Simon Butcher

Articles

  • ℹ⃝

    Sometimes I wonder if I have one of those information symbols glued to my forehead -- I feel like a walking tourist information booth. While I realise Brussels attracts a large amount of foreigners by its very nature, I do feel like I've become some sort of an tourist information point. This has reached a level now that I can't go to the GB without being asked for directions on the way home.

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  • Public transport

    Oddly enough, the STIB, in their infinite wisdom, started making public announcements that playing music on public transport is forbidden shortly after I wrote my previous rant about public transport. Since then, I have neither seen nor heard buskers within the public transport network here in Brussels. Hurrah!

    This does seem related to the STIB's new efforts to secure public transport, including many new guys that just stand around wearing highly visible vests with the word "prevention" on them at trouble spots.

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  • It's spring!

    Perfect spring afternoon from the Palais de Justice overlooking the Brussels pentagonSpring is upon us here in Belgium, despite it being 45 days early. Trees are starting to grow new leaves, birds are building nests, and the weather this weekend has all the attributes of perfect spring days. It's at this point that I feel inclined to point out that I could have been wrong about it being winter in a previous post -- maybe winter was cancelled this year?

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  • The Busker, the Beggar, and the Latter-day Saint

    Typical smelly busker on the STIBOne thing about taking public transport is the unfortunate amount of anti-social behaviour you have to exhibit to make the journey a smooth one. If you seem too sociable, you wind up attracting undesirables: Smelly buskers, smelly beggars, and not-so-smelly emissaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, recently arrived from Canada and unaware that Belgians really don't want to talk to them.

    Since many people I know don't take public transport, it might be time to explain what they're missing.

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  • It's winter!

    Boulevard de la WoluweWinter has finally arrived in Western Europe. Not bad really, considering it's just over a month late. To be honest, I was starting to have my doubts about seeing winter at all until the end of the year, but it took a large violent storm to force some semblance of balance back into place.

    This time last week, we were only just starting to see the start of strong gusts of wind that really took hold on Thursday, causing vast property damage, even to the point of rotating traffic lights 90° on the boulevard in front of the office. Here in Belgium, we only topped wind speeds of around 100km/h, however this was a mere breeze compared to other countries such as Germany and Austria where gusts peaked to around 170km/h.

    If you haven't yet noticed because you're too busy living under your rock, the weather is completely stuffed, worldwide.

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  • Christmas lights

    The foggy view of the town hall from my bedroom windowWith the huge amount of light emanating from the Grand Place Christmas decorations, and the constant requests for photos from those unable to come and visit themselves, I grabbed my aging Sony DSC-P52 and went out into the cold and fog to grab some pictures of this tackiness.

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  • A day in the life…

    As an experiment, and as my way of proving that my life is just as mundane as the next, I thought I'd finally exploit the (horribly inadequate) camera in my Nokia E70 and capture a day's worth of mindless monotony. While some insight into my current lifestyle may not sway humanity, it will provide curiosity and humour to my future self, if the archive of my blog can be somehow assured.

    Now, it's interesting to note that despite Gartner's predictions, modern archaeology is already taking note in the blogging movement, and some universities are beginning to encourage archaeology and philosophy students to blog. Ultimately, the incessant self-publishing phenomenon will provide future civilisations a window into our own; albeit for now, its view into a somewhat obscure facet of our present reality.

    Armed with this as my primary excuse to cover up my general state of disregard and laziness, I've decided to leave the images from the E70 in their original state, including those which are blurry and normally inadmissable. This is my day, as seen by me, through my trusty camera phone.

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  • Christmas shopping season begins

    For me, Christmas shopping season has begun this weekend. Normally I wait until the last minute, but this time around I felt it was a good idea to start battling the hordes of relentless Christmas shoppers early in order to avoid any unwanted surprises, and help me find presents for people. It's only one week away from Plaisirs d'Hiver (Winter Wonders), which includes lots of Glüewein, Christmas markets, and so forth. Brussels is going to be chockas again, so it's a good idea to start early.

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  • Road-Trip Day 13

    “Heading up through Normandie; saw some war relics. Wanted to spend the night around Calais but since it's 99% British, we're driving back to Brussels instead!”

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  • Road-Trip Day 1

    “We're in Strasbourg, no need to worry.. Road trip plans are going okay, just very tired.. Just going to bed now.. Talk soon!”

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