CHAOS OR NOT YET ?

Yesterday was a big party going on the "Grand Place" of Brussels ! The buildings were all lightened with the UK flag colors.  Most of the people there regretted the Brexit and all together sang "Ce n'est qu'un aurevoir" (It's only a good bye) a Scottish song

Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And days of auld lang syne?

Refrain
For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld lang syne
We'll take a cup o'kindness yet
For auld lang syne

It was a mixture of all Belgians and UK citizens but also other Nationalities. Over 4000 English citizens became Belgian, and the number increases because they lived in Belgium since the UK joined the EU. They have their families here and only go on holidays to England. They don't want to take risk and be forced to return "home".

I watched the "Party" on TV.

All this is only theory, now we have to see how it works in practise .........











Manneken Pis










and a few cartoons













Get out of the way ! We close again !

Linking to Linda G.Hill Just Jot it - Chaos and SOCS - Change

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

Apparently our Scrabble group of five had all a boring weekend and we were really happy to play our games. I was not very concentrated and lost. Anyway somebody had to win and one to loose.



and as usual Miss Isis watched over our game. When we had finished we got banana and strawberry cake. Nicole fears for her weight !

I had checked the stock of cleaning products and noticed that quite a lot was missing. Such romantic things like washing powder and softener in big bottles amongst other things. Fortunately I had brought my caddie with me because I can't carry such heavy things anymore. Often somebody helps me to put my things  in the car, but this time there was nobody. But I managed and am still alive.

On my way back I stopped at Nicole's and she told me about a neighbor who lives alone and had a total loss with her car. There are no shops around and you really need one, but she didn't want a ride, she wanted a bottle of wine and it was urgent because she trembled over her whole body. Poor Nicole didn't know what to do and finally gave her a little bottle she couldn't leave her like that. But she informed the social services that this woman had a real problem and her son should be informed.

My cleaning lady is still in Ireland to help or rather assist her daughter who had married an Irish with the new born baby boy.  Thanks to Facebook I have found one who replaces her and who is as good as mine and very nice. I am so glad, because with my asthma crisis from time to time I can't do very much.

That's why we also have decided to sell our house and move closer to the city center of Waterloo in an apartment. The house really becomes too big especially taking care of the garden !

We didn't have painting class this week, but decided to go for lunch together as we always do after class. We tried a new one, which I had seen very often and always thought it would be a little thing, nothing special,  kind of fast food decoration.

To my big surprise it was huge and beautifully decorated ! The name didn't fit because it is called "Le monde est petit" which means "the world is small" but the restaurant certainly not !!





The food was delicious, for 16 €, all you can eat, you had Chinese, Italian or French food, you choose. A cold and warm starter a main course and a variety of desert ! We almost exploded when we came out.

I went home and digested in front of an Inspecteur Barnaby who solved 4 murders ! And then it was supper time,  but not for me !!

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

MY CAT AT THE VET

Mr. G's childhood dream was to own a white cat. So getting his dream come true, we went to an animal rescue center and while asking for white cats, somebody showed up with a carton and sitting in there was little 6 months old Arthur.

Of course we filled in all the requested documents and took baby Arthur home. We quickly noticed that Arthur was a very special cat.

I could write a whole book about his adventures but today I just tell you one for the the One liner Wednesday prompt. Meanwhile Arthur is not a baby anymore but a grandpa of 18 years old.



One day, I was in the kitchen when Arthur suddenly appeared on three legs. The left front paw he held up and when I saw it I got a shock. The leg and the paw were full of blood and on his white fur that looked even more dramatic ! I carefully picked him up,  put him on the table to have a closer look. Fortunately only the paw was bleeding the leg was only full of blood. But the worst thing was, one claw was nearly hanging out and crooked. I left Arthur on the table, picked up the phone and called the vet. Fortunately she was in and had her consulting hours. I described what happened and she told me to come over right away and that she would take me before the others, as this was an emergency.

I got the carrier and carefully put a slightly reluctant Arthur in. He didn't like the cage, but sat down. At the next street, Arthur started his free concert. He sang with full heart in his awful Siamese voice and didn't listen to my prayers to stop it. And that lasted the whole way through until we arrived.

When I got out of the car I was close to a nervous break down.

In the waiting room were a dog and a cat with their owners.  The dog immediately got up and forgot that he was sick pulled at his leash and wanted to get near Arthur's cage. Arthur who didn't sing anymore as soon as the car had stopped, looked at him bored and preferred to look at the other cat. The vet arrived she had seen me coming.

Arthur was very brave on the table and let check his paw without any problem. Diagnostic was, she had to take out the claw, it was so deeply broken that there was nothing to do any more . So I had to leave Arthur with the vet only for 24 h. I could pick him up at 5pm the next day. Heavy hearted I drove home and Mr. G had a sleepless night !

