FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

1. It had been a long time that Nicole and I hadn't lunch together, so we opted for the "Jardin d'Asie" (Asian garden) and had a wonderful meal. After that we went together looking for a bread baking machine she wanted to buy, but all we saw were far too big for her.

2. As the bicentenary celebrations of the Waterloo battle will take place in exactly a month, the city had asked for volunteers speaking several languages to help the thousands of tourists who will attend this event to find their way to the battle field and other sites involved in the battle. I had been selected and had to attend a meeting in the city hall where we got an overview of what will be going to happen.



The responsible of the organization seemed to be not very competent, because the most important thing which are the public transports from Brussels to Waterloo he had forgotten. I got up and told him that we would need more signs in the Buses and trains and also in the Brussels' stations. He stammered something and then he said everything would be done ! I have my doubts ! We then got a form to be filled in and should also join a court record !



As I am not member of a terrorist group or had killed somebody I got it immediately. I then was asked to help out in the Waterloo Tourist center and at the station, to help British and German tourists.

4. The next day I went to the Waterloo Lion to if the renovation works had be done, as the city guy had told !



What I saw was a big mess and still a lot of work to do, a lot for only one month left ! The memorial should be inaugurated the next day with all the officials and I stated that the outside was far from being finished. I met a friendly soldier who was pleased to pose for a photo.  They certainly had to work through the whole night to get the access a little easier !



I then drove over to the "Hougoumont" farm, Wellingtons headquarters and there it was even worse !
Impossible to walk inside without wearing boots or at least baskets. While I took my pictures 2 ladies and a man asked me what I was doing there and it turned out that they were from the British embassy and also checked the works. We had a nice chat together and I gave them a few tips to improve the access to the farm, as there is no visible sign from the main street it was covered by graffitis. They took note and told me that they will contact the officials to get it right.

5. The next day I had a visit from a Blogfriend from Australia Little wandering Wren. She was in Europe and stayed with a friend in Brussels. We had decided to meet each other and she wandered til Waterloo where I picked her up at the station ! Despite the fact that we had never seen each other,  I saw her immediately and she saw me. What a pleasure to meet someone life out of Blogworld !



First I took her to the Waterloo lion and we were lucky there was the inauguration of the memorial going on and we could see and listen to the soldier's orchestra ! We were really lucky ! Compared to the day before, they must have worked the whole night, because the memorial entrance was now clean at least and the windows so clean that they reflected us taking pictures  ! After a drink in the Wellington café, we drove to the Hougoumont farm !



We ended the afternoon at home, discussing technical problems with Google+ and Blogger, had a coffee and then it was already time to drive her back to the station ! In good company time flies by so fast !



Amazing was that she had brought me this beautiful kitchen towel, as if she had known that my whole kitchen is red and white ! It fits perfectly !

It had been a very nice afternoon !

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

MY WEEKEND OF JANUARY 18

This weekend was really nice ! First we went to see a play in our City Hall's theater. The play was called "Tics"



It was hilarious, we came out our bellies hurting. The play described 6 people who had a special tic. The eldest one suffered from the Tourette syndrome, the worst, which means that in the middle of a sentence he suddenly comes up with the exclamation of obscene words or socially inappropriate and derogatory remarks. We really learned a lot of very vulgar words !

The second one was a lady who ran all 2 minutes to the bathroom to wash her hands, the third calculated everything, hours in seconds, years in weeks, hours and seconds, the fourth couldn't walk on the floor because there were lines, the fifth, the young girl always repeated her sentences twice (even when they were very long) and the 6th, the old lady was obsessed that she had forgotten to turn off something in her house and made everybody mad as she always wanted to go home to switch off the light, turn off the gas etc.

All these 6 tics made the play so funny, but it wasn't a stupid humor it was actually rather sad. Nobody would like to have such a disease. Imagine you speak to a mayor for example and put "fu... you" in the middle of a sentence or even worse.

On Saturday morning I met with Cezar and Léia ( Bonjour et Bon Voyage) who were in Brussels because they had driven their son to the airport. His flight was at 6 am and the poor parents had to get up very very early. But still they wanted to meet me and at 8 am they called. They already were in Waterloo, and wanted to have a light breakfast, but Waterloo still sleeps at that time and everything is closed ! A real ghost town ! We met at the Carrefour parking and of course recognized each other immediately, our cars were the only once on the parking ! After a hearty greeting I drove them to the only place which is open in Waterloo for breakfast ... A bakery who had the good idea to also serve breakfast.



We had a nice coffee with freshly baked croissants and Cezar enjoyed a yummy chocolate cake. It was as if we had known each other in real, ever since we met on our blogs. We chatted and chatted and time went by, I wanted to show them Waterloo and also take them home, but they were so tired that we preferred to do this another time. They originally come from Brazil, and are in Europe since 6 years. First in Luxemburg and then in a real "hole" in the middle of Flanders where people are very narrow minded and not stranger friendly at all. The most famous madhouse of Belgium is located there too and it is a miracle that they didn't become mad ! We just visited the Waterloo church across the street, which is famous because it was the hospital where the wounded soldiers from the Waterloo battle were taken to.

I so much enjoyed their visit and once again thought how wonderful it is that through blogging you meet people from all over the world which probably I would never have met without my "Window to the world" !




In the afternoon I went to Nicole, was welcomed by Charlie who opened the door for me and then wanted to play with his ball. I had brought a DVD imitating an open fire for her Television, and she was delighted when the logs started to burn and she faked to heat up her hands ! It looks so real and also makes the noises of burning wood. Instead of looking at a dark TV screen, we looked at the burning fire.

On Sunday it was grey cold and windy and not really an inspiring weather to go out. So I spent the day with blogging, sorting out pictures, choose posts from my old blogs to review and correct them as I want to have them printed as a book.  A so said "Best of". That's quite a lot of work since I have to go back to 2006 ! And when I watched TV a stalker watched me too ... Arthur staring at me through the window into the living room ! 

VISIT FROM CANADA

Today I will meet Kay and her husband from Canada. They are staying a day in Brussels and I will meet them this morning.

Her husband wants to see the Atomium which is located outside Brussels.

I am quiet curious to see her "life" through her blog I know her already !