Category Archives: leuven

Friday 2nd September 2016 – WHAT A NICE DAY!

A few days ago I heard that my friend Esyllt, with whom I studied at University, was coming to Brussels from Cardiff for the weekend. We had a quick exchange of e-mails and instead of coming this evening, she came over at lunchtime instead and made her way out to Leuven. That was really nice of her.

We met at the station and went to the fritkot for lunch, followed by a coffee, and then a mega-ramble all around the city. It took us hours to do the full circuit, and we had a really good chat to catch up with old times. Eventually we ended up back at the station and Esyllt took the train back to Brussels early in the evening.

It was nice to catch up with her – we haven’t seen each other for three years – and see where we’ve been and what we’ve been doing in the intervening period. It certainly beats packing boxes and suitcases, and there’s always tomorrow.

On the way to the railway station, I organised the monthly payments for Caliburn’s parking, booked my hotel here (I’m going to have a bit of luxury for a change) for when I come back and then went to the railway station for my rail tickets for the first part of my journey at the weekend. Now I’m up-to-date and everything (except for one night in a hotel because I’ve made a miscalculation about one of the things that I need to do) is organised.

I had a bad night too – still awake at 02:40, but I slept all of the way through the 07:00 and 08:00 cacophony and it was 08:18 when I awoke. I must remember to set the alarm for tomorrow.

So now I’ve had tea – I was going to buy something for tea but I reckoned instead that I would liquidate some of the stocks instead. Less to carry to the van tomorrow. And I’m going to have an early night too. I’m tired and my legs are aching after my mega-ramble (and it does say something that I can go on a mega-ramble like this these days – it’s been a good while) so it will do me good. And then I’m off on the road tomorrow afternoon.

As Gandalf famously said, “It’s a dangerous business going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to”.

And for me, that’s part of the pleasure of travelling.

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Thursday 1st September 2016 – I CRASHED OUT …

… good and proper this afternoon. And I was miles away too. It’s not very often that I can crash out quite like this.

Mind you, I had good reason. I’d had a bad night, being still awake long after 02:30. And although the 07:00 cacophony rattled me into some kind of wakefulness, it was the clatter outside the door at 07:30, caused by a young family preparing to leave, that brought me to my feet.

I staggered off for breakfast, and then I had a few things to do here. I made a good start with the tidying-up and the throwing-away and while there’s tons still to go at, it’s nice to have some of it under my belt.

Once I’d organised that, it was off to town and the shops. At the Delhaize I bought the butty stuff for the next few days and then I wandered off to the Wibra for some more of those plastic boxes that I mentioned the other day. I want to have some new stuff to replace the plastic boxes that I’ve had back home since 2006 and which are falling to bits.

Lunch was next, and I made the usual baguette. And when I’d demolished that, it was next to the launderette to wash all of my clothes. It’s important to bring all of that up-to-date too.

Once I’d organised that, it was down to Caliburn to see if the bank account details of the owner of the garage had appeared. And quite rightly so – there they were. And so I toddled off to the bank around the corner, only to find that it’s only opened in the morning. So that’s another job to do tomorrow.

But it wasn’t ‘arf ‘ot, mum, and with having done all of that at (for me these days) break-neck pace it’s hardly surprising that I crashed out here as soon as I returned.

But that’s not all either. My voyage at the weekend is complicated by a document that I need – it’s not a document that will stop me travelling but it will limit my activities when I arrive. And so I had to go off on a major on-line search and this resulted in my sending out about 15 e-mails.

This seems to be becoming a regular event – sending out a major mail-shot – and you all know the results of these because I’ve complained bitterly about the (lack of) response in the past. But today, I’ve had a response rate of well over 50% – some in the negative (but it was nice all the same), some offering suggestions, and a few being extremely positive. Isn’t that a nice change? And so it looks as if a part of my voyage, which I was planning on abandoning, might well be back on and that’s good news.

So now I’ve had my tea and I’m planning on having an early night. I have much to do tomorrow and not much time to do it either. I’ll have to put my skates on.

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Wednesday 31st August 2016 – FATE HAS A VERY STRANGE HABIT …

… of dealing with its own issues without very much input from oneself, no matter how hard one might try to interfere with things. And in the end, one quickly discovers that one didn’t even need to interfere at all.

And so it is with my accommodation, because the situation has resolved itself without any input from me, no matter how hard I tried.

I was told this morning that I can leave the hospital today. My blood count is back up (and over) to 12.2 – the highest that it has ever been, and there was no infection in my blood. And when do I come back? The answer is – 13th October – in 6 weeks time in fact. And then I’ll be required to check in every 6 months or so. Consequently there is no need at all for me to stay in Leuven and I can go back home.

