Can you trust Dr. Google?

This morning, I read a heart-wrenching story about a young Flemish woman who put a message on Facebook.

Apparently, she suffers from cancer. She asks everyone who reads her post to share it, because she is looking for a cure outside the hospital. You can derive she has read something on the internet about an alternative cure and she's looking for more info.

So depressing! The doctor who has been treating her states that her form of cancer is in its early stages and can easily be treated by the classical way of removing the (little) tumors and radiation. Afterwards, she'd have a 95% chance of going into remission.

I can understand that hearing such news must be hard. But I wouldn't trust too much on looking up cures on the internet, either. The sad reality is, that people want to earn (lots of) money by selling ' cures' for cancer, whatever, on the internet. They earn fortunes on the misfortune of others.

Young people always turn to the internet when they need to know something. I trust my doctor. He's a person who has studied medicine and I know he will listen to my complaints and give me sound advice.

My own sister also has a tendency to look up information about her complaints on the internet - and then she becomes worried because she reads all kind of stuff! I don't say she doesn't have a real complaint, but most of what she feels is due to the menopause. (Well, I was lucky not to suffer from it - the worst I experienced were red ears every now and then!)

Life on Mars?

Ever since people got aware of what was happening in outer space, there has been interest in the planet Mars. When I was a kid, parents told their offspring to be good 'or else the Mars men would come'. And in the 70's there was a lot to do about flying saucers. (Well, they were a new prototype of airplane the Americans were testing, but who cares?)

Yesterday NASA made public they have found flowing water on Mars. Of course, scientists all around are nearly going mad with expectation. Flowing water means the existence of micro-organisms which can lead to life.

On the other hand, some scientists say this doesn't mean a lot. The water doesn't always flow and it's quite salty. Mars doesn' t have the same conditions as Earth (no atmosphere).

But hey, we can all dream along, right? Perhaps one day a space ship will find its way to our planet and we can be-neighbor our fellow-creatures from Mars?

AA Gent hires .... a voice coach!

Sometimes you can read funny stuff in the newspaper. This morning, it came to my notice that football club AA Gent (in premier league) just hired a voice coach. You'd wonder why.

Apparently, this young woman has to teach players and supporters how to shout!!! Well, I can understand that some players won't easily understand each other, as they are from various parts of the country (and here, every town and village has its own dialect) or from different countries. But what about the supporters?If they cheer on their team, isn't it the same how they sound?

The coach of the team thinks bringing in a voice coach will make a difference. I'm curious to see!!!

In for a sweet Indian Summer

The last couple of days have been great. At last the grey skies and rain left us and we're blessed with at least one week of Indian Summer. Yesterday at the wedding reception, we could remain outside on the terrace of the restaurant and enjoy our drinks and conversations in golden sunshine.

I really like this season. I can bear hot temperatures, as long as I'm not in Belgium. Here it is way too humid and my poor muscles can't bear a lot of humidity. I always have pains in my fingers or toes, or knees, ... But when I am in a place where the temperature goes over 40° C and the sun blazes, I don't feel a thing.

So now it may be cold in the early morning and evening, but during the day it's nice being outside. I will take advantage of this nice weather to do some more washing, while it can dry outside and also do some cleaning of outside windows. Although... that's dangerous. Every time I clean windows, it begins to rain afterwards!

By the way, the big pond in our neighborhood will soon look like the above picture....

Wedding reception

A bit later than usual, but I've been spending time at a wedding reception. A cousin of mine married for the second time, but nevertheless the bride wore white and there was a reception, followed by a dinner for the close family.

Here in Flanders a wedding reception consists of drinks and little bites to eat. The drinks were various: wine, champagne, beer, fruit juice, beer or water. Just what you liked. Of course I went for the champagne! And the tidbits to eat were special as well. Not the usual stuff you get at receptions, but little hamburgers and hotdogs, salads with meatballs, sausages filled with fish.... Really tasteful.

And like always, you always meet people you haven't seen for a while and before you know it, it's late in the evening and time to go home!

Killer cholesterol

Read an interesting article in the newspaper this morning. In our country, twenty-five thousand people are born with a cholesterol that is way too high. AND - only 4% of these realizes the danger!

The study comes from Ernst Rietschel, a cardiologist at UZ Gent. 1 in 450 people in Belgium suffers from a form of 'familial hypercholesterolomy' but only a 4% is aware of the ticking bomb in their body. Their 'bad' cholesterol  (which should be around 115 mg/dl) can vary from 250 to 400 mg. And that from the day they are born.

