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It’s (going-to-be) a ____!
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| Wednesday, February 21, 2007 |
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We had our 22-week scan today. Beforehand Mel downed an espresso, a chocolate bar, and a glass of cold water. This ensured that baby:
1) will be a coffee addict like dad
2) will be a chocolate addict like mum
3) was wide awake and kicking for the scan!
Since the little one was flying on cloud nine (or rather, *kicking* on cloud nine), it allowed the “scanographer” (or whatever she’s called) to see the gender of our little baby. I’m glad we were able to find out. Now we don’t have to refer to “bump” as “it” anymore, we can now refer to “bump” as...
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The Drawbridge is Down but Nobody’s Home
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| Friday, February 16, 2007 |
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I love castles because they bring me back to a totally different era. Not only can you admire the architecture, but you can walk through the different rooms and learn about the lives of the people who lived there centuries ago. It’s always interesting how much of a contrast life was back then to life in the present day.
The only example of a fortified medieval castle local to Brussels is 13 miles south in the small town of Beersel. I bought a ticket for a train with one connection from Bruxelles Gare Centrale. Changing trains is a big deal in a foreign country. You have to pay attention to each stop to make sure you get off at the right one, then you have to find the right platform for your connection and make sure you get on the right train at the right time to complete the journey. Not easy when everything is in another language, and any small mistake could land you in the middle of nowhere...
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Bruges
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| Thursday, February 15, 2007 |
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I had read of Bruges that to step into the city’s Old Town was to step right back into the Middle Ages. It wasn’t an exaggeration. If I hadn’t watched myself I could’ve been photographed walking around with my mouth wide open half the time. Bruges was among the wealthiest cities in Europe during the Middle Ages, and as it was spared the ravaging of WWII, its monumental buildings and cobblestone streets remain largely untouched.
The city is thread together by a network of canals, and in the winter they sometimes freeze and allow for skating. Today was 10C and sunny, so didn’t get to inject any Canadiana into this pretty little European town this time.
In 1482, one building was used to imprison Crown Prince Maximilian of Austria. When the prince was later freed, being the brutish fellow that he was, he exacted a cruel and harsh punishment upon the poor citizens of Bruges...
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Place de la Wha?
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| Wednesday, February 14, 2007 |
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Apparently first time visitors to Brussels are often confused with the long street names. Not sure what’s so confusing about “Place de la Vieille Halle aux Blés Oud Korenhuis,” but anyway, after the Czech Republic this is a walk in the Parc aux Bruxelles.
I started the morning by going to the Grand Place, considered by some to be the most beautiful square in the world. The esplanade is surrounded by Flemish Renaissance-baroque guild-houses from the 17th century, the neo-Gothic King’s House, and the 15th-century Gothic Town Hall. I don’t know all about those architecture styles, but believe me when I say it’s a grand place! In the Grand Place there is a statue you can rub for fertility, which I stayed well clear of after what happened in Prague. We might end up with twins!
Next I paid a visit to Brussels’ oldest citizen, Manneken-Pis. This is a statue of a little boy, gleefully doing what little boys gotta do. So the “oldest citizen” is just a “wee lad,” actually...
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Bruxelles Bound
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| Tuesday, February 13, 2007 |
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As I write this, Mel and I are somewhere under the English Channel travelling at a couple hundred kph. We’re heading to Brussels via the Eurostar, which connects Britain to the continent (or as the Brits say – connects the continent to Britain). I can vouch that the Eurostar is a million times better than the previous method of crossing, by giant hovercraft. I have quite a few sea-sick childhood memories of that journey.
The reason for this speedy “Chunnel” crossing is a rehearsal for a corporate recruitment event in April that Mel is helping organize. Sounds like a neat event, actually. Every year P&G tries to woo the continent’s top graduates by inviting them to this annual week-long event in Brussels for a right good brainwashing session. Bill Gates never did that for me, but I’m not bitter ;-)
Belgium is a small country of 10 million people, bordered by France, Luxembourg, Germany and the Netherlands. It is known for its wealth of historical attractions, art, culture and cuisine. It is also called the Capital of Europe, since the European Union HQ is based here (*yawn*).
Anyway, I actually got to try out my French when ali ...
