Under the weather

I'm feeling a bit woozy - my throat aches and I've got a headache. So sorry, no blog today. I think I'm off to bed soon and hope to be better for the coming work week.

Obesitas with cats

Apparently, not only humans suffers from obesitas. Also cats can suffer from it!

Belgium is a 'cat' land, with over 2 millions of them pussies walking around. But today the cats got bad news: there is no more need for Catisfactions or other party snacks, a diet of 85gr of cat food is enough.

Professor Myriam Hesta, of the University of Ghent, says that a healthy cat should weigh about 3-4 kilo. Don't feed them milk or chocolate, it is unhealthy for them. It is not important which cat food you buy (let the cat decide) but it's important you don't give it more than 85 gr per day.

Something you should know: when a cat is presented with new food, she always eats more of it. Then, after a while, she begins to eat less. So the boss thinks she doesn't like the food anymore, and buys a new one, of which the cat eat more again. And after a while you have a cat which is overweight...

Strange names

What caught my attention in this morning's newspaper was an article about the fact that some parents do give really strange names to their offspring...

What would you say if you were blessed with the name Constant Roekeloos (= constant careless)? Or you would be called Piet Uyttebroeck (= dick out of the pants)? Or Stella Maris?

It's a fact that nowadays (some) parents have a rather strange choice for their kids' names. And just grow up with such a name...

Of course you can change the name legally afterwards, but it'll cost you. You pay by the letter you change.

Personally, I think it should be forbidden to 'curse' your child with a silly name. In the old days, there used to be lists with names that were okay. It should not be exactly like that, but some measure must be taken.

What do you think?

Brussels: a hell-hole?

Yesterday, Donald Trump said in one of his speeches that Brussels can be considered 'a hell-hole'. I doubt that everyone agrees...

Now, for starters, I don't have a high opinion of Trump. Not after he ignored a red stop light in Aspen (years ago) and nearly ran us over. You should have seen the stupid look on the guy's face when my sister put up  her finger to signal the red light!

The inhabitants of our capital are already posting images of Brussels à volonté. And indeed, Brussels in an interesting town. Not worse than New York or London. It has criminals, but those they have in every big city.

As long as there is no terrorist threat, tourists can see a lot in Brussels. The Great Market, for starters, lots of musea, ... There are good restaurants, great shops at the Rue Louise.

Personally, I rarely go to Brussels, but that is because of my grandmother. When I was a kid, you needed to go shopping in a big city because there was nothing to be had in Dendermonde. And as grandma was born in Antwerp, there was only one city for her!

Time for spaghetti - own recipe

Just come home from shopping. Had a cup of coffee and right now it's time we prepare our spaghetti sauce. Yes, we make it ourselves. We don't just open a can and throw it with the pasta.

For our own sauce we use some  onions (3 or 4) which we chop fine, 2 red bellpeppers (also in cubes), 250 gr of mushroom (type Parisian), a bottle of passata, ground meat (we take about 350 gr) and some red wine. And spices, of course!

You start by frying the onion and bellpeppers, then add the passata sauce and the cut mushrooms, flavor with spices and add some wine. Finally you add the ground meat. Let the sauce on a low fire for some time. It's always better when you prepare it in advance, while it will taste so much the better.

The last thing you have to do is boil your pasta - and serve!

Do we have to minimalise everything fugitives do?

Every day now you hear something in the news concerning fugitives. Most of the European countries are flooded with asylum seekers - of which most are just economical fugitives. As long as our outer borders are not completely secured, the stream of fugitives will not stop.

Unfortunately, not all of those who are staying here don't know how treat modern life. Lots of complaints come about men harrassing women in swimming-pools, shoplifting cigarettes and other things in shops, even raping women. Not only in Germany, but anywhere where fugitives are.

No wonder some people will considere these fugitives a threat. And what's worse, everyone who makes a complaint about them, is considered a Nazi. Is it so wrong to tell someone what he/she is doing is not correct?

If this attitude doesn't change, more and more people here will turn in truth to extreme right. Do they really want to put eveyone on transport towards the camps where they'll be 'sprayed'???

Belgians are the best patissiers!

I just heard on the radio news that Belgium won the gold medal in baking (= patisserie). Well, no wonder as we do have the best bakers and also the best chocolate in the whole of Europe.

Makes me long to have some of the chocolates we bought last Saturday... We haven't touched them yet, as we had a dish with lots of cheese yesterday and we really didn't need a dessert.

