, without alarm clock or anything ONE HOUR BEFORE i usually had to get up...

Could it be that i am shifting to a morning person? Is my body already anticipating the daylight-saving time that starts next sunday?

Luckily i realised my earliness and went back to sleep and slept 'till way past my normal waking time, so there is still hope for me :-)

Glory Days

What a fantastic weekend! We rented a car with Sven and Sarah and travelled to the highlands and on Saturday we were really blessed with the weather! When we arrived in Glencoe (one of the most beautiful places in the Highlands) the sun was shining, there was snow on the top of the mountains… too beautiful to describe in words. We walked in between two the three sisters to arrive at Loch Letive, a bit of a hidden lake in the middle of Glencoe… it was beautiful!

Then we went on to Fort William to spend the night. On Sunday we drove to Glenfinnan to see the Harry-Potter Bridge, and then back via Spean Bridge, all the way round to Perth and down – after a stop in the picturesque village of Falkland where we visited Falkland Palace (still an official residence of the Queen – where the first tennis court in the world was created) and back to Edinburgh.

It was great to have Sarah and Sven with us, lots of laughs (yes Sarah, it’s true : “a day without a laugh, is a day not lived”) camera-attacks, singing (even Sven and Sarah, but the evidence was deleted – damn). (Funny) Pictures definitely to follow... !

weekend again

and yes... weekend again! time goes by very quickly when you are having fun - innit?
Sarah and Sven arrived yesterday evening and we embarked immediately on a little pub crawl (the weather did not permit us to do anything else) that took us to the Chocolate Soup, The Jolly Judge and the Villager and ending with dinner in Maison Blue in Victoria Street.

After that we headed home, intending to play our favourite card-game (naming it would cause my blog to end up in some dodgy listings - but literally translation it would come close to Chinese Procreation...) but ended up falling asleep on the couch watching Little Britain...
This weekend we aim to go to the highlands - doing a nice tour - through Glen Cloe hopefully if the weather permits it... keep you posted on that one!

Ps: this is how my nerdy evil-twin brother looks like :-)

what a week...

First of all the most important news : it is official now : We will move back to Belgium at the end of April. No doubt there will be more talk about this on my blog, but I just already wanted to announce it. I feel a bit sad about it, because I will definitely miss a lot of things here in Scotland.

One of them is my little singing course on Tuesdays. I start to get along with some of my fellow would-be singers. And with one of them I went to see the opera “The Saint of Bleecker Street” in Festival Theatre yesterday. Not that we are very huge opera-fans but we were lured there by our singing teacher Emma, who has a leading role in the opera. (which included the very funny lines – opera-style : “the wiiinneeee makkkeesss meeee giggggllyyyy” and also “looook at the maaan I marrriieeed, doesn’t he looook fuuuunnnnnyyyyy”) Besides these comic lines it was a rather heavy piece of theatre about a girl getting the stigmata, wanting to be a nun, and a brother who is madly in love with his sister, killing his own lover for her… High Drama

More Big News for today : Sarah and Sven are visiting! They will arrive today in a very very snowy and mashy Edinburgh ! Very much looking forward to that!

One Week In Belgium

A very straightforward title for this blog... so yes... today is my last day at work before my week of holiday. Holiday might not be the right word though... at least it does not really feel like a holiday... more like going home for a week... which is also what it is... not that i don't look forward to it, on the contrary, but it is not exactly skiing downhill on the French Alps or laying on a beautiful beach... usually a week back home like this is packed with visits to friends and families... This time will be a bit different since Audrey our friend from here in Edinburgh but originally from New Zealand is doing a little European tour and on Monday she will be in Belgium as well. So we will take her to Belgium's most beautiful places. Brugge, Antwerpen, Pepingen and Brussels :-) ... Although we only have three days all tips are still welcome!

Peeping Stockholm

Have you ever been to Stockholm?