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Four Seasons
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| Thursday, February 08, 2007 |
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It all started about three weeks ago in the middle of January. Mel gasped, her jaw dropped and her eyes popped wide open. She was pointing out the living room window to something outside. “Look!”, she exclaimed. I looked and saw nothing. “The plant!” She was referring to the small, potted lilac plant that Jenna gave us last summer. It had bloomed beautifully at the time, but once summer ended we left it out on the balcony for dead (sorry Jenna, we are about the least plant-friendly people we know!). It had been sitting out there all dry and shrivelled up for months. But now it was blooming! In the middle of January! Then last Saturday, as it was nothing but sunshine and Mel was doing a “craft day” at the hall with some of the girls, I headed down to Greenwich for a walk. Sure enough, the flowers in the Greenwich Park flower garden were pushing up and approaching half-bloom. Cherry blossoms were opening. I even saw a baby fox playing with some pigeons. It was seriously the nicest February day I’ve ever experienced. Well, that was last Saturday, today is Thursday, and in between we’ve had all four seasons. In fact, today was the biggest recorded snowfall in England in the past decade. A whole whopping 5cm! If you thought hurricane force winds could cause a fair spot of bother, well just imagine what 5cm of snow can do. According to this evening’s paper, up to 1 million people in L ...
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Location, Location, Location
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| Saturday, January 27, 2007 |
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With our family extending it was inevitable that our living space would have to extend as well (to support nappy storage, visiting mothers-in-law and this kind of thing). The past few weeks have been spent scanning findaproperty.com, talking to estate agents, viewing flats, and waiting for the right place to come up. Today we were finally able to settle on a house in Greenwich, and went down to sign the papers. Greenwich is 10 minutes south on the tube from our current flat.
Although Greenwich is a lovely area, it wasn’t our only option. I read in the paper last week, that a 6'x10' converted broom closet in Chelsea is going for £170,000. Chelsea is an area known more for famous footballers than first time home owners, but hey, if you want to get on the property ladder and live in a posh neighbourhood at the same time, this could be your opportunity. At 6x10 there is plenty of room for the whole family (assuming that your spouse and offspring are plankton)...
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The Demise of Frosty
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| Friday, January 19, 2007 |
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The wind storms lashing the UK for the past two days have caused £1B damage to the capital alone. That’s a big mop-up job. Winds topped 80mph in London and 100mph on the coast. A colleague told of people literally getting blown off their feet walking across London Bridge (contrary to the nursery rhyme, it was the people falling down, not the bridge). As fallen trees blocked the tracks, trains were shut down and delayed across the country and it was a chaotic scene trying to get home last night.
At the height of rush hour, there were 66 overturned vehicles, and on one stretch of motorway, a gust of wind blew three lorries straight over and backed up traffic for hours. Hundreds of properties have been severely damaged, almost 200 flights cancelled, while King’s Cross and London Bridge stations had parts of their roofs blown off. Lord’s cricket ground was also damaged, and the five people who understand the game are sure to be disappointed.
The worst, however, was saved for Frosty...
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Nothing to Declare
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| Monday, January 08, 2007 |
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The flight back to London was pretty uneventful. As we sat awaiting take off I had a snicker as a guy a few rows in front of us jumped to his feet as liquid started to drip out of the overhead area and onto his head. Man, that would really stink, wouldn’t it? You should be settling in for a long, overnight flight, but instead your seat is getting all wet as some unknown substance leaks from the overhead bin. The amusement wore off as soon as the first drip landed on my lap.
My initial instinct was to stem the tide of water (I hope it was water) by pressing my pillow to the ceiling. Well that didn’t work, and soon the liquid was dripping over the sides of the pillow. I became aware that now both me and buddy were the source of amusement for the other passengers. Mel instructed me to run to the toilet and get paper towels. That did work, but against the towel I could see that the substance was yellow, and well, that bothered me a bit...
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Batchin' It
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| Saturday, December 30, 2006 |
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Well, as the best man in Mark’s (Mel’s brother’s) wedding, it came to me to organize the bachelor party. So what does one do in New Brunswick for a fun (and clean) guys’ night out, I wondered. Being across the ocean in London at the time, I turned to Google to get some ideas. I collected a rock solid set of suggestions from the search results and sent them across to the invitees: 1) rent a mechanical bull and have a rodeo, 2) hire a stage hypnotist, 3) rent a set of inflatable moon bounces, 4) go cow-tipping, 5) play outdoor paintball, 6) go to a hockey game.
I was a little bewildered as one-by-one, all my awesome ideas got shot down, except for one…
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