Street Scene

shutters

I managed to catch this shot whilst walking from Place Flagey to Matonge.

A hard day's work

A hard day's work
Originally uploaded by zoeinbrussels

You get a lot of people doing caricatures around Brussels, especially close to the Grand Place but something tells me that it was the end of the day for this old man who was sitting there, fast asleep.

Not enough tourists wanting a caricature of themselves? A long day? Who knows, but if I could draw I would certainly have made quite a good picture of this man.

And sold it to him.

Miss Belgium's Car

miss belgium car

It's got special high speed gears for racing away from Antwerp, home of tolerance.

The pettyness and bigoted intolerance being brought to the surface of the current completely unnecessary and pointless crisis is dragging down the whole of Belgium.

I used to think the linguistic apartheid practiced here was rather silly as though the nation resembled an infant school playground. Now it just looks damned ugly and there's a stench of something really rotten underneath it all.

Papered Windows

papered windows

Thought a photo of a closed shop would fit in with my mood after England's miserable performance last night.

Still, we'll get a new manager, but will we get a new pitch? The new stadium cost around 1.5 billion euros and has a pitch that is virtually unplayable if the British weather is anywhere south of party cloudy.

The underside of the pitch is 95% sand, supposedly to help with drainage. however it doesn't and players can often be seen sliding right off the pitch in wet weather. That amount of sand means that the grass doesn't bind together and great clods of turf can be seen flying around.

Ho hum.

old shop

old shop

I spotted this shop between Place Gery and Rue des Chatreaux.

There seems to be several layers of decay oin the abandoned buildings, first they fade, then they rot. The vandals and artists strike, the posters get affixed and then it becomes a prop for whatever else is going on, becoming to all intents, invisible

St Catherines Metro Entrance

st catherines metro entrance

I'm not too sure if I like this or not. It does look cool, but there are far too many legs. they don't really get in the way and it certainly is a functional roof, but I can't make up my mind about this.

Inside the flowers work well and give the new platforms a fresh feel, but isn't it a bit lazy? A bit minimal?

The Return of the Zennike Pis

Zennike Pis

Only just noticed the old dog's back and got a photo of him. He does look a bit scary with flash light.

Inspired by this and the couple of artworks from the Europhilia, I'm off to do the walk around them all today, weather permitting.

QQQ

qqq

I've seen these around Brussels a lot recently, usually as a stencil, always on the pavement.

Has anyone any ideas about what is going on?

New Pro-something Poster

belgium

A poster for a campaign to pursuade Belgian politicians to form a government. Written in English, naturally. The poster is inviting people to go to two (one in French, one in Flemish - no German one though.) websites and sign a petition by sending an sms costing 50 cents, so someone's clearly raking it in.

I've seen this figure somewhere else. Wasn't he the psychotic Marvin the Martian that Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck kept bumping into?

I'm a little hesitant as the country seems to be doing much better without a government and I'm not sure what Belgium wants me for, exactly.

Traffic Cone

nz cone

This cone, marked 'New Zealand Embassy' is outside their office in Square de Meeûs.

Rumours that the Australian embassy, around the corner, have a larger cone has yet to be confirmed.

I wonder what drove them to write their name on it. could it be that those Ozzies are stealing them? Is there a covert Cone Ops team?

We shall probably never know. Brussels is full of mysteries.

Police motorcycles

bikes2

Pictured in Place Lux, whilst the police were playing 'Hunt the Nazi' during the tiny demonstration against muslims the other day.

It's got to be said that Brussels' finest know how to park in an orderly fashion.

No Parking

no parking

If there's one thing that unites Belgium, it's the burning desire to stop anyone from parking in front of your garage. I've seen heated arguments over if an exhaust pipe invades the 'no parking' space by a centimeter, despite the fact that the home owner could easily have driven out a bus through the gap.

And then there's the signs. I've put in a couple before on the blog, but I keep seeing new ones that illustrate people's obsession and secret anger over this issue.

This sign, on somebody's front door goes to great pains to show the wide variety of punishments available to anyone who dares park in front of their house. It only lacks one of a City official eating babies.

The National Theatre

theatre

This is Belgium. There are two national theatres; one Flemish speaking, one French speaking and this sign I saw painted on the pavement confused me until I remembered that. I very briefly wondered if they might have had segregated entrances though.

Raining

rain2

We got caught in a short but very heave storm. It often rains here, but compared to the UK Lake District, it's positively tropical.

So, it doesn't always rain in Belgium and the weather isn't terrible. It's quite nice and pleasant. Mostly.

Well compared to the horrors of the Cumbrian climate... and I worked within a few km of the wettest place in England.

scooter repair shop

scooter repair shop

Saw this small repair shop in Anderlecht. I grew up in Preston where there was a famous Scooter Club called the Wildcats. I knew a few of them but wasn't one - never did get into snorkel parkas, if you remember them.

Have Your Portrait Drawn

portrait

Well this is from the Lily Day celebrations. I wandered down to petit Sablon where there plenty of stalls selling the fake ethnic and other stuff. There are a couple of guys who will draw you. We had our son drawn one year on his birthday and he loved it, so it's a nice idea once in a while.

What I liked about this was the contrast between the delicate black and white drawings and the really strong colour of the announcement board.

Place St Katherine

Cafe Chairs

There's a lovely square opposite Bourse with some cool bars and a bohemian feel.

I'm going there today, because it's hosting the Pispotten Festival.

There will be over 20 groups, theatre acts, readings and other acts all performing on the theme of public toilets and hygene. The event is calling for more free public toilets.

It's free, starts at 1pm and I'll be there.

The Cat Sat On The Onions

cat-statue-onions

Another great day out, wandering around taking photos. I visited yet another street market and got plenty of good photos. Why did I pick this one? Because it shows how Brussels changes from day to day. Yesterday and tomorrow this would be a small park in a lovely little square.

Today it's a lively and messy place of business and the cats are being used to prop produce up, rather than supporting playing children.

While out and about I met a lovely chap who invited us in for coffee and we had a great chat and made a new friend, so Hi Luc!

Family Portrait

Family Portrait

I've got to confess that I've a soft spot for bad art. There is one shop that I'll have to show you that has consistently terrible art on sale, yet it remains in business.

This family portrait and the abstract squiggles behind were on sale at a street market in Place du Jeu de Balles in the Marolles district.

Found love at the corner of my street

In Dutch they say 'luck lies in a little corner'. I had to think of that when I found this tag on the pavement at the corner of my street. The tags 'amour' (French for love) can be found on pavements all over Brussels. I don't know who is behind this, but it sure adds a poetic feeling to the city...