Tornado

Yesterday, I was visiting my parents in my hometown in the jungle under Brussels, and my mother told me something remarkable. In the town adjacent to ours, there had been a tornado!


Now when I think of tornado’s, I immediately see those killerscenes you can see in Hollywood-movies – houses torn apart, cars upside down in trees, screaming antagonists who always seem to be able to run just a bit faster than the tornado itself. Apparently - and luckily - in this case the tornado turned out to be a very small one, just in a meadow (of which there are a lot in that area) and did no harm to men nor beast…

it’s reassuring to know that even tornado’s adapt themselves to the scale of my very small hometown…


By the way, tonight on Canvas they broadcast one of my all-time favourite movies, Bram Stoker's Dracula! definitely worth watching!

Little red things

*
I was sitting at my desk at the office when suddenly, by seeing “it” I was confronted with a sudden flashback of my youth… and then I realised it was indeed a very long time since I had seen these things… * I can very vividly remember seeing them as a child in summertime on the blue stones of my grandparents entry of their house.

I am talking about those very little red spider-kinda-like animals… I cannot really name them, since even in Dutch I wouldn’t know what their name is (in my youth we called them “donderbeestjes” but after some research that turned out to be another kind of small spidery animal…). Does anybody now their name and what they * are?

I have already seen two on my desk now (on the same day). We work in a very green environment here, but it struck me to see them in this kinda un-green environment… I would have taken a picture of them, were it not that I have squeezed them with my pen (the only proof of them being here are two small reddish bloody spots…) – I made a little drawing in illustrator to help identify them… They actually look like red asterisks - just like this: *
or zoomed in like this:

Finally!

Finally, finally, finally! I already purchased my new keyboard a while ago now – somewhere mid-july -expecting to be able to play still in my holidays until the end of july. Faith however, decided against me; the store didn't have my keyboard in stock and so I had to wait for a new delivery from the manufacturer… and I waited and waited and waited, in great anticipation, I must say… until now!

I finally have it! It looks and sounds super great! My new baby is called Kawai MP4 and i bought it together with a superfancy-state-of-the-art active monitor…


Still a bit unfortunate timing however, because my good friend (and priest) Geert had arranged to pay me a visit (have not seen him since I am back from Scotland), so I had to leave my new toys already behind – although I must say the alternative was just as good – Mojito’s in Café au Lait!

Mail

This morning i received a letter in the mailbox. Nothing spectacular you would think, though the letter came from China - you must remind me to show you the letter once, it had a beautiful chinese drawing on the front. But i couldn't think who would send me something from China!
The normal procedures happened before opening the letter: touching it, weighing it with your hands, looking at it in the light, smelling it... and then the magic moment: opening the letter.
And then i realised what it was!
I had bought a week or two ago on ebay the dvd of "Disney's Beauty and the Beast". Disney has stopped selling it though the regular channels so you couldn't find it anymore. So three hurays for Ebay, where you can find everything!

By the way, in my humble opinion Beauty and the Beast is one of the best animated movies Disney ever made. I watched it immediately and again I was swept away by the story, the music, the characters, the drawings... It's the part in me that doesn't want to grow up...

Le Manege d'Andrea

Yesterday night, two good summerfriends came to have a goodbye-drink, because they leave Antwerp again. The French artistic company "Le Manege d'Andrea" consists of two very nice, friendly and funny people, Joris and Kathie. Kathie very pregnant of their first child. Every year, and already for some years, they come to the the Summer of Antwerp Festival with their very imaginative artistic merry-go-round, which has been created by the very famous Royal De Luxe (the brains and muscles behind the visit of the elephant-giant this year).

During the summer they camp on the summerbar-site, just behind the bar, so needless to say that many pints have been drunk in their presence this summer. Pity though that they will not return next year, because they have a very large and prestigious project in Nantes. But everybody who wants can visit them this winter during the Christmas-activities in Brussels.