I think it is the most beautiful city in Europe… with its many little islands, the atmospheric Gamla Stan, all its beautiful bridges… …




However my memories might be a bit coloured by the circumstances under which I first visited Stockholm… I was doing my Erasmus in Finland and - to put it bluntly – Finland has no real “city”… Helsinki comes close, but still is a provincial town compared to the grandeur of Stockholm. Me and my friend Maria decided to embark on a hitch-hiking adventure leaving from Turku in Finland, via Vaasa to Umea and then down to Stockholm… So after hitchhiking more than 1000 km through Finnish and Swedish nowhere-ness, you suddenly arrive in this magnificent stylish metropolis.

Why do I mention this now? Because Joris is leaving tomorrow to go there for the weekend, to work with the internationally acclaimed “Peeping Tom” dance-theatre company for their performances in Stockholm... Lucky bastard…

PS: If you ever have the chance of going to see one of the performances of this theatre, it's definitely worth it! check here

The End

Last Sunday it finally happened... We had been dreading it for some weeks and even months now... My car... My beloved VW Golf has broken down... And it decided to go out with a bang in front of a big audience... Driving on a very busy roundabout going towards Queen Street, transporting six people (ok one over the legal limit).... After some some desperate attempts getting it started again and pushing it towards a safer place, we towed the car (thank you Kenny) to its next-to-last shelter place, our street... It has given us great pleasure, driving thousands of kilometers through entire Scotland; from Edinburgh-Glasgow-Mull-Handa Island-John O'Groats-Inverness-Aberdeen-Stirling-Perth and many more beautiful places in Scotland... I'm not too sentimental though, because after three crashed windows, one crashed mirror and a broken antenna, three new tyres and several cans of oil I'm more than relieved that this ordeal is finally over...

Away!

Last night we did a very good job – as I say so myself… we cleaned up all our clothes and discovered there were actually a lot of them that could be thrown out… so we embarked on this clean-out mission and ended up with an enormous pile of old clothes – things we hadn’t worn for ages it seems…

And just because people like lists here follows our little junk-list – all items now nicely packed into 4 big dust bags:

13 T-shirts
8 long sleeved T-shirts
9 pullovers
11 trousers
3 shorts
7 pairs of shoes

cool?

Is Jamie Olliver still cool? Is he still “in”?
Cool or not, I made one of his recipes yesterday... a great fish-cake (sounds better in Dutch i suppose : "te gekke vistaart!")... And although my balance between some ingredients didn't really seem to be ok, the finished result was tasty (wasn't it joris?)...

Before dinner, we just spent the sunday-afternoon just being lazy on the couch, watching Grand Designs (big fans, we are) on Channel 4 and dragging ourselves of the sofa to go and do the necessary shopping. Don't we just love lazy sundays!

Sauna Office

big problem: the sun is shining...for most people not a very large problem (unless you suffer from Polymorphic Light Eruption) except for me and my boss... since we moved to our new office last October, we have been able to enjoy the magic scenery that our new windows offered us... but on a very bright and sunny day like this, the down part of this is beginning to show : outside temperature today about 6 degrees Celsius, but here inside, with curtains closed (so bye bye nice view) it is i guess already getting close to 25 degrees... I am sitting here in a t-shirt (two actually) and already feeling too warm... (Especially after lunch, the need for a nap emerges more easily in these temperatures...) I dread already the day when temperatures will rise outside...

Opal

Wat een schitterende ochtend; blauwe hemel, stralende zon (enkel vries-koud) – mijn favoriete weer!

Heb een heel leuke avond achter de rug gisteren – vandaar dat ik hier nu wat zit met een iets suffer hoofd dan normaal...

We hadden een delegatie uit Londen op bezoek in Edinburgh – waaronder onze vriend Nic - en uiteraard hoort een introductie van het avond- en nachtleven van onze fijne stad hier bij de feestelijkheden. Onze pub-crawl begon met champagne in de prestigieuze “Opal Lounge” – een bar die Prins William in zijn studententijd vaak frequenteerde - in het poshere New Town in Edinburgh.

Het leuke aan vrijdagen – buiten het feit dat ze op zich al een feest zijn – is dat mijn collega/bazin elke vrijdagnamiddag niet werkt, waardoor ik het op kantoor iets rustiger kan doen en het weekend goed kan inzetten.

