interrobang (‽)

I thought that I’d left all of the bureaucracy behind when I left Belgium earlier this year, but no.  It seems that not content with foisting their arcane machinations on the rest of Europe, the Belgians have now set their sights on the global stage.
On July 15th, a new law will come into effect in Belgium whereby any non-residents who work in Belgium for more than five days in any calendar month are required to obtain an L-1 LIMOSA declaration.  Given that there’s an extremely good chance I’ll be sent back to Belgium on a business trip at some stage […]

For some reason I’ve got this real craving for Toffos.  Unfortunately, being some 10,000 miles from the nearest packet, it’s likely to remain unsatiated.  Despite globalization and the flattening of the world, some things just don’t seem to travel intercontinentally - and sweets (candy, snoep, what you will) seems to be one of them.  Although there’s not much I miss about England, sweets are something I certainly do.  Not enough to move back there, you understand, but enough to give me pangs of nostalgia.  Or of hunger.  It’s difficult to tell, this late in the afternoon.
I spent several years in Belgium, […]

Last weekend we enjoyed a family holiday (4 days - does that count as a holiday?) at one of the CenterParcs here in Belgium (De Vossemeren).  We’ve never done one of these kind of places before (I think us Brits have a natural aversion to anything that even vaguely smells of a Butlins Holiday Camp), but yes, we did actually enjoy it.  It’s not necessarily my first choice of vacation [I couldn’t sell the family on a 10-day meditation retreat…], but the kids loved it and if they’re happy then the holidays are a lot more relaxing for us parents, […]

For the past year I’ve been studying Flemish (a.k.a. Dutch) at night school.  I’ve just had my end-of-year exams, and thankfully I passed (and quite comfortably, with 84%).  For my efforts, I’ve been awarded an offical certificate, which felt oddly like the Straw Man in the Wizard of Oz receiving his diploma, as I didn’t really study that hard, and relied largely on my (basic) knowledge of German, which is fairly similar to Flemish.
Overall, the course was fun.  We started out with about 22 students in the class (although this was whittled down to around eight by the end of the year) comprised […]

OK, I’ve now been in Belgium for over a year, so I think I’m qualified to make a few comments without being dismissed as a ‘newbie’ who needs to learn to adapt.  There are some aspects of driving in Belgium that I just can’t adapt to.  Three of them, in fact:
(1) Giving way to the right.  The rule is that if you’re driving along a main road, and a car is joining the road from a side-road on the right, you need to give way. Unless of course there is a solid white line or a series of tiny triangles […]

Last Sunday was ‘Car Free Day’ here in Brussels.  This is the one day a year when all traffic (emergency vehicles and the ubiquitous police excepted) is banned from the city.  I think it’s to promote exercise, or reduce pollution, or something.  To give them credit, the Belgians fully embrace these kinds of initiatives, so the main roads into town were blocked, and the police were on strict orders to ticket anyone who attempted to drive their car within the city boundaries.  Even the businesses jump on board - I saw a banner at one public car park in the […]

Belgium prides itself on being one of the more forward-thinking countries when it comes to refuse collection and recycling.  This is commendable, but damn, if they don’t make it difficult.Firstly, the refuse collectors (dustbinmen, residential waste experts, whatever…) will only collect your standard household refuse if it is bagged in specific proprietary bags (with the refuse company’s name on them). Standard black bin bags (heftybags) are just left in your driveway, untouched. This seemed a bit excessive at first, but this is how they charge for the service (a roll of dustbin bags will set you back some EUR20 (around […]

Nowadays, a car is pretty much a necessity.  And just about everyone here in Belgium has one.  So why do the Belgians make getting a car on the road such a difficult, lengthy, and truly exasperating process?  Here’s what I had to go through…
When you buy a car (even a second hand one - and even from a private sale) in Belgium you don’t get the number plates with it.  These are actually issued by the local authorities (it’s another way of getting tax).   We bought a couple of cars from a dealership, paid the money, and asked for the […]

We’re finally back in Belgium, and going through all of the requisite administrative steps to register ourselves here.  Given that Belgium is home to the EU, it should come as no surprise that it boasts world-class bureaucracy.  Here’s an example of Belgian bureaucracy at it’s finest…
When you move into a house here (Belgium) you have to go and register with the local commune (which is like a city council).  You have to do this in person, and can only do so once you have physically moved into the house.  You have to take with you a signed copy of the […]