Except that I am not going home at all. I have a cunning plan, and it certainly does not involve Belgium.

I had a bad night at the hospital, but then, that’s only to be expected. I always have bad nights at the hospital. I didn’t get off to sleep until about 01:30 and I was wide awake again by 05:30, tucking into a nectarine and a banana, followed by a coffee.

A blood sample followed (I didn’t mention the fruit), and then breakfast, and then we had the endless stream of visitors. And this was when the news was given to me about leaving.

Having had my lunch (I’m not going to miss out on this) I set off for home, remembering half-way down the hill that I had forgotten my vegan cheese in the hospital fridge. And when I arrived here, I had a phone call – could I go back to the hospital and allow them to take out my catheter? Yes, who forgot to have it taken out then?

So back up the hill to the hospital, remembering on the way that I had to collect my vegan cheese from the fridge. Sophie, my third-favourite nurse was there and she took it out without even a wince. The best one that I’ve ever had. Then downstairs and bumped into Evie who was going home, and we had a long chat.

From there, I walked back home, remembering half-way down the hill that I had forgotten my vegan cheese in the hospital fridge YET AGAIN.

Back here, I put things in motion and as a result I’m leaving here on Saturday afternoon, and leaving for goog too, 12 days before my time is up. And where I’m going on the train, you’ll all find out in due course. But it’s not back home to Virlet.

I’ve had my tea – mushroom curry – and now I’m having an early night. I have so much to do now for the next few days.

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Tuesday 30th August 2016 – WELL HERE I AM AGAIN!

That’s right, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed … "well, yes" – ed … here in the hospital, ready for my final session of mapthera.

And bright-eyed and bushy-tailed I ought to have been too, because I was asleep relatively early too. Not that it did me much good of course, because round about 01:00 we had a party of fellow-residents returning from a night out in the town and they certainly let everyone know that they were back.

Not only that, I had a nightmare too! How long is it since I had one of those? Things are definitely being rather depressing around here right now if that’s the level to which I seem to have sunk.

An early start and a reasonable breakfast in the bright morning sum did much to restore my morale and then after a little relax to gather up my wits, not that it takes too long these days … "you said that the other day" – ed … I set off for the long trudge up the hill to the hospital.

I was here early too, and soon installed in a nice room by a couple of my favourite nurses (but not the cute and sweet Tara as yet). It’s nice to be on my usual ward with everyone so friendly and helpful. And I had a new doctor too. It looks as if Hermione is now a thing of the past. No more Ericus Reparo.

And we’ve had some very bad news too. They took my blood count and it is DOWN – from 12.0 to 11.0. It’s true to say that 3 months ago I would have happily settled for 11.0 and gone home smiling and whistling, but not after I’ve been up as high as 12.0. Here I was, thinking that I was out of the woods. It seems however that I have merely moved into different woods.

On the other hand, they have now made a formal announcement of the illness that I have. It seems that I have Waldenströhm’s disease (I should have kept well-clear of Waldenströhm, I suppose). It’s quite rare, which is probably why they were having issues with dealing with it at Montlucon, but then again it’s not as if I’m likely to have anything plebeian, is it?

They talk about vision loss, which as regular readers of this rubbish will recall is something that I have mentioned frequently over the last year or so, and a change in mental state. Well, you can all make up your own minds about that one.

They also say that it’s incurable, and that there’s a life expectancy of between 5 and 11 years (now, of course, 4 and 10 years) and I don’t like the sound of any of that at all. But as far as you lot are concerned, at least it gives you all some kind of idea of how long you have to suffer theremaider of this rubbish that I churn out.

I had all of the antidotes and calmants and stuff like that, and then I had the mapthera. That didn’t take too long and by 17:00 I was all done and dusted, having had an hour or so away with the fairies meantime. Now I have to wait the 18 hours to check for the side-effects, and I do hope that my room-mate doesn’t snore. And I suppose that he’s hoping that I don’t cough.

Now here’s a thing. In the absence of the cute and sweet Tara, I’m being attended to by the just-as-cute and just-as-sweet Evie. And she wants to know why it is that whenever she takes my blood pressure, it’s always higher than when the other nurses take it.

Ordinarily, I would tell her – but not when my room-mate is listening and the door to my room is open.

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Monday 29th August 2016 – BLIMEY! WHAT A STORM!

I can’t remember when it was that we last had a terrific rainstorm. But the one that we had this morning was a corker!

