April 29, 2017

.. a long weekend!

We celebrate Labor Day on May 1 and most people will have a day off from work.
Hope you will get plenty of R & R and enjoyment. 

April 27, 2017

South station Brussels

How I wish I'd had my camera with me because these two looked so precious and photogenic. 

April 25, 2017

Library inspired by Magritte

This is NOT Belgium but Lourmarin (Luberon, France).
Certainly Magritte would have enjoyed this library. 

April 19, 2017

"Doel: the ghost town that's a paradise for graffiti artists"




 
Pictures by Pol De Witte

How did a 400-year-old Belgian village now threatened with demolition become a magnet for the world's best street artists? Doel's last 25 residents explain why they're fighting for their extraordinary town 

"It's noon in a cafe in a small Belgian town. People are eating sandwiches, popping in for a chat or to read the paper. So far, so normal. But the view from the window tells a different story. The cafe overlooks a square full of boarded-up shops and homes. Graffiti covers almost every available surface, including a forlorn children's playground. In the neighbouring streets, row upon row of vacant and abandoned houses are covered in eye-poppingly colourful doodles or large murals by street artists. To add to the dystopian feel of the place, every so often a large pile of rubble shows the spot where a house once stood, and the giant smoke-billowing cooling towers of Belgium's first commercial nuclear-power station loom on one side......"



April 07, 2017

Spring, train, country

Springtime at the Countryside 
by Jay Harold*

the smoggy streets of the city struck my fancy for a week
but now it’s time
to say good-bye
and i take a train to the countryside
listening to jazz
but all i hear is drum and bass

a crooner sings of a spring day and it washes over me
i’m feeling good
the sun is high
as a train takes me to the countryside
contemplating jazz
and the poetry of place

i savour the sweet smell of the countryside; i disembark
and as i walk
through this small town
i think i’m feeling good, therefore i am
digging all that jazz
as the sun shines on my face

*Jay Harold is studying Creative Writing
at the University of Essex. 
http://jayharold.blogspot.be