Dit weekend blijft Nic – na het officiele gedeelte – nog wat hangen bij ons om een kleine tour te doen in de Highlands... we gaan proberen via Loch Lomond naar Glen Coe te geraken – een van de mooiste plekken in Schotland...

Religious Experience

So finally I did manage to get tickets to go and see Nick Cave last week in the Playhouse, and – although my expectation were rather high, my personal God managed very easily to live up to these expectations. He opened with a very strong first part – lots of “greatest hits” in a new coat.

That is one of the strengths of Nick Cave, he can play all his songs in 5 different versions (until now I have seen him live 4 times and each time heard a different version of Stagger Lee, ranging from a melo-drama version to a satanic-chaotic version) but still manage to keep his own Nick Cave “sound” to it… divine…

Although announced as being a “solo-Performance”, Cave brought with him his bass player, drummer and totally lunatic violin player. The sound they created was not far from the Bad Seeds sound, especially when Cave started to pick up the lead guitar. That might have been maybe a little “disappointing” because I would really like to hear Cave in a very acoustic setting…


Almost as religious – not as much for me as for the 20 000 other Rugby fans – was the important rugby game Scotland – France last Sunday here in Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh. And so we all went to see our first Rugby match, which – I must admit – not being a sports fan – was a very nice experience. Moreover the victory for Scotland (rather unexpected) was a fantastic bonus.

rockin' the boat!

Yesterday was the first session of the course i subscribed to, Discover Your Voice and Sing (used to be called "Singing for Pleasure", which probably describes it a bit better). The course takes place in Stevenson College, a bit – in my opinion – a dodgy campus – an old high apartment block, ugly cafeteria, typical school-style… (not as glamorous as the new Plantijn building I got used to). And until the last minute before the course started, nobody seemed to be sure if the course would be organised at all (reception staff seemed very unaware…)

I found myself in a group of 10 people (4 female, 6 male) and our teacher Emma – a young and very funny opera-singer, leading this gang. After some warm-ups we started singing some songs together, which is ultimately the goal of the course, bien sure! And in the mean time we learn a bit of singing technique and get tips to sing better… hurray!


One of the songs we sang yesterday was a song from the musical “Guys and Dolls” –“rocking the boat”

Desk-Art

Desktop art... ever wondered how somebody's desk migh look like? Mine for instance?



freezing today in Edinburhg... I thought (hoped) that the city's white cover was a direct result from snowfall, but it turned out to be 'merely' a layer of frost... heavy frost...
but the effect was as astonishingly beautiful as it would have been with snow...

toothy

Well, i had a great weekend, with Gijs visiting - always fun to break the winter-calm! Although i did not participate in the adventurous "chain-walk" in Largos (because I had to work) and neither in the mountaineering trip on the three sisters in Glen Coe (because I was too plain lazy), it was a fab weekend, with yesterday (and today) a clear blue sky and lots of sunshine!








Yesterday i had a sudden heavy toothache, very very bad, which made me go to the emergency dental clinic, with as a verdict either pulling the damaged tooth or letting it repair asap...
Me, i don't like dentists...

prepare to burn(s)

busy days!... I decided to organise tomorrow evening a Burns Dinner, a traditional Scottish party to commemorate the birthday of Robert Burns, the famous Scottish poet and writer.
A typical Burns dinner consists of eating Haggis, bagpipe music and reciting poems…

I have invited more or less 10 guests, and with Joris back in Belgium for a couple of days, all preparations are in my (hopefully) capable hands. I started this weekend with preparations – downloading celtic and scots music, yesterday I made the cock-a-leekie soup and tonight I will prepare the Cranachans (dessert).