At about 06:30, when I awoke this morning, it was quite grey and overcast. And also quite a lot cooler which made a pleasant change. And although it was an early start, it wasn’t that early when I went up for breakfast. I seem to be becoming quite lazy in my old age.

Yet another leisurely morning (just by way of a change) and round about 10:00, just when I was thinking that I ought to go out and buy my baguette, the heavens opened in a dramatic fashion and that was that. And so instead of going for my baguette I went upstairs for a coffee instead – to find another group of residents whom I hadn’t noticed before.

The rainstorm eased off round about midday but I couldn’t really care less because I was doing something else – but I can’t remember what it was now. It was round about 14:00 when I finally remembered that it was lunchtime, so I nipped down to the supermarket on the corner for the baguette. With no hummus I used vegan cheese with my tomato, olives and lettuce and it was of course just as nice.

The weather improved this afternoon but I missed some of it because I crashed out (yet again!) for an hour or so – something that is becoming too much of a habit these days. But I managed to drag myself into the bathroom for a shower, a scrub and a shave. Add to all of that a change of clothes and I was then ready for anything, especially for meeting Alison.

Going down to the car park I took with me a bottle of the Raak Campagne Pils that I had bought in the Netherlands in March. I’d mentioned root beer to Alison the last time that we had met, and Alison had never tasted it. I mentioned ages ago that this Raak was the nearest thing to root beer that I had ever found in Europe and so I donated a bottle to the cause.

We went into town for a plate of falafel with salad and chips and a good long chat and then off to a nice café in the city centre for a coffee. It was such a pleasant evening that we went for a walk afterwards and I took her to see this studio that I had been shown in the city centre last week and then we ended up back at our end of the city.

Now I’m off to bed. Tomorrow I’m off to hospital for what I hope will be my final course of treatment.

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Sunday 28th August 2016 – THAT WAS A BETTER …

… night last night. While I didn’t drop off particularly early, I was well-away all the same and I only had to make one trip down the corridor during the night.

But by 06:28 I was wide awake again, and by 06:29 the cooling fan was running – and as an aside, it’s never stopped at all during the day. I was trying to settle down again to drop off back to sleep despite the 07:00 cacophony, but Bane of Britain once more forgot to switch off the alarms and that was that.

However, I was in no rush to leave the bed and it was as late as 09:00 before I heaved myself out of bed. First stop was the boulangerie where I bought one of the last four baguettes. And it was only then that I went for breakfast, where I was joined by another resident. again, I didn’t eat much but the coffee was beautiful. Had it not been so hot (the weather, not the coffee) I would have had a second mug.

Today was one of those days where I didn’t do too much at all. I simply took it easy. And quite right too – it is Sunday after all. I did go out for an hour though. I walked down to Caliburn, made sure that he started and then we went for a good run out. Nowhere specific – just far enough to warm him up thoroughly and make sure he is okay. But still no bank details from the owner of the parking space. and so I rang him up to tell him that even with the best will in the world I can’t pay him if I don’t have his bank details.

Many of the streets in Leuven were cordoned off today. It looks as if there’s one of these car-free days in the city centre. This is a feature, once a year, of life in Belgian cities. I wondered about going for a walk into town but decided against it.

For tea I made some garlic bread and went to buy a pizza. A half-hour wait (it was actually 38 minutes) in the pizza place tonight. It’s getting longer and longer.

The landlord was here tonight too, checking things over. We had quite a chat, especially when I caught him trying to file away my saucepan. Not his fault of course – it can’t be every tenant who brings his own saucepan with him. But the fact that there are only two on the premises I can’t keep one of those in my room, despite my health issues.

So tonight it’s another early night. And my last day of freedom tomorrow. I’m meeting Alison for tea tomorrow night so I’ll need to look my best. A good beauty sleep would do me the world of good, but I need much longer than 21 hours to do any good.

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Saturday 27th August 2016 – I AM NOT ALONE!

There I was this morning, having another major coughing fit, when there was a knock on the door. it was one of my co-residents, asking me if I was OK or if I needed any help or anything. I explained the situation to her and she went away, but it really was nice that there are people who are concerned about me and my health.

But that was merely summing up my night last night, where I had difficulty sleeping due to my incessant coughing fits. But I went on one of my nocturnal rambles – something concerning the Dragnet radio programmes which I’ve been listening to since I downloaded the entire 7 years-worth of programmes from Archive.org along with a pile of other stuff.

The alarm woke me up this morning, which was a surprise, meaning that I must have slept through the 07:00 cacophony. And I struggled to eat breakfast too – so I’m definitely sickening for something. It was disappointing too because we had another loaf of that excellent bread. What a shame to miss out on it.

