Tag: Belgium
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Belgium is Driving Me Crazy
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… Read more
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Four Wheels Good, Two Wheels Bad
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… Read more
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Refuse Fascism
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… Read more
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The Joy of Driving (Or Not)…Belgian Style
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… Read more
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Born Free, But You’ll Pay To Prove It…
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… Read more