The danger is, of course, you don't notice this. But you'll see that in your family, sometimes a mother or father, an uncle or an aunt, die at an early age - sometimes not even 30.

This illness is hereditary. Therefore, the cardiologist started BELCHOL, an organisation to make patients aware of the risks.

I'm ever so glad my 'bad' cholesterol is ok!!!

Strike of the garbage men

Since past Monday, the men working for VERKO (the organisation that collects the garbage in our wide area) are on strike.

Everyone who put out garbage and did not read the newspaper or heard the news on the radio, found their garbage still in place when they returned from work. The mayor asked that everyone put back their garbage for as long as the strike lasts. But today I could still see some left garbage bins standing on the pavement or cluttering the driveway.

It is not a problem - yet. I just put my blue bag containing (mostly plastic and milk cartons) back in my cellar. The cellar is big enough. But next week the yellow bags are collected and these contain the rest-waste. When these are left for a while, they begin to emit their fumes. So where do I put these? Not in the garden, where cats and rodents can get to it. Not in my house, because they would attract flies and other vermin. So for a while they can go in the boiler room, where also my washing machine is.

I just hope the unions and the director can come to some sort of compromise, or else Dendermonde will be the new Naples!

Hate posts

We all know the phenonemon: someone posts on Facebok (or any other social network) and soon he/she is swamped by disgusting reactions, which often go to really hate mail.

You have to weigh your words when you use the internet. I've been writing my blog for some years already, and up to now I've only had one not-so-very-friendly remark to one of my posts. That was were I wrote I don't understand how someone can commit suicide.

A Flemish tv-program (on one of the small broadcasting stations) is now showing a piece called 'Heroes of the internet'. The maker of the program goes in search of the people who write these hate posts. Because - and don't you forget it - most people just use their FB profile when they post, and then it's easy to find them in reality

He expects to find a pitbull behind every door he knocks at - and instead finds the most common man or woman. And then he goes in search of their story. Nearly everyone who is being interviewed has an underlying story.

Ok, but is that a reason to post hate mail??? My own life hasn't been honey and sunshine either, but I never see a reason to attack a person online.No sir, I handle my anger in quite another way. In my mind, I've committed more than one murder already. When I have cause to feel a strong dislike (or even hate) to another person, I kill them in my dreams. That's enough. And later on, all is forgotten.

What do you think of this?

No inspiration

Does it happen to you too? You want to write a piece - a few chapters of your latest novel, an article, a blog post - and all of a sudden you haven't got the faintest idea what to write?

Well, that's happening to me right now. Normally it takes almost nothing to give me ideas for my blogs (just everyday experiences, stuff I read in the newspaper) et voilà: the blog is written. But today I did not get an idea.

So that's why I'm blogging about having no inspiration. Blackouts are tough for a writer. What concerns me, it has mainly to do with how I feel. Today I'm cold. It's raining hard and although the heating is on the house still feels chilly. (The weather forecast predicts better weather later on this week - let's hope so, because I have to drive my bike to a neighboring village tomorrow.)

My sister will be home soon, so I'd better quit trying to write and begin cooking....

Ancient treasures

My grandfather had a lot of books. They were kept in a made-to-measure bookcase (which I still have) and contained volumes of novels, books on (military) history and an encyclopedia. The last one consisted of two volumes of the Larousse Pour Tous published by Claude Augé.

I don't rightly know what these old volumes are worth (something between 10 and 1,500 Euro, according to the sites I googled) but to me they were - and still are - a source of knowledge, even better that a computer.

Although in French (my grandfather was born in Wallony) I could understand quickly what was written there. I must have taken up French without realizing it. As I was fascinated by history, I could spent hours browsing through the Larousse, researching information for something I was writing at that moment.

Do you have items you cherish?

Belgium plays Davis Cup final!!!

Sorry, this will only be a short message.

After biting my nails for a long afternoon, I can proudly tell you guys that Belgium will be playing the Davis Cup Final (tennis) against Great-Britain in November this year.

It has been more than 100 years (last time was in 1904) since that happened, so you can bet everyone goes crazy here! Thanks to Steve Darcis who did the impossible! (And of course also to the rest of the team, who fought like lions.)