And yet again, a very sad sign that this summer is almost over again…

Pokernight!

ok ok, it took me way to long to post a new item, but here it finally is:
and there is a good reason as well: tonight i organise a pokernight! I redecorated our kitchen into a casino-style room, there will be Spumante-cocktails with lime, there's a 30's style dress code for participants and of course, the game itself, Texas Holdem Poker. The game in Belgium is not yet as popular as in UK or USA, and tonight might be a small step to achieve more popularity; (the tv-show in oktober on national tv will be a rather bigger step i suppose)...

And oh yes, we had a very special visitor this week: a small cat, named Luigi (i changed it into Louis-G). Joris found it near his work where it was dumped by it's previous owner. The intention was to keep the kitten to ourselves, but then this week a friend of joris's ran over her own cat (tragic!) and so he promised the cat to her. I can't say i don't feel a bit relieved about it leaving, although yesterday the house felt already a bit more empty and less vivid... strange how soon one can get attached to a pet...

The emptiness of the house however was soon over when we ended up with 11 of us playing a pre-pokernight-game of poker... The last weeks have been very entertaining, always ending up way to late at the summerbar, meeting new people, but having to get up way to early... this weekend i definitely need to catch up some sleep! but first... let the games begin!

Drainage problems...

It’s very hot in Belgium… already a few weeks now. And what is more relaxing in this hot weather then to shower regularly? But what happens if this comfort suddenly is not available anymore? shock-horror! It happened already once a week or so ago, the toilet blocked, the bathtub blocked, water (and not so clean water) everywhere in the bathroom… First tried with one of those chemical plungers, but nothing happened and then the more serious albeit old-fashioned plastic plunger (thnx to an & Mr J who still have one of those) – which I must say made a lot of promising noises but didn’t help a bit...

So finally we called in the rescue team (the landlord and his side-kick). They brought a tube cleaning system under high pressure and cleaned out the tube-system…

all fine you would think, until a week later, all the water that had to leave the house, left again each day a bit more slowly…

So finally our landlord came again, doing his thing, leaving a bathroom full of dirty water and our flat in an odour I wish not to describe… hopefully the last time for a long period now…

If we took a holiday

Working in the construction sector has it benefits, for sure!
As from today – this hour – I have my three weeks of holidays! hurrraaaay!
Three weeks and no plans, not having to do anything, enjoying the city, the friends, hopefully some spontaneous travel-attempts, London, Amsterdam… hopefully seeing Maria, sleeping, dancing, sitting at the summerbar… let the festivities begin!

Do-mi-sol-do

I didn’t tell a lot of people, but last Friday i went to an audition. It was Magali who pointed me out a week or so earlier that the choir for the – in Belgium and surrounding countries – very popular “Night of the Proms” was auditioning for choir-members for their performances later this year.

I used to go to the Night of the Proms with my family and friends a couple of years in a row but the last few years we all stopped going, because once you know the formula pop+classical – every year it seems to be more of the same, and a lot depends on the groups or artists that come.

But I was looking for a new musical challenge, and I wanted to meet new people in Antwerp, so I decided to give it a shot. After my singing lessons in Edinburgh I knew how to breath properly and am able to keep my tune, but I kept my chances of success very low. I have no practical choir experience and everybody, for some odd reason seems to be annoyed when I start to sing :-)

So the audition. After leaving my details, I had to wait for the conductor to come pick me.
He came and greeted me, - made the classical joke about my name - asked me some questions about my musical background, and then asked me to sing scales to determine my range. So I started my do-mi-sol-do’s up and down and going higher and higher – and yes I rather have a high voice – no comments J !

But the conductor seemed very pleased. He said I should still improve on my sharpness but then circled on my audition paper : “succeeded the audition”. Which makes me now one the new members of the Night of The Proms Choir! Hurray!

Small note to put things in perspective, though: the choir is always in need for tenors, because there is a great lack of them. So after seeing my ability of more or less keeping my tunes in the high tones, the conductor probably thought, best to have at least another tenor. Apparently on the entire day of auditioning I was only the second tenor who succeeded… But still ! I get to go and experience this great thing to look in the face of 15 000 people, sing with an symphonic orchestra and see TEXAS from nearby!