Next day punctually I arrived to pick up  Arthur. The vet opened the door and with a relieved sigh told me that she was happy to see me. I wondered why, but then I went with her into the consulting room and saw  Arthur walking around ! When he saw me he came immediately to greet me walking on three legs the forth  with a nice blue bandage which matched nicely with his fur.

I asked if everything was OK and she nodded a yes, Arthur is fine, she said, she had taken the claw out and now it has just to heal. Politely I asked her if he had been good. I better didn't have asked !

As soon as she had locked Arthur in a cage in a special room, where all the others sick animals were in their cages already operated. Arthur started singing.

He sang louder and louder, and finally she couldn't stand it any more (Arthur always wins) and let him out.

Immediately Arthur was the best cat in the world. After having examined the whole room, while a cat sat on the table and had sniffed all strange smells, even if he could hardly walk He sat down on his three legs and observed what was going on with the cat on the table.

And so it went the whole afternoon. He stayed there and observed the sick animals and what was done to them.  But at one moment she had to close her consulting room and had to lock Arthur into the cage again.

She told me the last thing she heard before closing the door of the room was a noise similar to a tortured person. But she had to leave and I only came later.



The vet told me that she had never ever met a cat like him he hasn't scratched not even hissed at her,  the only thing he had done was protesting with his "beautiful" loud voice. And she sees a lot of cats.

We left, Arthur sitting in his cage and looking around. In the car, as soon as I started the motor, he thought he had to make an anti-noise and sang again with all his heart until we arrived home.

I was exhausted ! 


angel
Arthur                                                        Waiting to provoke dogs !!




Linking to Linda G.Hills One liner Wednesday

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Preparation for the Waterloo battle, Napoleon against Wellington



Painting of the very bloody battle !




more participants here,
and Image-in-ing

TROYAN HORSE

A few years ago I did a coach trip around Greece, only the mainland not the islands.

We visited the place where archaeologists supposed, the Trojan horse has stood. If there really was a Trojan War (or several), then there must have been a Troy. There was — actually, there was more than one.

Today, the spot is known as Hisarlik, and it can be found atop a large mound in western Turkey. But there isn't one city beneath that mound. There are at least ten.



The landscapes were wild and beautiful and remains of colons built by the Greeks could be seen all over the place.



And then we saw the famous horse in which 30 Greek soldiers were hidden from the Turks. Of course it was newly built, as it is not 100 % sure that the horse ever existed.



We walked around the site and looked at what was left over from the town or towns.







It was very interesting to see how the buildings were built and lasted such a long time









Maybe this had been a "house of parliament" looks a bit like


More in formation here

more participants here

AWWW MONDAY - WEEKEND JANUARY 25

Linking to AWWW MONDAYS


It had been a very quiet Saturday it was cold and so foggy that I quickly did my shopping and then returned home. We watched a Barnaby as usual very nice and I did some computer work and the day was over.

On Sunday afternoon my Scrabble group came for a drink at 4 pm for a little chat, before we went to the cinema where we watched «Judy» the life of Judy Garland. I was a bit disappointed. It just showed a very squeezed resume of her life. A few weeks before I had seen Liza Minelli giving a glimpse of her mother's life with her and it seemed to me very different. From us four only one really enjoyed it.

But the evening was saved because we decided to have Spaghetti in a newly renovated restaurant just besides the cinema and the new chef's Spaghetti were delicious. Normally I avoid going in an Italian restaurant because I eat mostly Italian at home, but Mr.G doesn't like Spaghetti so it was a good occasion for me to have one. We stayed until 10 pm surprised that it was so late and returned home. It had been a very nice day and Mr.G had the opportunity to be the only man amongst us four women, but he didn't come with us to the movie, instead he had a Pizza and probably watched a blood streaming film !

A CALL FROM SANTA CLAUS

The "last call" sounds a bit like a good bye forever, which I hope I won't
get so soon !

But I have another rather funny story. I had just started to work in a Belgian company where we were two employees, one for the accounting and I for the rest and the boss of course. We were selling leather coats and jackets and had also a few models to work for us and a whole working room where the women were sewing the pieces together.

I had just started to speak a quite fluent French but lots of words were missing and as I had also to answer the phone, I sometimes had difficulties to understand what the person on the other end told me.

One day it was beginning of December and I had a man on the phone who said that he was Santa Claus and wanted to speak to my boss. First I thought it was a joke but it didn't sound so and I put the conversation through. I told my boss "Santa Claus" is on the phone, which made him hesitate a bit probably thinking I had misunderstood, but then took the phone. Afterwards  I heard him and all the others laughing their heads off !

In fact we have a town in Belgium which is called St. Nicolas and the guy who phoned had given me his name and had said that he called from St. Nicolas. All I understood was St. Nicolas and as it was around December 6th it could have been true that a Santa Claus called. Anyway I hadn't thought at all of this Santa Claus and the town. Long time after my boss still told everybody that I had put him Santa Claus through the phone !




Linking to Lnda G. Hills SOCS - The last call