The heat was oppressive today – probably the hottest day of the year. After my nice relaxing morning doing not very much, I went up into town for shopping. Apart from the baguette and the lettuce from Delhaize, I pushed on to Wibra, near the railway station.

That’s something of an upmarket Dollar Store or Pound Shop, and when I was in there the other day I noticed that they had an excellent line of plastic containers and very democratic prices. I picked up a few – two large ones for my rice and pasta, and a smaller pouring container for the boulghour. And i’ll be back there for half a dozen others too because the ones that I have at home have seen better days.

I struck it lucky too while I was out. There are several of these ice-cream stalls in the city and one of them sells dairy-free sorbets. And so I was really in my element here. It’s high time that I treated myself.

After lunch, I crashed out for quite a while. It was far too hot to do anything else. And once it cooled down I washed and dried the containers and then sorted out the food in here. The place looks quite tidy now, which is a surprise for anyone who knows me.

Tea was rice with a tinned vegetable curry and garlic bread. The supermarket here sells these half-cooked half-baguettes at just €0:39 for two and while they don’t come out as nicely as the more expensive ones, it was still delicious. The smell was enough to entice one of my co-habitants into the kitchen.

Now I’m off for another cold shower and then I’m off to bed. Not that it will do much good in this heat.

and I’ve had no news yet about the studio.

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Friday 26th August 2016 – WELL, I’VE DONE IT NOW!

Yes, This lunchtime I signed my life away – or, rather, the next 12 months of it.

I went to see that studio this morning. It’s in a modern building, quite clean and tidy and looks quite respectable. It’s round the corner from here in the Tervuursestraat and even closer to the hospital, which is definitely a bonus. The studio is on the 5th floor, which is actually a series of penthouses, and the 5th floor is quite clean and tidy too.

As for the place itself, it’s the smallest studio that I have ever seen – 17m² to be precise – and it’s so small that there’s no room for a bed. Just a sofa bed. And a wardrobe, a desk, a table, a couple of chairs, a kind-of kitchen area and a small shower room.And it’s painted white, which I hate as you know.

However, the size is perfect because it means that there’s less to clean. And the floor is tiled like my old place at Duysburgh, and that means that it’s easy to clean. And, it’s clean, tidy and modern. All one wall (the longest wall) is full-length window so it’s light and airy. There’s a flat roof from the lower floor just outside the window and while I can’t use it as a terrace, it’s ideal for lettuce and herbs and all of that kind of thing.

The downside is that there were two of us visiting it, and we both wanted it. But I filled in the application form, gave them details of my salary and bank accounts, and now it’s up to the owner to decide. And I do hope that I’m the one who is chosen. It’s €395 per month and €50 per month for the service charges and that makes it very affordable from my point of view. And it’s a 12-month contract, so that’s idea, I reckon.

But I’ve never seen a place as small as this. The studio that I bought in Brussels in 1993 was a mere 48m² – almost three times the size.

My night last night was very mixed. After the shower that I had (and I’ll be having another one tonight I reckon) I tried to doze off but in the heat it was impossible. I did eventually drop off to sleep, and I only woke up the once too. and to everyone’s (including my) surprise, I was awake again fractionally before the 07:00 cacophony.

There was another accommodation opportunity that appeared in my mailbox too. That looked even more perfect from the photos, but once again I was up against a “couldn’t care less” estate agency who couldn’t possibly fit me in to visit it until the end of next week. I really do wonder how these people manage to stay in business.

But having seen the other one, I had to gather up the paperwork and shoot off to the letting agents before lunchtime to register my interest. It was a beautiful walk along the old canal and the old quay and the walk back through the old part of the city and along the river was even nicer.

After lunch, the heat was overwhelming and I crashed out for a while, although not before cutting my hair. It was getting far too long and I can do without it in this weather. And then we had the siesta – I wasn’t up to much, that was for sure. and I shan’t be up to much tonight. I’ve had my tea and I’ll be having a shower in a minute, and then I’ll be off to bed.

And I do hope that I’m the lucky one with this studio.

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Thursday 25th August 2016 – I HAD ANOTHER BAD NIGHT …

… where it took me hours to drop off to sleep. Mind you, the heat had something to do with that, I reckon. It really was stifling in here with the window closed.

And when I did drop off, it wasn’t for long and I kept on waking up all through the night with terrible coughing fits and I was feeling so uncomfortable. But I was definitely asleep when the 07:00 cacophony went off because that awoke me bolt upright. Mind you, waking up is one thing – leaving the bed was quite another.