What's your favorite in chocolate? Or in pastry? I love dark chocolate, especially with nuts in it. And for pastry I'd go for a 'miserable'. We have a bakery here in Dendermonde that is still there for the thrid generatiion and I love what they make.

Snow storm in the USA

It was really something to see, all that snow coming down! Here in Flanders, we can't imagine what it would be to have so much snow, up to one meter high!

Guess the entire country would panic. Nothing at all would be working. Even when there is only a little snow, our trains don't ride (they can't clear the rails!) and planes are kept on the ground. Imagine what it would be like with that one meter of snow - every day life would be cancelled. They don't have snow ploughs here, and only some people have snow shovels (we have one). The worst thing that happens here it that is is freezing and you have to throw some salt on the pavement. For that we're equipped. We all get a sack of road salt from our local government and we can use it when necessary.

So, how are you guys in the US coping?

What would you do with more than 100 million?

First of all, I wasn't able to write a blog the previous days, due to a busy schedule and delays with trains. When I've been before a class all day, and my train can't depart immediately, I come home only wanting a meal and a shower!

Ok, now I've got time once more. Yesterday evening, there was 104 million Euro in the jackpot of EuroMillions, and there was no winner in the first rank. So next Tuesday, the amount will go up to at least 115 million, or even more.

Can you imagine winning such amount??? What would it mean to you?

Well, I wouldn't say 'no' when I was the only winner, but I'd definitely make sure I remained anonymous. Otherwise, you are a bird ready to be plumed. You'd receive beggar letters by the dozens, and very often people would call at your door and ask for money.

An advantage is that I play online. That way no newsagent can say the winning tickets was sold at his/her place.

But I would not remain in my home town. People would ask questions when you suddenly don't go working again and buy a new house or flat. So I think we could better move to Knokke,(at the seaside) where it is quite normal to be rich. There we could have a flat big enough to live in. Not extreme luxury, but cosy enough. And for the rest, we'd travel as much as we liked. The remainder of the money would go to different good causes.

Money doesn't make happy - but not unhappy either if you use it well. The only thing having money does, is assuring you nothing much can happen. You can't buy good health, but when having money you can have the best doctors.

An old house: always trouble!

Having a house of nearly 100 years old can be fun. It has charm and character - but it also needs of lot of loving care!

Ever since I bought the house in 1982, I have been saving up to make renovations. At first, all the wooden doors and windows needed to be replaced, as the originals were still in place. Then I needed to have a new roof. After that, some necessary work to the bathroom. Afterwards, we found that our living-room floor was sinking away because of a flooding in the 1950's. The wooden beams had rotted. Having the old wooden floor out and a new one in was something not easily done. Because there is a cellar under the living-room floor. It's not very deep (you can't stand up in it) but this made laying a floor either very expensive or very innovative. After months of looking out, I found a company which had the means of fixing steel beams into the existing cellar walls. Then they covered these with a form of scales in clay, on which the tiles of the floor could be placed. It's very strong and since we have had no more problems.

Eveything in the house is out of normal size, which makes it more difficult to do something. Right now I'm looking for someone to do some 'little' chores. They included climbing up the roof (and it's a steep one!) and fixing one of the chimneys, because water is getting through one or other crack. I also need a solution for my drain, which doesn't dispose of the water anymore. This is because the houses on either side have done work to their roofs too, and the drains aren't leveled anymore.

I've been asking around, but the only guys I've had into the house were clearly out on my money (they dared to charge me for just looking at the problems) and I don't want such people working for me. Yes, I know, when you are in the teaching profession you're considered 'difficult'. But is is too much to ask for good work. I want to pay for it, as long as it's done properly!

Fixed tennis matches

Our world is full of scandal. Right now there's a lot to do about the fixed tennis matches, where top players allowed themselves to lose a game so that others could gain a lot of money.

Well, I suspected that some tennis players are doping themselves, but who could guess they'd also sell out their matches? And who are those concerned???

Djokovic already mentioned he was contacted by someone to sell out a match - to which he said no. I'd believe him, but can you really tell?

Don't we want to win the Eurovision Songcontest?

Yesterday evening, the viewers of Een (One) TV chose their favorite to represent Belgium at the Eurovision Songcontest. As always, they failed to pick that candidate with potential.

Which raises the question: don't we want to win? Probably not, because Een is a state company and has to cut down on expenses. And we all know a Eurovison Contest would cost a lot of money to the country which has to organize it. When Sandra Kim won in the 1980's, RTBF (French-speaking branch) had to pay debts for years to come.

So Flanders always organizes a show (draws viewers, and ratings are important!) in which a couple of candidates are presented. Sometimes they have to sing a song choses for them, sometimes they can work with their own number.

