11 September 2005
Weekend in Belgium
Ever been to Belgium for a BBQ? We have! Two and a half weeks ago we received an email from a good friend of ours, Lian, who is living in Belgium with her partner Laurent, inviting us to a BBQ and family party in Belguim that weekend. We thought it sounded like a fabulous idea and booked some tickets.
So friday the 26th August we left work early and rushed to the train station for the 1:30 to London. A bit of Sudoku and a snooze passed the time while the train rushed towards the airport. Although we checked in for our flight a bit over two hours early we left going through to the international departure wing until a little late. We were running out of time, the line to get through security was slow and when we got to the end of the terminal to our gate we discovered a small hand-written sign propped on the counter indicating that our flight had been changed to a different gate. Needless to say the two of us ran like mad, hand luggage bouncing, back down the corridor, smiling at everyone so as not to alarm them!
It was fabulous to see Lian and Laurent at the airport in Brussels and we caught up over a bowl of grapes and a selection of Belgian beers in their apartment. A little later that night two of Laurent's friends arrived from Oxford in England on the back of a motor bike - they had left work just after six in the afternoon and arrived a little after one in the morning. Wow - trip and a half!
The following morning we loaded into the car and drove about an hour and a half south to a tiny village called Porcheresse. The amazing thing here is that just an hour and a half is enough to get you almost to the southern border of the country! We also got close enough to the border with France to be able to see the huge plume rising into the air from a nuclear powerplant just over the border. Eeep.
The family house we stayed in was quite amazing. It used to be a barn and is a really interesting design, with split level living and amazing views of the surrounding countryside. We helped to set up for the impending party and met the rest of Laurent's family and a lot of the family's friends. After lunch a group of the younger people went off to try para-gliding and we tagged along. There were four sails on the hill and about 10 -12 of us willing to give it a go. The instruction was good - especially because it was in English (remembering that the only French either of us speaks is 'Do you speak English?') and before long we were taking it in turn to run head-long down the hill madly trying to get airborn!
The field we were in was actually a farmer's cow field available to the public for just this purpose. Luckily for us the cows here are fairly familar with the sight of large, brightly coloured sails coming at them from above and on our arrival most of the herd were at the far end of the field and largly ignoring us. Lian assured me at the top of the hill that in Belgium the two most dangerous things are cows and thistles. Nervously I glanced around and realised that we were now sitting in a very dangerous field indeed!
Chris went before me and had two runs, the second one ending in a spectacular face plant at the bottom of the hill. Luckily nothing was broken and he limped back up the slope with some awesome grass stains on his shoulder and chest. By contrast my first run was reasonably successful and I got well off the ground for a short flight.
Unfortunately it was such a surprise not to be on the ground that I can barely remember it! My second run was much less successful and and I made the common mistake of trying to sit down while I was still running and ended up doing something that resembled a commando-roll down the hill badly grazing my shin on a patch of thistles and narrowly missing a large cow pat. Chris had a third run just before we packed up for the afternoon and had a fabulous fly arcoss the field, landing neatly on his feet at the other side. I think he got a real buzz from his success. When he got back to us he said that his main thought had been to just keep running at the other side of the field and hope that he would get off the ground.
That evening back at the house we all enjoyed a sumptuous meal and more Belgian beers. It was a beautiful evening to be sitting outdoors chatting with some new-found friends.
Shorty before midnight we heard cheering and laughing coming from the kitchen. Laurent had just made the announcement that we were going to have a 'Dropping'. A 'what?' we wondered. As the excitment spread around us we heard phrases like 'in the forest', 'walking home', 'hunted by cars', 'hiding' and so on. Needless to say we were both a bit confused (and slightly scared) when we were offered a playing card from the deck.
Basically the game went like this - we were split into teams according to what suit we pulled from the deck. Amazingly Lian, Laurent's mother, several of the English speaking young para-gliders, Chris and I were all in the same team! We were driven out into the forest (just after midnight remember) and left standing in the middle of a muddy road. The aim of the game was go get home without being 'caught' by one of the three or four cars. So, we then began the long walk home. The distance wasn't all that far but given that it was very dark, we didn't know where we were and we had to keep running off the road to hide in the forest, it bacame quite a long ordeal. But so much fun!
We walked at times hand in hand so as not to trip over fallen trees, we threw ourselves face first into the dirt and brambles over and over to avoid detection by the crusing cars. We hid behind trees and under ferns and in ditches. We walked across cow fields and climbed over, through and under various fences, including at least on that was barbed wire and two that were electric! Was it scary? - no. It couldn't really be scary when the most dangerous things in Belguim are cows and thistels, and all around you in the dark you could hear people giggling. Two hours later we made it home, filthy, scratched, bruised, sweaty and grinning from ear to ear!
The following morning we had breakfast in the sun-filled garden and swapped stories from the night before. One of the guests had lost his glasses during the game but wasn't sure at what point they had come off. Because it had been dark, he couldn't see that he couldn't see. So we all wandered back to the forest in the hope of finding the missing spectacles and despite being assured by a super statistician in the group that it would be neigh on impossible, we did!
After another visit to the cow field to try flying again that afternoon we packed up the house and headed back to Brussels. It was late when we arrived but Lian and Laurent took us into the city centre to visit Grande Place. It is quite spectacular at night with the Town Hall and surrounding buildings all lit up.