Today i bought my potatoes and turnip (“raap” in dutch) to go with the Haggis. I will post some pics later this week with the outcome (if our kitchen isn’t burned down because of my cooking skills)

Which reminds me that my good friend Sarah send me this link to this great fashionable cooking website to do with potatoes (tatties as we like to call them here)! Enjoy

My kinda town

I love Edinburgh:

• the flag on St. John's Church on Princess Street
• Edinburgh Castle
• Late night shopping (with 24 hrs supermarket)
• the view from my office
• saying “thanks” to the bus-driver
• lots of international people (probably because of being foreigner myself)
• Dean Village
• Meeting lots of new people
• The Highlands at the backdoor
• The river/sea
• Free digital television
• Speaking English (or something that looks like it)
• Getting visitors from Belgium
• The weather (not being funny!)
• Being a foreigner

What I would change in Edinburgh:

• Move my entire family/friends to here
• The barley/hops smell from the brewery
• The banking system
• The high accommodation prices
• The we-don’t-give-change-on-Lothianbuses policy
• Leith scum trashing my car... 4 times
• Girls wearing summer tops on freezing cold winter nights on the street
• Over-expensive trains
• Pub- and restaurant chains
• The unavoidable “where are you from – how long have you been here” conversation

Discover Your Voice and Sing

I am trying to find a nice evening course here in Edinburgh, so I could spend an evening or two during the week with something useful/interesting. I was thinking about something either musical or something technical (website design, PHP) or something historical.
I found a few courses that I found interesting... What about :

Discover Your Voice and Sing! If you were told at school that you couldn't sing - now's the time to prove them wrong!This course is designed to help you develop your voice and enjoy singing with others. The class is relaxed, confidence building and fun.

or

Write Your Own Pop Song


Nice?

My Personal God

Anybody who knows me a little bit, knows that I am a huge fan of Nick Cave. It all started when I studied in Leuven and my housemate Stijn introduced me to this dark and mysterious artist. I immediately fell in love with the gloomy ballads on the Boatman's Call and the morbid Murder Ballads.

So far I have seen Nick Cave perform three times, and three times in a different country; in Belgium, London and once in Chicago – the last one was by far the best one of the three. Three encore-sessions ending in a crazy version of Stagger Lee…

His concert in Edinburgh will be – what he calls - a “solo performance”, so not with the Bad Seeds and hence more intimate and less noisy, although he will take with him his violin player, plus bass and drum. It is not certain – however – that I will be going to see him here in Edinburgh, since I was too late for tickets and now I have to join the bidding-frenzy on Ebay… wish me luck!

I like Europe

i probably have said this before, but i really love europe and - despite all its difficulties and troubles - I am still very much in favour of a bigger, better and more powerful Europe!

Especially here in the UK I feel that people need a change in attitude. In the press, on television or just in day to day conversation they always talk about we, UK (or Scotland) and THEM - Europe - the others... so they do not consider themselves as European - even among travellers here in Edinburgh (lots of backpackers choose to work in Edinburgh for a few months because of the good wages and the low unemployment rate) they say "did you travel in Europe already" whilst meaning continental europe... Of course the island-mentality will always be present with the Brittons... but still... Or am I just a loner with my pro-europe-feelings? What about you?

and just in case you should doubt what Europe ever has done for us... click on the following link to find out!

Rome

There are not many television shows these days that made want to stay at home, except for one... The BBC has broadcast these last weeks (yesterday was the last episode of the series alas) a historical drama series about the life in ancient Rome with the rise of Julius Caesar at its heart.





The power of the series lies in its combination of sublime acting, clever storylines and the mix of historical facts with personal drama and passion. Adding a fair amount of humour, sexy scenes and a wee bit of violence, "Rome" had everything a good television show needs...

I am still reading a book about Queen Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scots, and struggling my way through the last chapters, i am beginning to look forward maybe reading something more about the history of Rome... History has always appealed to me and especially if I have a visual aide to help me making this sometimes dry history a bit more plastic. In the same that my interest in Queen Elizabeth started by seeing the movie Elizabeth and living in Scotland, I just feel that my next project might be Rome... and Italy is already long time on my holiday-destination-list...

if you want to know more, a few links for the surfing crowd :

BBC ROME
HBO ROME

... and a happy 2006

to you all a Happy 2006!

The year has started with a minor cold - sniffing my way through New Year's eve (I still managed to go to the 2ManyDJ's gig here in Edinburgh on Thursday, one of Belgians hippest export-products)

Yesterday-night we celebrated first at our place with some champagne together with Audrey, Patrick and Ann who is visiting from Belgium. And afterwards we went to the restaurant in town to have dinner and afterwards the party in the bar...