But Flanders has never had a worthy candidate. Tom Dice did best in all our history (he ended at the 6th place with Me and My Guitar). We never had a winner like Sandra Kim (J'aime la vie) - while many good singers and band already competed.

Afterwards, you'll always notice that the one who ended second or third in the local competition scored a big hit. So why not send that number & artist?

This time, same mistake. They all went for Laura Tesoro, with a song by Selah Sue. Nothing worthwile (you can't understand what she says, just like Selah Sue herself). I don't thing she'll pass the semi-finals. On the other hand, the runner-up has a great song. An up-to-date number which has echoes of Bastille and Lost Frequensies. A melody that is catching and will surely become a hit.

I want to see the world

In Belgium, there is a singer-songwriter named Johan Vernimmen, who made a song titled 'I want to see the world'.

The text goes like this:
'I want... I want... I want to see the sun go down in Cuzco, dance the tango in Buenos Aires, sing the blues from here to New Orleans, I want to hear the fado from Rodriguez and the bouzouki of Dalares, or hear Piazzola's arcordeon when evening comes, ...." 

And so it contiues. A beautiful song of longing for far-away places, while the singer is happy to be on a rainy terrace in Flanders.

Nevertheless, my sister and I have been to many places mentioned in the song. We saw the sun go down in Cuzco and saw the ruins of Machu Pichu, we were at the banks of the Saint-Laurent, we heard the bouzouki ... and most likely next year we'll go to Buenos Aires and dance the tango.

There was an article in the newspaper this weeked about Buenos Aires and so we went googling for information. The trip isn't too expensive (airfare amounts to about 2800€ for two passengers, and a good hotel would cost about 1300 € for a week).

Not being married and not having kids has its advantages. Who do we need to save for? Not for Father State - they already take enough from us! We try to get as much from life as we can. The trips for this year are already booked. And now we're planning for 2017. Two trips are already more or less decided; the one to Buenos Aires and another to the Azores. With one or other city trip close-by added later on.

Half of Flanders is drowning

Yesterday morning, we got rather cold weather - and that after a couple of months that were way milder than usual. Apparently, it had snowed during the night, but when I woke up around 6 am it had all disappeard. But boy, was it raining! And it kept raining all through the day, making it especially 'nice' to change classes and crossing a courtyard  full of puddles.

In the course of one day, we got all the rain we hadn't had for months. Which, of course, gave problems in many parts of Flanders. Not so far from where I live, many streets were flooded and houses got water inside.

I'm rather glad that where we live we are on higher ground. This is thanks to the railroad that runs behind the house. They had to raise the ground for it. In the old days, the water just reached our neighbor's door. Our house kept dry, only the garden got into a duck's pond every now and then.

Luckily for those flooded, the rain has stopped and it has been dry today. The predictions are for below zero temperature, but dry weather.

Sticking to the rules can save your life

Once more, several skiers were killed in France because of an avalanche. The problem is, they were skiing outside the marked slopes...

I've been skiing all of my life, but I never went outside the marked slopes. They are marked for a reason. When you keep to these, the danger is minimal. Of course, something can always happen, but then you're sure someone will be in the neigborhood to call the emergency services.

But some skiers don't see the danger. They want to come down a black slope, even when it's considered dangerous and unsafe. And for some of them it will be ok, while others are caught in an avalanche.

This incident was with a group of students. Their teacher has been arrested, and rightly so. If you are responsible for young people, you should not neglect the rules!

Sex & drugs & rock'n roll

Another pop idol died a few days ago. David Bowie is no more.

Not surprisingly, when you consider his previous life of excesses. And he wasn't a family man in those days, not as they claim in this week's newspapers. I know someone whose son was befriended with the brother of Brian Eno, and she once told me that while Bowie and Eno were on tour, Brian called his parents every day, while Bowie just laughed at it.

But what kills people? If you look around, you'll see people who equally smoke like a Turk, or take drugs, or drink too much - and are still alive. While others who are careful - don't smoke, take care of their food, don't drink - die of cancer or a heart attack at an early age.

What about Eric Clapton,Willie Nelson, Mick Jagger? They aren't any better, but still tour around the world.

There just aren't any certainties in life!

Can we ever be safe again?

On returning home from work this afternoon, I heard about the suicide bomber in Istanbul. A guy, supposedly belonging to ISIS, blew himself up before the Aya Sophia mosque and killed at least 9 people, most of them Germans.

