WEEKEND REVIEW June 16

It was warm although the sun was not shining and we sat on Ilona's terrace with a nice fresh drink and chatted about ...... politics  ! Not like we are supposed to do, chatting about grandchildren, family, to do household works, no we started first with the terrorist attack in Nice, and came to the conclusion, that the actual situation is like a 3rd world war, only not in the classical worldwar style, but different. it can hit you everywhere, anywhere and finally you are not safe at all nowhere in the world. The best thing to do is live our life and enjoy it to the fullest before a car hits you when you cross the street.

Then we thought with the looks of actual politicians it's no wonder ....



Unfortunately they are not in a mad house, but working hard in politics. I wonder if they are twin brothers ? Maybe they have the same father and were adopted by different mothers ?? Fantasy has no limits !



Then we talked about the Brexit and all the British people living here in Belgium who have asked to become Belgians. I can't blame them, because I had never thought that the British government was such a mess !

So far everybody thought that the British people were disciplined, honest, and that at least their government was also like this. And then came the Brexit, which nobody understood, not even the British people themselves.  Ilona said that this referendum was a big mistake, it is just as asking a school class if they prefer holidays to school. Most of them would choose holidays, only those who understand that learning is very important would vote for school.



We ended our chatting with the Belgian politicians, and the fact that this little country of 11 mill inhabitants has now 14 ministers, which sounds a lot, but compared to 2011 when we had 67 it has improved. Of course they still cost a lot of money, especially now with the bodyguards for each one because of the terrorists !

When we realized with what subject we had spent the whole afternoon, we had to laugh, because the world didn't get better ! We hadn't improved anything !

Sundays Waterloo is a ghost town ! All shops closed, only restaurants open. 



It is empty, because there is nothing to do, not even a café to sit outside. During holiday times you see some tourists, visiting the church and the Wellington museum and then they leave.

But now there are quite a lot of tourists at the Waterloo Lion and the new built restaurant, which is the only one there, so you have no choice if you want to eat or drink something is very busy.



I went there to see if this time the soldiers did their weekend performance. The restaurant's terrace was full and indeed the soldiers were there !



They walked a little around, and then shot with these old guns which made a noise like a canon shot and flames came out of the gun. I was just chatting with a couple of English tourists with their son and daughter in law, when we jumped into the air not prepared to hear that shooting. Then the soldiers sat down and had a beer.

I explained a bit about the new site and how it was before and they told me that were not happy at all with the announced Brexit as for them now holidays are expensive, the pound compared to the Euro has almost lost half of its value.

Then they continued their way and I returned home, it was very hot and stuffy, no sunshine but no thunderstorm either.

WEEKEND REVIEW June 25, 2016

Nicole had to take Charlie to the groomer and I went with her to take some pictures. He was such a good dog I even think he enjoyed to be pampered by two young girls !



He was a real beauty once the whole procedure was finished and we took him to the Mont St. Jean farm for a drink, as the sun had suddenly came out after a whole wet day. We had a drink and everybody admired Charlie !

Sunday was again not a day to go out but we went to the cinema and saw a real funny French movie, a daughter who had lost her job and returned to her mother. When the daughter tried to explain to her mother that she needed an email, the whole audience almost rolled on the floor so much we all laughed.



After the movie we had a drink in "La Pomme" the apple, which has a lot of English clients. It's a bit like a Pub.

Of course everybody was talking about the Brexit and the big disappointment. Nobody had really thought that it would come to this disastrous result ! For those here who like the English they were sad and said that the country will go bankrupt, the others were happy because they were so stupid to leave and anyway they always asked for extras. So the opinions are devided.

I came to Belgium because of the European Union (at that time called Common Market) My father started there at the very beginning in 1958. At that time "Europe" was very small. Just France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. The official language was French and the people there were so motivated to create a united Europe. When in 1973 the UK joined, my father was not happy at all. He didn't speak any English, because in posh schools you only learned French (the diplomatic language) Latin and Greek. I remember the fear of the Belgians who thought that they would loose their job in the many American companies, because of the language. There were suddenly so many British people on the market whose mothertongue was English. Slowly slowly English became the main language for the European Union and my father was furious. I grew up to be an European, and don't know what patriotism is. I live in Belgium, my husband is Italian, our son is more Belgian, and we have a Dutch daughter in law. As he worked and lived for 10 years in London, he could have married an English girl too.



This was the title of our local Newspaper. 15 Brits of Waterloo asked for changing nationality ! And that was only the first day after !

In our rather small town Waterloo, 450  British live here. "Most of them live in Waterloo for many years and have a job and a social life. They are worried and angry, according to our Mayor. Furious because, as expatriates, they had not been entitled to vote. Worried because, if they remain British citizens, they may have to make many efforts, particularly concerning work permits, taxation and pension. Fifteen requests within 24 hours, is quite exceptional. And considering the received phone calls, that number really is likely to increase. "

I read in a local Newspaper. Scheduled weddings had to be delayed because of so many English citizen who had come to the City Hall immediately after the result of the Brexit.

For the young British generation, I hope that the old guys who still dream about the rich Commonwealth find their brain back ! 

I just booked my holidays, a roundtrip from Eastbourne where I stay with friends as each year to Edinburgh. For me the Brexit came on purpose, the pound had never been so cheap ! But honestly I would have preferred to pay like last year and keep the UK in the European Union for our youth !