Falling leaves

As the days are slowly growing colder and the wind gets on in force, the first leaves begin to fall... and also begins the never-ending task of picking them up!

It's quite frustrating for one who doesn't have tree or shrubs to pick up all those leaves from neigbbor's trees. I really don't know why those leaves don't fall where the tree stands!

I've spent good two hours collecting everything that has fallen. But I bet that tomorrow there will be another load and it looks as if I haven't done anything. This inspired me to write a story about falling leaves - leaves that kill.

It's part of a bundle of short stories titled Face In The Mirror and Other Stories published by Rogue Phoenix Press and also available at Amazon. A good read for the coming Halloween season, by the way!

Nationalism on the rise

I can't help noticing that European countries are growing more and more nationalistic, of course triggered by the tsunami of asylum-seekers from the Middle East.

Hungary has thrown up a wall - remember the Iron Curtain? - and now Croatia is also closing its frontiers. The TV shows pictures of refugees fighting with the police. Also in our own country, people are getting worried about housing more and more refugees.

This is fodder for the nationalist parties. And that's dangerous. The big danger lies in the fact that nationalism always has some doctrines in which people can find themselves - in this case, away with all those refugees who only come to profit from our social security - but they have other agenda's as well.

Our major nationalist politician, Bart De Wever (mayor of Antwerp) for instance has once stated that the unemployed are all lazy bums and should not be given any money for support. Hello? If your factory goes broke and you're out of work, and already somewhat older, will you find another job? No, not in this economy. But that doesn't brand you as a lazy bum. Most of the unemployed would accept a job, if one was offered to them. So if you agree with the NVA (De Wever's party) you agree with all of their party points. You'd only notice you've been had once you are a couple of years ahead.

The current inability of the EU to deal with the problem of the refugees will give more power to nationalism and when nothing is done about it, it can lead to World War Three.

Car-free day

In view of the Mobility Week in Belgium, today was called in as a 'car-free day'. People were asked to leave their cars aside for a day and go to their work by using other means. Ideally, this would mean freeways without cars, but as with everything here, most people are not good listeners. I just heard about the traffic jams on the radio news...

This morning, almost all radio programs dealt with the car-free day. (Yes, I do listen to the radio from early morning to late afternoon, always have done so.) They spoke with ladies who share cars among three or four families, and also with one woman who had been without car for two years now.

Well, my sister and I have been without a car for almost 6 years now. Sometimes people ask me how that is possible? For starters, I should tell you that we did not have a car when we were younger, Our dad worked for Belgian Rail and so we all had free first class tickets for the train. I only bought my first car when I went to uni.

For some time, we both needed a car to go to work, but later on we found jobs closer by and we could already sell one car. The remaining car was actually only used to drive to the coast. So after some time we considered doing away with that one as well - and we haven't missed it since.

We do our shopping on foot or by bike, either using a caddy or the saddle bags on the bikes. We go ofter to the shops, so we never have too much to carry. The supermarkets are not too far away from where we live, only 5 minutes by bike or 15 minutes on foot. When we want to go someplace, we take a train (railway station is only at 5 minutes from our home) or the bus (station right before the railroad one).

So who needs a car???

Rights and obligations

This afternoon, I was hurrying through the rain to do my food shopping (already 5 years without car), as it was raining too hard to go by bike. On returning from the supermarket, I came across a group of youngsters who had been sporting. They occupied the entire pavement and it was clear they would not move aside for an older person.

Well, then my stubborn soul says 'to hell' and so I just continued walking, keeping to the right as I should - and waited until the first kid would bump into me. My elbows are quite sharp and still good enough to cause some bruises (satisfied grin).... And then I waited until he'd say he was sorry. They stare at you like you're out of the world, but I used my trained teacher's glance and finally the word 'sorry' came over the lips. Okay, they'll remember next time - hopefully.

I notice a lots of younger ones miss the elementary rules of polite conduct. They are always full of their rights, but forget they have duties as well. When I was a kid, I was told that the elder deserved our respect and we should make space for them on train and bus, give up a chair, open the door for them.

In some other cultures people still show respect. Last year I had to take a bus to my school, which was always more than full. If someone gave up his or her seat to me, it was mostly a boy or girl of foreign origine. And every now and then some kid who's still raised to show respect by his parents.

Instead of spending time in teaching religion at schools,  they'd better give some lessons in polite behavior. That would not come amiss!