Needles to say I am really excited about this…

Retiring

No, i am not yet retiring, but my father is... he is officially retired now... at first i felt a bit strange with that whole idea. My father - in my eyes - has always been away for work and now that has finished... guess that it is another sign that tells me we're all getting older...
but so far for the phylosophical side of things; on a more practical note: the following question:


This saturday my father organises his retirement-party for the family and friends. I want to do something funny/special, but I seem to lack the inspiration to find something good. Maybe a song? or i was thinking about a funny auction with his old desk-materials (a cup, a pen, an old pc, etc.) but how can u make such a thing funny? any ideas?

Time takes so much time

Time time time... since we moved back to Antwerp, I seem to miss a lot of it. But all the fun activities compensate that fully! Just a few highlights of the past week :

The uttermost important (slightly exaggerated, i know, but still) was going to ROBBIE WILLIAM's concert! that was really amazing. I kinda got more interested in RW since his Swing album and now his last cd i think is really a mature pop-album! and what an entertainer! really really great!

More news: i am still working for the construction company and last week they decided - as part of my practical training to get to know the products - to send me on a field mission: working with the assembly teams and - yes - constructing hangars - hard physical labour! Besides a bit more muscles (gone already) the most positive effect of that was that I now have a beautiful summer tan (might sound a bit girly, but if you know me - Mr White - this is something that only happened once or twice before in my life...

Yesterday night i went on a pub crawl with my uncle to find some bars where he possibly could do a gig with his new band with my other uncle... was great fun, although i am afraid not too much positive outcome, but a great night anyway!

Utrecht

This weekend, Joris and I went to visit Wendy, our dear friend from The Netherlands. She lives in Utrecht, which - as a surprise for me - lived only a bit more than one hour away from Antwerp (my parents live almost as far away). Utrecht is a really lovely town, with a beautiful centre, great little shops and a vibrant cultural life.

This weekend there was the "Festival a/d Werf" - a cultural festival a bit similar to our beloved Summer of Antwerp. We went to see two performances. The first was "Tocht" (which means: Journey - see picture): it was kind of an installation where you had to go through on your own and which took you about half an hour to walk through. It was funny, but was based more on some clever gimmicks than on a real story our constitent whole... On Saturday we went to see a play by a very young company. The theme of the play was young people who want to become famous but are not very talented. A very actual topic, and the play was very funny and lighthearted.
Also the Utrecht nightlife proved tentalising and especially the over-crowded Tivoli night-club was a must-see on our trip...
So Utrecht: really worth a visit!

oh yes PS: beautiful new scarf (see upper picture) only 3 euro in a second hand shop ;-)

tomorrow

tomorrow i have to work - as part for my training for my new company - in the production part of the company; this means : with the workers behind the machines!
good heavens, for a simple office-boy like me rather a challenge!
will keep you posted how this has ended!

First day at work...

Today was the day! first day at work... feels a bit like a first day in a new school... meeting loads of new people, having to remember lots of names and - in my case today - lots of technical training about hangars and prefab steel building... My new company specialises in the construction of hangars and I will be the new marketing person! A busy task and very strict email- and internet-rules (rather the opposite of what i was used to in Edinburgh) will make that my respons time with emails will be a lot slower than before!...

Antwerp Life

Back in Antwerp - what a strange feeling... the day I arrived, spring had just unleashed its first flock of sunshine over the country and it felt very very good... the day was carefully planned and there was no time for delays - which luckily didn't happen. My father brought me from the airport straight to my job-interview, which lasted about three hours, but went - in my own opinion - very well... later that night i met up with friends David and Paulus and headed afterwards with Roel to Antwerp. After checking our the new flat -still looks great- we met up with Magali and Sarah to go and party in town to celebrate my return! The next day was spent hanging around in town, drinking coffee and now lazy night on the couch... On Sunday, Karlien will bring me breakfast (hopefully); my parents bring a bed to the apartment (am sleeping on a mattress in case you were worried) and later all the 4IC-girls come and visit me after their pampering-weekend... Fun!!!

That's it...