The world is no longer a safe place. Tourists will avoid going to regions where it is more likely that something would happen. Tourism in Egypt, Marocco and Tunisia has sunk and many hotels will go bankrupt.

But also in Europe some places are no longer safe. There have been attempt already in London and Madrid, in Paris not so long ago. Next time it could be Amsterdam or Brussels.

I suppose a lot of people will become afraid to leave their homes. Actually, that's what the terrorists want. For us to be afraid - of them. But being afraid gets you nowhere. A lesson I learned from my grandmother, who survided two world wars and had to be unafraid to make it through. She faced the army of the Kaiser and came eye to eye with the Gestapo ... and lied bravely about the whereabouts of her husband. (My granddad was officer in the Belgian army, he was taken POW, escaped the prison camp and went underground in France.)

More expensive flights?

According to an article in today's newspaper, flying could become more expensive in the following years.

The reason? More and more passengers demand recompensation because their flight has been delayed.

According to European law, passengers are due a compensation when their flight has a delay of more than 3 hours. As most of our important airports are extremely busy (think of London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Schiphol, ...) chances are that some flights will have a delay.

But the problem is that these recompensations are too high - at last to the airlines. When you have bought a cheap ticket with a low-cost company, you could get your ticket price x 40!!!

Those who are familiar with the business fear that the airlines will raise their prices to cover for these claims.

Good thing I already bought the tickets for this year!!!

How to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon

When rains spoils your plans to go outside, there are a great many things you can do to spend time...

Our favorite passtime is planning trips abroad. The more, the merrier! Our planning for this year is complete (albeit there can always come another trip, you never know). For 2016 we have trips booked to Ireland, England, France, Italy, Sweden and Hungary.

So we spent this afternoon looking for things we can do in 2017. Most likely, we're going to the Azores (island group belonging to Portugal) somewhere in the summer months. We've been looking at hotels and airfares. And we also would like to visit Poland (Krakow? Warsaw?) and Prague. Plus some additional shopping trips either to the UK or Ireland. For us it is cheaper buying clothes there than here - shoes too.

Guess how nice it would be if you didn't have to think of money when planning trips! We just LOVE to travel (grandparents and parents were fond of it as well) and there are so many places we haven't yet seen.

Judge with a sense of humor

Here in Dendermonde (Belgium) - my home town - we have a well-known judge. His name is Peter D'Hondt and he deals mainly with traffic violations. He often makes the newspapers because he's rather severe - more severe than many a judge in the country.

But as of now we also know he has a sense of humor! Yesterday, he dealt with the cause of a student who was plucked off the highway driving more than 200 km/hour with his car (at a place where you can't drive faster than 120 km/h).

As he appeared before the judge, Peter D'Hondt asked him which studies he took. When he heard the answer was 'law' he asked him if he had already done criminal law. The student answered 'yes'. So Peter asked him if he knew which punishment he'd get?

The student didn't know the answer - but he certainly will when he does his exams later on this month. The correct answer is: 6,000 € penalty (with interests) and 4 years forbidden to drive a car. He can only return to the roads after taking all the tests once  more, afterwards.

A washed-up mermaid?

The things you see on the internet... When we were young, there were hoaxes too, but not so many as nowadays. It looks to me you can put anything anytime on the net.

This one caught my attention some time ago. A 'mermaid-like' being was found washed-up in the sands of New Zealand's South Island.

Apparently, a crew of fishermen whose ship ran aground during a violent storm, found something in the sand. At first they thought they'd found the victim of some accident or even murder, so they contacted the coast guard, who then contacted the federal police.

Their PR officer says they don't know for certain what they're dealing with. The being is not entirely human. They are asking for help of forensic and antropological experts from the University of Auckland.

This announcement has gone virtual and created a lot of excitement - also in the scientific community where specialist find themselves intrigued by the possibility of a very different species of humanoid that could have adapted to aquatic life.

Can you believe this????

Looks like we're getting some winter after all

Just listened to the weather forecast... The weather guy says it's going to dry out this afternoon (it has been raining, and rather fiercely) and by tonight there could even be some light frost. We'll wake up to temperatures of 2-3 degrees Celsius.  By the middle of this month, we could be in for some freezing.

Luckily they don't predict snow yet. I love snow, but not here in my town. I enjoy walking through snow in places where you'd expect some, like the Rockies in either the US or Canada. Or when you are visiting Moscow or St. Petersburg. But hereabouts the snow never lasts. Well, I'd lie. Once in my lifetime it remained for over 3 weeks and it was extremely cold then. Guess that was somewhere in the lower 1980's. I remember I wore my mum's fur coat when going outside (she didn't want to), with underneath two or three warm pullovers and isolating leggings under my jeans.