How growing older can make your tastes change

While I'm making soup (btw, it's asparagus soup) I was contemplating how I don't like cooking anymore. Oh sure, I CAN cook (and quite good, even if I say so myself) but my heart is not in it anymore. When I was younger, mid twenties, early thirties I just LOVED to cook. But then I had people to impress (especially a man I was mad at). Now there is only my sister, and we've been together for AGES.

My dislike/like of cooking is not the only thing that has changed.  When I was a kid, I loathed tomatoes. Right now I don't always eat them raw, but just give me any dish with tomatoes in it. I used to be fond of fried chicken, while nowadays I only eat the white flesh of the breast and never the skin. And I don't go swimming anymore, although I was so fond of it as a youngster, even won competitions.

On the other hand, some things remain a constant factor in my life. I always loved books (would climb up a tree to read in silence) - and still do. I wrote short stories as a kid to escape boredom at school, and still write. I still find interest in doing research for my family tree (btw, I just realized that under Welsh medieval law, I would have been a princess! Welsh law namely gives bastards the same rights as legitimate children, and among my ancestors were kings of France and William the Conqueror of England.)

Care to share what's changed in your life, or what remained constant?

Do you know what/what not to put in the garbage bin?

This morning, I received the visit of a representative of the waste company for our region. Apparently they had been asked to question a certain number of chosen people to see how they could improve their service.

The lady asked some questions, concerning the sorting out of waste. I had no trouble with them, as we have been sorting our waste since we were kids. We had several crates in our cellar: one for paper, one for plastic bottles, one for milkcartons etc. One day, we even decided to clear the local brook from all the trash people threw into it!

But as I can witness, not all the people know what to put in what bag. Here in Belgium we have two different colors for waste. Blue bags are for PMD (plastic - metal - drinkcartons) and brown (or yellow, the color may vary) are for the rest of the waste. Paper and carton you can put in paper boxes or just tie together with thread, and these are collected once a month. The blue and brown bags are collected every two weeks (one week the blue, the other one the brown). Remains of vegetables and from garden green go into a big green container, which is emptied when it's full. We pay for this collection, of course. We also pay for the waste bags.

In the apartment block where we have our flat, the waste is collected down in the cellar. And the things you see there! Some people clearly don't know what to place where. Out of stupidity, or either out of their free will. Probably such people just fill up a bag of thrash and throw it out of their car,  while driving along an empty road....

Do you handle your trash with care???

Spooky happenings

Now I know definitely that my house is spooked!

This past week, different sorts of 'happenings' took place. No, I haven't seen an actual ghost, or not even a shadow, but I know I'm with my right mind. The first thing that happened was in my kitchen. I closed a closet, after taking out something. When I turned my back, the door stood open... Then, another day, when I went into bed, my alarm clock was on. I know for sure I didn't wake the alarm, because my sister always sets hers. And speaking of my sister, some days ago she put a pan on the cooker, on the right hand side. When we came into the kitchen some time later, the pan had moved to the left!

I don't have an explanation for this. But I know something else is doing those things. We don't have kids or grandkids and no amimals. So who's to blame???

What were you doing at 9/11?

It's a sight we'll never forget: those two planes which went into the WTC Towers, completely destroyed them and murdered thousand of innocents.

I remember I had a free afternoon in my schedule (was working at a school in Temse then) and I was in my study preparing some work for the coming lessons. My radio was on (always is) and on the 3 o'clock news I heard that a plane had crashed into one of the WTC towers in New York. At first nobody suspected foul play and they only thought about a plane crash. But when a second plane neared the towers and flew into it, we knew it was a terrorist attack.

My mother had also been listening and called me down to see on the TV what was happening. Schools closed earlier than normal, so that teachers and students could all follow the news. It was a terrible shock.

So today we offer a prayer for those who did not survive the attack. Let them rest in peace.

Unfortunately the terrorist threat is still active. Other attacks followed, on the London Underground and the metro in Madrid. Why does faith has to spur such madness???

Return of the nice weather

The sun has finally returned to Belgium, after a cold & wet ending of August, and the same for the first nine days of this month. We were beginning to feel like we were in the middle of autumn yet.

But today we woke up to a blue sky - at last!!! It will remain like this for some days, so I'm doing my washing. I prefer to hang the washed lines and clothes outside when possible. When I have to use my attic room (which is equally spacy, and can be used as a drying room) it takes longer, because I don't want to put on the heating before it gets really cold.