I am a bit curious to find out what 2006 will bring... might be a year of big changes again, but we have to wait and find out... and in the mean time: ENJOY !!!

Merry Christmas

Well, my good friends :

a MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE

Winter Solstice

Today, my good friends, it is official the Winter Solstice - which means that it is the longest night-shortest day. So on the positive side : days will only get longer as from today... (do I already feel a touch of spring coming?)

Today we had a Christmas lunch together with some European-instution-offices here in Edinburgh (all two or three people offices - so it's nice to have the lunch together). The food was lovely and we had some wine and it took us untill 16 pm to get back to the office, so just in time to check the last mails, update the blog and go home!

It was again a beautiful sunny day and i know i always seem to rant on about it, but that is because it has such a positive effect on me. also because we are one floor higher - with a spectacular view (and lots more natural sunlight coming in) we (my boss and me) do not seem to feel as "depressed" (in the most light way of the word) by this dark winter-time...

and just as a demonstration as to how cheery we decorated our christmas tree, you can the see the photographic evidences here below! Merry Christmas everybody!

the music-box of Pandora

ok, i officially started the Kristof-is-in-the-xmass-mood-festive-season... i felt i was missing out on all the xmass fun - i still haven't had the time to visit the edinburgh xmass-winter-wonderland and german christmas-market... So i decided to take some action. Starting with my office : my background picture now is the most cheesy christmas-backgroung i could find (other suggestions are always welcome, i like to change)

And a new website i found is www.pandora.com which is i think a great thing. You give in a song or artist you like and the site creates a "internet-radio" with music of the same "nature" as your favourite style/song/artist... and if you type in for instance "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" then you can listen for ever and ever to all the favourite Christmas carols... which - i must admit - I have been doing since this morning...

I just read on the internet news that Fairy Tale In New York from the Pogues was elected in The Netherlands as most favourite xmas carol... but i had never heard of it... so what are your favorite Christmas carols?

victorious

Yesterday night, i ended up in a new pub here in Edinburgh, the Southsider - to pre-celebrate the birthday of Jodi - an australian girl i got to now during the catering sessions on saturdays with Helene's company. (Jodi's official bday party is on saturday btw). It was interesting to talk with her australian friends, and so i discovered that Aussies don't really have different dialects per region - which i found (boring as it may sound) highly interesting...

We also played a couple of games of - and now i have no idea how to say this in english - "table-football"! A game of which i am not a great fan because back in Belgium, all of my friends with whom i played it before, would always win... but yesterday luck was on my side - my great skills and the superb technique lead me to a glorious victory (or more probable : the fact that the three australian people probably never ever in their life played this game before helped a lot as well...)

Now it's looking forward to the xmas holidays. I have one week holidays between christmas and new year. Joris's mum will be visiting, as well as two friends from Belgium (will stay one night) and our good friend Ann is joining us for the Hogmanay celebrations! huray! let the party-season begin... (but not yet, because tonight and tomorrow night i am working with Joris in the restaurant)...

Wall to Wall

what a day today... at least if you are sitting inside behind a window... as my boss would say (and probably it is a very common expression) : wall to wall blue skies... not a single cloud hanging over Edinburgh today... very nice... the only down-part : i have got to shut the curtains here in the office because otherwise i cannot see my screen... (is that really necessary?)

Did a lot of cleaning this weekend and Karine moved out, so we have our spare room again... it is a bit weird because she has been living with us for a while now, and the room has lost its previous function, so it is a bit lifeless now...

i would like to make a whole chicken in the oven tonight, but have not really an idea how to start... i checked some internet-pages but nothing inspired me... i want to do something with lemon, lots of garlic an fresh herbs... all tips are welcome!

