It's my fifth week in Bruxelles.
I no longer feel a complete div when asking for something reeeeeally simple in a bar/café/shop.
We have blinds up, which means no more commando-crawling from the shower to the bedroom in order to avoid the neighbours' stares.
I know my route to work. I read on the tram. It is lovely. Next week, I will cycle. Grrr.
I feel I'm getting to grips a little with this place and its eccentricities.
This week, Matthew of Telegraph fame visited. We chanced upon a festival where 12-foot-high figures danced and span to a marching band playing Quando, Quando, Quando. Belgium loves a marching band - I know this, I've learnt. We ended up watching them dance in an old folks' home courtyard. The old folks were loving their lives.
We've been pretending to be cool enough to hang out at Café Belga at Flagey. In actuality, we are nowhere near cool enough. But when I have some beautiful European tortoiseshell spectacles, well, we'll see. I'm going to start a pinterest board dedicated to sexy eyewear.
They do graffiti really well in Brussels. Whole sides of buildings are dedicated to Tin Tin, Snowy and that Captain Birdseye bloke. I think you can do a tour.
We've been to the flea market down at Jeu de Balle a couple of weekends in a row. It's sort of full of crap, but interesting crap.
Oh, now cake. Cake is good. Although it had been So Flippin' Hot (these blue skies are not touched up, Guides' honour), cake has not really been on the agenda. Beer has.
We have been 'doing' cafés at the weekend. I like the concept of Make Yer Own when it comes to sandwiches.
Surely to God no one would buy a fur coat in this weather? Yikes.
Oh, and I like the greeny glass and the pointy roof that this house has going onnnn. We could have ended up on this street, although I'm glad we didn't. The tram is noisy and the pizza takeaways are plentiful.
After my little clothes splurge (ahem) Bedders and Matthew had a nose around some blokey clothes shops. The wooden walls in this place (the website is amusant) inspired Matthew to finish his sauna. I loved the cabinet and the faded rug.
Oh, and we have done The Brussels Bus Tour. We did it with our other recent visitors, Matt (different Matt) and the Very Pregnant Shirley as it was A Pregnant Friendly Activity. It was clumsily translated and slightly baffling - "Let's just take a moment to run you through the three main European institutions for which Brussels has become so famous - the Parliament, the Commission and the Council." Eight and a half minutes of mind boggling information later - "So there you go!" Um. OK.
And clearly I have been playing around with the camera. Ta da.
Work is brilliant - like, so very, very brilliant, and I probably need to have me some revised thoughts on private education, perhaps in written form to get my head around it all - but busy, and so this is a lazy string of pictures.
More soon.