And, how's the weather in your part of the world?

Congrats to Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II of Great-Britain is now officially the longest reigning monarch of this kingdom. She has occupied the British throne for 63 years and 217 days, which is already one day more than Queen Victoria, who held the previous record.

And it looks like Her Majesty is not yet ready to abdicate. She apparently shares the same good health as her mother did, who became 101. Elizabeth is 'only' 89, so she can most likely add a couple years to her reign.

Just wondering if Prince Charles will still be alive before he can ascend to the throne???

Superhenge

Did you also hear the news about the discovery of a new - and even bigger - Stonehenge? It's been all over the news and beats the reports about the fugitives.

The new stone circle has been detected by a team of archeologists (among whom also a Belgian). Apparently, an enormous stone circle is situated under the Durrington Walls. These walls are an earthen wall under where before the remains of houses were found. They think these belonged to the builders of Stonehenge, which was possibly the biggest village in Neolithic times.

The new stone circle would be bigger than the Ring of Brodgar on the Orkneys, which has 100 meter in diameter. This circle would have 1,5 km!!!

Andy Rhind-Tutt, who heads the Heritage Trust, said to the BBC that this raises questions about the meaning of these stone circles. We don't know what they mean, as yet.

No wonder these circles take up an important place in novels! For what it's worth, they could have been used as portal through time, as they do in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander novels. People have always been intriguyed with what they cannot understand.

Hopefully, we'll learn more in the future.

Angry farmers

Today Brussels was swamped with convoys of angry farmers (on their tractors!). So no going in or out of the city.

The farmers in Europe are mad at the EU. Due to their laws, they gain less and less per year, they claim. They have to sell their milk for a few pennies, and also pork has become too cheap. They also have a problem with Russia, that doesn't allow any European produce to enter.

Now we all know that farmers are not easily satisfied. Either it's too hot or too cold... too wet or too dry... They did not complain during the world wars of the past century. My grandma went on foot to the farms around Antwerp to buy food on the black market - and she spent the entire profit of selling a big house during those four years, just to feed her kids. Farmers earned tons in those times. Nowadays, times have turned harder on them, that's true.

Mainly it's because of the food chain. Farmers don't sell their produce directly to the customers, as they used to do. Their produce is bought by a big concern, which also needs to make a profit. This concern sells on to supermarkets, who take their part. And because of the competitive market, those supermarkets have to be cheaper than their counterparts...

The farmers want better prices for their produce. I wonder what Europe will be doing about it - in my view Europe has done nothing good for us yet.

US Open

I'm not a big fan of sports, but I do like tennis. Not that I play myself or have played - my eyes are not good enough for ball games. I'm not able to see distances well enough (even with glasses) so I don't drive a car as well. On the other hand, I can read the small print without help. So I count my blessings!

Anyway, talking about tennis, right now it's the US Open. We don't have any great players like Henin or Clijsters anymore, but one of the men shows promise. His name is David Goffin.

But it's pretty warm there in America. Sometimes this heat is quite unbearable. A lot of players had to give up their match because they weren't feeling well or from sheer exhaustion.

I remember there used to be a lot of complaints about the rain at Wimbledon before they closed the roof. I wonder why it's not possible to play the US Open a couple of weeks later (end of September, beginning of October) or just see to it that when it's too warm, players can tennis in a cool hall.

What do you say?

Cyber attacks and cyber bullying

I'm at the moment reading Val McDermid's latest Tony Hill novel, which deals with a case of women who committed 'suicide' after having been harrassed online. As always, a great read and Val has great insight in the psychology of criminals.

It made me think though. Why is it so easy to harrass someone online? Well, first of all it's impersonal. You don't need to face the person you're attacking and you can post all of your vile comments without problem. If you'd be face-to-face you most likely wouldn't have the courage to do so.

Next thing is that the victim most of the time feels inadequate to deal with the problem. How can you deal with anonymous threats and attacks?

I remember that not so long ago one of my students was faced with this problem. She got attacked on Facebook because she had dared to voice an opion about something sexist. When she spoke to me about the problem and asked me what to do, I told her it was quite easy to stop the problem. "How?" she asked. "Well," I answered, "simply don't go on Facebook anymore". Easy right? And of course, tell the police about it. Nowadays they take this kind of problem seriously, especially when young ones are concerned.