Back in Town

Well it is good and strange to be back in Edinburgh after one month of holidays... and a lot of things have happened during that month...
My sister gave birth to a healthy boy, Dylan, but you have read that already of course. I met up with lots of friends and family, went to lots of parties, met new people, had unexpected meetings with old friends, I played with my old band “kabaal” again (still feels great – I really miss to play in a band), went to see my old colleagues, had a mission with my boss in Brussels and we went to a reception organised by Scotland in the European Parliament… loads of very nice things… last weekend I came back and I immediately started working in alli’s restaurant, together with Joris, who is unfortunately having some back-problems…
It was a great month in Belgium, but yesterday-night it felt also good to be back in Edinburgh, Xmass-feeling is in full swing, the relaxed meetings with friends, Edinburgh castle…

it's a boy !

oh finally i get some time to update my weblog... and since i am here a lot of things have happened already, and of course the most important one : my sister gave birth to DYLAN, my god-child (or how do you say that in english...)
The baby is doing fine, is very healthy, weighs 3.8 kg and is very peaceful and quiet...
His website (in dutch) you can find here

Almost Home

Well, days are getting a lot shorter, nights a lot longer... thank god Idon't have to work in November :-)

Been doing, well, actually nothing this week. a bit of sightseeing with friends of Joris, sleeping late, catching a little flu, and now this weekend starting to pack my things to prepare for the big journey... next Tuesday Joris and I are leaving for London, to be present at the Flanders Remembers Concert organised by the Flemish Representation in London. Then on Wednesday I travel on direction Brussels and Joris returns to Edinburgh. Oh yes, the restaurant will re-open soon! Ali has bought the restaurant together with the former Chef, which means that Joris will probably work in the restaurant! So everything seems to work out at last... and it seems we have a spot again to meet all those wonderful people!
next I will be blogging it will probably be from Belgium!

Pink Martini

I know Pink Martini almost exactly 5 years now, since I was studying in Finland with Maria – who introduced me to this amazing band. They are an eclectic mix of musicians, with their main base in Portland, USA. Although the band is centred around the pianist (could be the lost son of Elton John) and the diva-style singer, every musician has its moment of glory and contributes to the unique sound of this band. They bring a mix of traditional folk songs from around the world, not afraid to perform songs in Italian, French and even Japanese, combined with their own jazzy songs.

So yesterday night they were here in Edinburgh, and all dressed up in true Pink Martini-style (or at least something we think that is) we (that is my new friends Audrey and Jodi from New Zealand and Australia and Patrick) went to see them performing in Usher Hall. And they rather easily lived up the (high raised) expectations… I was a bit worried, because I had almost dragged the others to the concert – none of them really knew what they were up to… but it turned out really really well… Maybe just a bit too short… and I wished Maria was here to enjoy it with me... and joris off course as well, since i hooked him up with Pink Martini as well... ah...

On The Move

The last two days we - I really should say I - have been moving offices... we are moving one floor up to our new office. Main advantages: windows! Whereas we now only have one little window, with my desk as far from the window as possible, we will have one wall of windows, with my bosses desk and mine each next to this wall... and the view...ah the view is wonderful... we will oversee the south-west-side of the city, with its beautiful Pentland Hills and can even see Murrayfield Stadium... I will try to post a picture as soon as possible! and now: back to the boxes

Corpse Bride

What a weekend… on Friday night… hmm… on Friday night I… hmm… can’t seem to remember what I did on Friday… oh yes… it all comes back to me now… falling asleep in front of the television with Amelie Poulin… nice very nice

On Saturday, after an excruciating work-out in the gym, I had some drinks at Emilie’s place and then went out with Patrick. Sunday then… aaah sometimes I really love Sundays… doing absolutely nothing… sitting/hanging/sleeping in the couch in front of the television… the only reason worth leaving the house was to go and see Corpse Bride, the new animation film from Tim Burton.

Now before I continue I must confess one thing: I have never seen “The Nightmare Before Christmass” … shame on me… I hear that it’s a classic animation film…
Anyway, lured by the prospect of seeing… euhm… hearing Johnny Depp play alongside this wonderful crew of British actors such as Emilie Watson en Helena Bonham Carter, I found myself watching this new movie.