Normally, though, when snow falls, it falls on roads and pavements that have been sprayed with salt. So it immediately becomes a kind of slush in which you don't like to walk because it ruins your shoes.

How's the weather where you guys live?

The shame of Cologne

Did you also see the news? One of the main themes was that more than 90 women have filed charges because they were 'touched everywhere' in the neighborhood of the main railway station of Cologne, by more than thousand men 'with north-African or Arabian looks'. Fugitives? Nobody wants to say so, but if so, what a terrible blame for Angela Merkel!

Incidents like these will only fuel the distrust lots of people have against fugitives. In my neigborhood, I know that most don't want fugitives around, but you can't just say so. So they keep quiet.

Author Katja Schneidt posted a message on Facebook, which has been shared more than 160,000 times. She blames the government for keeping quiet about the incidents - not only in Cologne, but also in Hamburg and Berlin. The police did nothing on the New Year's Eve and as today they haven't picked up any suspects. "Where are the media now?" the author asks. "Where is Bild? Where is the TV? Nowhere! Now they don't show up, now they don't say anything;"

Katja doesn't want to keep silent. She is against violence - any kind, by anyone - against women.

I can totally agree with her. I only allow myself to be touched when and by whom I want. No man can touch me without permisson without getting hurt. I've also been 'met' by groups of young North-Africans when I returned home late in the evening and had to take a train. But I always show my hand full of keys, and when someone dares to come nose to nose with me, I kindly ask where they liked to take a punch. And I've also found that a metal-pointed umbrella can be of use as well....

Taking selfies can be risky

For some time already, old rock legend Alice Cooper has been pretty active on Facebook. He always posts the most peculiar things... Yesterday, it was about people who took a selfie just before they met their death.

Apparently, taking selfies makes you less careful and when you don't watch out you may come to an end - literally.

Call me old-fashioned, but personally I don't know what fun there is in taking a selfie. If you want your picture taken, just ask someone. People always are helpful enough. I'd rather take pics of beautiful sights or buildings I'm seeing or visiting. Occasionally my sister takes a pic of me (or I one of her) - which we mostly do to use on our timeline. We have pictures of all our family members and of ourselves at all ages. New pics are needed to continue and compare. It struck me, not so long ago, how much older my grandma and mother looked at my age. They were getting old, while I still find my face is youthful (and my figure is WAYS better than that of the two mentioned).

Who believes in fortune-tellers?

If you do, you're in for a very bad year! Especially if you live in Europe or in the United States of America...

The  blind Bulgarian fortune-teller Baba Vanga has died in 1996,  but millions of people worldwide believe in what she prophecied  and claim that 85% of her prophecies have come true.

According to these believers, Baba foretold 9/11 by saying that "two steel birds would attack America". She also predicted the tsunami in Indonesia (2004) and said that the 44th president of the United States "would be a dark man".

Just before she died she predicted that Europe would be attacked by a big force of Muslim extremists (did she mean ISIS?), after which the entire continent would cease to exist. This would lead to a new caliphate of which Rome would be the center.

She also predicts the warming of the Earth and the melting of the ice poles. AND she claims that the 44th president (Obama) will be the last ever...

Source: The Mirror

At last snow for the wintersport regions

The ski resorts in Austria, France, Switzerland and Italy are rejoicing. After a terribly soft winter before and after Christmas, they are finally getting lots of snow! Here, of course, it is raining lustily.

Those people who had booked a ski holiday for Christmas were not very lucky. Most resorts had practically no snow, even in the most high regions. And where there was some, skiing was extremely hard and lots of accidents happened. Not a good situation for the resorts, because they are losing lots of money.

I suppose it will be hard getting back home, with the roads full of snow. Here in Belgium no snow is expected (except in the eastern region) and for me it should not fall either. I detest walking through mash because they throw too much salt on the roads and the pavements. Ruins your shoes!!!

How is the weather where you live?

A new year is starting

And we are getting older and older... Sixty this year! Hopefully I can add more years to it, but you never know. My dad died when he was 64.

How did you spend the end of the year 2015? Were you at home celebrating with family and friends, or did you go and party?

We went out to dine in a restaurant we visit regularly. It was a very nice evening - we talked animatedly with the people sitting at the next table and the food was superb. Yes, we're Burgundians from head to toe!

And next Monday it's back to work for most of us. The holidays were great, though, and we managed to find interesting things during the sales, which started today. Boots for only 40€ and a winter coat for 70€...