(They are not so professional when dealing with adults though. My sister has a problem as well. Someone is using her email address to try and get access to all kind of internet games. Up to now nothing really bad happened, but one day she'll get a bill for things purchase. And then say you haven't ordered it! When she contacted the police, they just laughed at her. The only solution was to delete her email address and get a new one, but that means you have to change lots of things. Anyway, we'll contact the federal police after having spoken with someone who's higher up in the ranks. This is a crime and it should be treated just so.)

Have you ever been the victim of cyber crime?

Hitting the jackpot

I admit, I play on the lottery. Isn't it everyone's hope to win the jackpot? Only, up to now I've only won little sums, nothing over 50€.

Last week, one of my fellow countrymen (or women) won a jackpot of 15 million Euro with Euromillions. Wouldn't that be nice to win? Not too much (heavens, what would you do with a jackpot of around 100 million?) but enough to give you a pleasant life.

My grandma always said 'Hope makes you live" ... and as long as you live, you can hope. This is what life makes bearable when things don't go as planned. It's always so nice to daydream about what you would do if you won the jackpot.

So let's say 15 million. Ok, that would allow both of us to give notice at work (I'm nearly 60, my sister is 55). We still need to work a couple of years before having our pension. But if you could hand in your 5 days' notice (that's what is required in education) it would mean you could stay home at the end of next week! My job is not so demanding, and I still love doing it, but my sister is under a lot of stress and I fear that one day the stress will get to her. Quitting her job would be a blessing.

For the rest, we'd do nothing special. No fancy cars, no fancy clothes, no follies. We'd just be happy to keep the two places we own (in normal circumstances, we'd have to sell one of them when we are pensioned because we won't be able to maintain both on lesser income) and enjoy life. Perhaps do a bit more travelling - but as it is, we do enough now also.

If I won a bigger sum than 15 million, I'd be giving away big chunks to various good causes. When we die, anyway, our property and money goes to the charities we support.

What would you do when you won a lot of money???

The Promised Land

The Middle East used to be the promised land for ages. But nowadays the new promised land is Europe.

The last few months hundreds of thousands of fugitives try to sail towards the Grecian or Italian coasts, or try to catch a van or train going through the Chunnel to reach England. Human trafickers earn tons of money.

While there is - and always will be - compassion for those who really leave their country because of a raging war, there is a growing distrust among the citizens of various European countries towards those fugitives. And truth be told, not all of them seek asylum because their life is in danger. Some of them only come because they seek wealth here. Because, according to European law, once recognized as a fugitive, they are given food, lodging, even a job. And after some time they can invite the rest of their family to come over.

Here in Belgium our minister of immigration, Theo Francken, does what he can. But will Europe - and our country - be ready to host hundreds of thousands more? No, I don't think so. In Germany and Hungaria, there is a growing resentment against the streams of fugitives. The same goes for Italy and Greece.

In my humble view, nothing much can be done to help all of them. But the UN tell us we should do more! Ok, why can't the UN send ships to bring fugitives to the USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand? Do they really believe Europe can take millions of fugitives withoug a revolution? This is not only OUR problem. The entire world should do something to make sure that everyone can live freely and without worries in his or her own country.

The Amber Room: close to finding its whereabouts?

It's no more an urban legend. There IS Nazi gold in the tunnels underneath the Polish mountains. Old people used to tell their grandchildren about the Nazi train full of valuables that were buried in tunnels of the Owl Mountains in Poland.

A legend? No more! On his deathbed, a Germanconfessed to know about the existence of a train of more than 10meters which is hidden deep down a tunnel near the village of Walbrych, near the Tjech border. He was one of the team that was hiding the train. Supposedly the train carried a load of gold. The man left his hints to two treasure hunters, a German and a Pole. They did indeed find a spot where something huge is buried... They found a pantsered train, and are willing to leave it to the Polish authorities for a finder's fee of 10%.

At first the Polish authorities were a bit sceptic, but in the meantime it has been acknowledged by the ministry that a train carrying a 'special load' has been found.

So golddiggers are heading en masse to Poland, but they are warned not to come too closely, because the train might be booby-trapped. Soldiers guard the place , just to make sure.

Are we near to learning more about the lost treasures? The main one of these being the famous Amber Room from the Catharina Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. I once saw the replica but they real one would be even more impressive.

I don't know if you ever read the novel by Steve Berry, but here Cotton Malone also finds trace of the Amber Room. Fiction no more???