And I really liked it. It has everything what in my eyes a good animation needs: a good story, going from a to b, a playful musical score and lots of witty humour. But (yes there it is, the “but”) the creators seem to fail in one aspect, but rather an important one. They seem to fail to create empathy. And this I think has two main reasons.

First of all I think the movie is too short… by the time you really get to know the characters and come to like them, the whole thing is over.

But more importantly the story seems not able to decide with which character to sympathize… should you feel sorry for Victor (yes, that’s Johnny Depp) who accidentally marries a dead woman? Or for Victoria (a tribute to Victor and Victoria) who looses her fiancée to a skeleton? or maybe for the Corpse Bride because she cannot seem to get the love she so longed for…? As a result you seem to watch the whole film as an neutral outsider, who can enjoy all the things he sees, but wonders why actually he is watching…

But on the whole, a very entertaining film though, maybe something to rent as a dvd and watch on a rainy Sunday…

oh bugger

aargh... am very moody and grumpy this morning... i discovered (while already being late for work) that the window of my car got smashed... again. It is (if I at least didn't lost count) the fourth time they have smashed our car window. Now our street is notoriously located on the edge of a bit a rougher area in Edinburgh... but four times… and nothing is stolen, just for the fun of smashing… at least there was a little police notice on the car that they had noticed and to call them to make a statement… just what you need on a dull Tuesday morning isn’t it…

closing time

A thing happened last Friday night and it left all of my friends here in Edinburgh a bit homeless... our favourite bar where we all met up every weekend (and during the week as well), which had the best Thai food in town (in the neighbouring restaurant section) has closed down... On friday afternoon I heard from my friend that that night would be the last one...

A great pity, because the bar was our meeting place, where, since June this year a lot of sociable events have been taken place. We got to know Matthieu and Leslie, Maite, Rory, the people from BBC Scotland, the Scotsman, the regular guests, some artists (and free tickets) during the festival period, Mam and Cheng, Thomas, Kat, Sarah, Karlos, Morgan, too many people to sum them all up.

So where do we have to meet now? Where can we find a new bar, with the same privacy we had, with the same cheap beer and the same cool people? Difficult...

dance the night away...

Katrien and Elise have left Edinburgh today... a bit of a shame that the weather just these days was so awful, because for tomorrow they say it is going to be a lovely time. Anyway, it wouldn't be Scotland if the weather was always sunny and nice...

Tomorrow night I can go to the gig from Soulwax/2ManyDJs in Edinburgh. A friend of Joris has put me on the guest list because she knows the sound engineer. It should be pretty exciting, but the only down-part is that it is not really a gig, but more like a upgraded-live-performed-dj-set and that usually means: late at night… and since I will be working on Friday and Saturday evening for Alli…

Tonight I am going to the gym again (damn I should be going more often…) and then afterwards drink away the rain at Alli’s bar…

and so this is xmass...

The big master plan 2005/2006 has unveiled itself... the time of being decisionless (as being described in a former posting called “being Edinburgh”) is finally over… at least until spring 2006.
So what is the outcome? Well, we will stay a bit longer in Edinburgh but I arranged with my employer that I don’t have to work during November. (a gap of a month between my two yearly contracts) so no pay, but no work either! That means that I can be with my family when my sister gives birth to her third child of which I will be godfather (or –mother as some dare to say)… I am very excited to go back to Belgium to meet my family and friends again.

December will then be a very short month, with only three months to go until Christmas holidays… and then the new year begins… time just flies by… Merry Xmass and a Happy New Year!

ain't no mountain high enough

Last weekend we went up again to the highlands with two visiting friends. It was already a while ago since I travelled all the way up to the Glen Coe Region in the Highlands. And although very cloudy and a bit rainy, it thought it was a beautiful day and it showed the Scottish nature in all its splendour.

Again some very eventful days are ahead of us; this morning our friends left Edinburgh, tomorrow Joris is leaving for three weeks to work in France with a theatre company and next weekend two other friends are visiting me. Then in November - assuming that Brussels HQ will give its authorisation – I will have a one month holiday (I will leave a month between my old contract and my new contract) and will head for Belgium to visit my friends and family and more importantly be present for the birth of my sisters new baby, for which I will be godfather!