So that's it... my last day in Edinburgh... and the weather is not helping it to make it a festive day (grey clouds, bit of rain). Also it's my last day in the office... all a bit strange though, I must say. I will certainly miss my beautiful view from the office looking over the Westside of Edinburgh and the Pentland Hills... and also of course working with my (one and only) colleague/boss and the team in London...

Tomorrow i have got another job interview, for which i am rather excited... hopefully you'll be able to read some very good news soon on this very spot...

It might take some days before i can post again, and then it'll be from Antwerp :-)

10 days... oops no : 2 DAYS....

My departure from Scotland will probably happen suddenly a lot earlier than I first had planned... Yesterday I got a telephone from a company that is really interested and that wants to see me this friday.... and then my mind started thinking... going through all the hustle of going to belgium this friday, coming back on saturday or sunday, joris moving on wednesday, me alone for three days in an empty flat and another job interview in belgium the next friday... why not make life a bit easier and just stay in Belgium this weekend... so I am now in negotiotians with my boss here (but she kinda already said that i could more or less do it - thank you thank you!!) to leave this friday!...

11 days...Easter Weekend

Easter weekend has gone by so quickly... although there was not a lot of easter-egg-hunting involved, I guess the clocks didn't find their way to our place :-(
On Saturday both Joris and me worked for the last time for the catering company we sometimes worked with (for that extra bit of spending money) and it took us to the marvellous Oxenfoord Castle; If you ever want to do a very romantic wedding, or a party in style, i can highly recommend this place.


On Sunday I slept a lot and we had dinner with Mem and Chen, the chefs from the Thai restaurant where Joris used to work - had a delicious meal - unfortunately also for the last time probably :-(
Now this week is the wrapping-up-and-putting-things-in-boxes-week... and on Saturday Joris's sister and her husband are arriving with the van to get our things and then they leave next Wednesday... all very exciting!!!

17 ...

T Minus 17... and counting....

Tonight we have arranged to go and play poker with friends. I have always been fascinated by the many poker-games on television here (it seems to be very popular here), and every week there seems to be as well somewhere a very important poker-championship - usually on very glamourous locations (but the only thing you see is the inside of a hotel-conference room, where the pokergame takes place).
They say poker is the only game you can learn only by watching it. On television they have these small camera's underneath the table so you can see all the cards of all the players. Our friend Ken is a very good player and has his own real poker-room, and real casino-style chips and everything, so tonight we will go and find out how much fun it really is... and in case you should worry, the stakes in the game will only be 1 pound each!

18 DAYS

Last 18 days... As from today I will try to focus on our move back to Antwerp: all the preparations - or the lack of them, last trips, emotions, goodbyes, etc.

Today is the last day of the visit of Joris’s grandmother and uncle. They both had – in my eyes – a very nice visit and have seen a wide variety of different things(castles, mountains, the sea, wildlife, museums, shops), and I must admit – I found keeping up with a 80+ years old granny is exhausting and am in definite need for some sleep! Easter weekend will hopefully bring some help with that!

Prodi

Europe is changing.. bit by bit… but yesterday a step in the – according to my humble self – good direction has been taken… Romano Prodi has won the Italian elections (probably)… but – however happy I am that Berlusconi is not in power anymore – I am not sure how happy exactly I should be… A victory with only 0.1% difference in votes can hardly be called overwhelming. It is apparently a common trend in current politics. Look at the elections in Germany where Merkel had to fight for her little majority, or Bush against Gore… not easy…

On a more practical and day-to-day level : the last three weeks of our stay in Edinburgh have begun. Joris’s grandmother is visiting us here and after her stay we will start with the first preparations of our leave. Packing things, making all the necessary arrangements… And still yet we manage to learn to meet new people, friends of Maria (or her sister I guess) in Spain have arrived in Edinburgh to live here for a while, so they will take over from us here…we are also making up a list of things we still want to do, ranging from visiting Dynamic Earth, doing a Literature Pub Tour, exploring the borders, playing golf, …might have to postpone our departure if we want to do everything…us here…

Bye Bye

the end of an era...

RNE is no more...

I kindly invite you to write a little word of support

in the book of condolences...

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”