We visited the Grande Place again in the morning with Lian. The chocolatiers were so tempting but I decided to get a waffle instead...oh my goodness...waffle topped with sliced banana and strawberry, topped with whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate and icing sugar!!! Wow. It ended up serving as lunch too!We said goodbye to Lian at the bus-stop with the picture of the flying bus and made our way back to the airport to get home again. That evening we arrived weary back in Exeter, but not wanting the excellent weekend to end we headed out for dinner in a restaurant by the Cathedral.
06 September 2005
Fay from Faraway - a visiting mother!!
A few days after we arrived home from Paris Chris' mum Fay arrived from Perth for a two week visit. The flight was a long one and after the bus ride down from London I was amazed to find that she was not sound asleep when I got home from work. In fact Fay didn't seem to suffer from jet lag at all!
She settled straight back into the role of mother and cooked a roast chicken on one of her first nights here - much to our delight. It has been a long time since we had eaten a Fay Mooring roast and despite being on the oppostie side of the world it tasted just like it does at home.
Fay enjoyed looking in the shops in the high street and walking around the city and we were very excited about showing her our new home. While she was here we visited the quay where Fay was surprised at the size of the local swans - until she discovered that the beastie she had spied at was actually a swan-shaped paddle boat being paddled up the river towards us. Oops.
During the evening we watched a few videos and had dinner at a really quaint pub near the cathedral called the Ship Inn. There are ceiling beams in here that Chris has to duck to get under.
On the middle weekend of her visit we did a couple of day trips out of Exeter. On the Saturday we went for a drive to North Devon, via the school I will be working at in the new school year, to a place called Barnstaple. As it turned out, the book that Fay had been reading on the way over was set in a number of the towns nearby. In fact the bad guys in the book were planning to rob all the banks in Barnstaple, so we cased the joint a little while we were there too.
On the Sunday we went a little further afield and took Fay up to Bath in Somerset. It was a pretty day and the drive was lovely - although some of the roads we found ourselves on were smaller than the map might have suggested. We all went in to explore the roman baths and enjoyed the audio tour. There were a lot of American tourists around this time, a lot of tourists in general. Including a small group of nuns in habit who were enjoying the view of the Abbey.
During the week we visited the Walkabout for a cold Australian beer and a chat. We also had lots more home cooked Fay style dinners. The neighbours must have thought we'de hired a maid - she insisted on cooking and doing the laundry and generally looking after us.
The Friday before the weekend she left Chris and I took the day off work. We took Fay to our favorite seaside village of Beer and had a lovely lunch in a sunny beer-garden. We also visited Branscombe - a new place for all of us, where the three of us shared a Devonshire tea. Of course, here in the shire of Devon they arn't called Devonshire teas, they are called cream teas. Yum.
We saw Fay off at the train station on the Saturday afternoon for her flight from Heathrow on Sunday morning. Unfortunately this time she didn't get to see London but with the current climate of fear there I don't think she was too worried about it. It is amazing how quickly two weeks can go by and it already seems like the visit was ages ago. Maybe she can come back next year sometime and visit us where ever we are then.
She settled straight back into the role of mother and cooked a roast chicken on one of her first nights here - much to our delight. It has been a long time since we had eaten a Fay Mooring roast and despite being on the oppostie side of the world it tasted just like it does at home.
Fay enjoyed looking in the shops in the high street and walking around the city and we were very excited about showing her our new home. While she was here we visited the quay where Fay was surprised at the size of the local swans - until she discovered that the beastie she had spied at was actually a swan-shaped paddle boat being paddled up the river towards us. Oops.During the evening we watched a few videos and had dinner at a really quaint pub near the cathedral called the Ship Inn. There are ceiling beams in here that Chris has to duck to get under.
On the middle weekend of her visit we did a couple of day trips out of Exeter. On the Saturday we went for a drive to North Devon, via the school I will be working at in the new school year, to a place called Barnstaple. As it turned out, the book that Fay had been reading on the way over was set in a number of the towns nearby. In fact the bad guys in the book were planning to rob all the banks in Barnstaple, so we cased the joint a little while we were there too.
On the Sunday we went a little further afield and took Fay up to Bath in Somerset. It was a pretty day and the drive was lovely - although some of the roads we found ourselves on were smaller than the map might have suggested. We all went in to explore the roman baths and enjoyed the audio tour. There were a lot of American tourists around this time, a lot of tourists in general. Including a small group of nuns in habit who were enjoying the view of the Abbey.
During the week we visited the Walkabout for a cold Australian beer and a chat. We also had lots more home cooked Fay style dinners. The neighbours must have thought we'de hired a maid - she insisted on cooking and doing the laundry and generally looking after us.
The Friday before the weekend she left Chris and I took the day off work. We took Fay to our favorite seaside village of Beer and had a lovely lunch in a sunny beer-garden. We also visited Branscombe - a new place for all of us, where the three of us shared a Devonshire tea. Of course, here in the shire of Devon they arn't called Devonshire teas, they are called cream teas. Yum.
We saw Fay off at the train station on the Saturday afternoon for her flight from Heathrow on Sunday morning. Unfortunately this time she didn't get to see London but with the current climate of fear there I don't think she was too worried about it. It is amazing how quickly two weeks can go by and it already seems like the visit was ages ago. Maybe she can come back next year sometime and visit us where ever we are then.