When I eventually finished my breakfast, I came back up here and had a relaxing morning, which I deserved after my efforts of the other day. But I was out of the place at 11:00 tracking down some more accommodation. One estate agent was closed and another one didn’t have anything for me (and wasn’t all that interested either).

However, I did finally find the office of that student accommodation place – the one that was closed on Saturday – and when I explained my circumstances to them they didn’t throw me out but were content to have a listen to my story. They took my e-mail address anyway, and I suppose that this is something.

The Carrefour supermarket on the ring road by the football ground was next and on the way back home afterwards I found a few more places. One of them will consider me as a tenant and so I have to go to see the place tomorrow at 11:00. This is another one nearer the hospital so I hope that it comes up good.

After lunch I tried to take it easy but the cleaner came around to do the room – after a two-week absence. Now I have clean sheets and I’ll be taking a shower later so that I can have a nice clean me too.

Tea tonight was pasta, kidney beans and veg cooked with garlic fried in soya margarine and with boulghour and spicy tomato sauce added too. It was delicious too, and there’s enough for tomorrow too!

And so I’ll have an early night but I don’t imagine that I’ll be getting much sleep in this heat. But I shouldn’t be complaining – we haven’t had much weather like this so far this year.

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Wednesday 24th August 2016 – WHAT A DUMP!

I finally managed to see that studio round the corner from here. It’s a converted factory situated behind a row of houses in the Tervuurestraat. This was my most hopeful possibility seeing as it’s close to here and even closer to the hospital. It’s quite secluded too, and quite private.

The conversion has been very well done and looks quite impressive too, and it wasn’t too dear. But all of ly illusions were shattered as soon as I entered the place. Apart from the place being used as a furniture dump, there was a great deal of evidence of damp on the ceiling that had been painted over – although the stains were coming through again. The estate agent denied that it was a water leak, but as soon as I opened the cupboard door, there was no mistake. All of the wallpaper was peeling off the wall in there.

The result of all of this was that I tuned on my heel and walked away. There was no way that I could possibly live in a place like that.

Earlier in the afternoon I’d been to see another place. That wasn’t too bad and the rent was reasonable, but the service charge was absolutely extortionate. I’ve been quoted figures of between €30 and €50 per month for that. This guy wanted €120. As well as that, the previous tenants were smokers and the place was totally unhealthy. And so I walked away from there too.

But last night I suffered from my exertions during the day. I couldn’t sleep for ages – chatting to Liz on the internet through the small hours. And when I did fall asleep and awoke in the middle of the night, I felt so dreadful that I thought that I was going to have another round of serious health issues.

In the morning, I wasn’t feeling much better and only managed a light breakfast. I couldn’t even drink the coffee. And apart from going out to the supermarket on the corner for my baguette I had a very quiet morning. I arranged this appointment for the expensive place, and I made other enquiries too, being turned down on “student” reasons.

I didn’t even eat all of my lunch, spending most of the afternoon crashed out, setting the alarms for the visits that I had to make. And for tea, I finished off the lunchtime butties.

Yes, I’m clearly not well again, although much better than I was the last time that I had serious health issues. I suppose that I shall simply have to stop pretending that I’m in good health, and make more of an effort to adapt to a new lifestyle, no matter how much I might hate the idea.

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Tuesday 23rd August 2016 – PHEW! I’M WHACKED!

I’ve been on my feet all afternoon and tramped all the way around Leuven. And on the hottest day of the year so far too!

And it hasn’t been without its incidents too – some of them good, some of them bad.

The bad incidents concern the attitudes of various estate agents who, in many case, quite frankly couldn’t care less about potential clients and make no effort to give any assistance to anyone calling at the door.

Not only that, I doorstepped the Tourist Information Office about potential holiday lets lying vacant over the winter that might be let out profitably on a mid-term basis. But to give you some idea of what I’m up against here in Belgium, this was met with an outraged “but that’s illegal!” And so you see – trying to do something out of the ordinary here in Belgium is a waste of time.

But there has been some good, positive news. And it’s been a long time since I’ve had any, isn’t it?

Firstly, I found some information about a couple of flat-hotels in the city. And so I went off on the prowl. The first one was right out of town on the road to Kessel-Lo (you can see how far I walked), and the second one was, quite appropriately, right next door to the Nick, so I won’t have far to go when they find out about me.

The first one was the cheaper of the two. It looked rather like a barracks and the rooms were rather spartan, but it had everything that I would be likely to need. The second was in a much more beautiful setting and I really liked the look of the place, but this too was rather spartanly-finished and I could smell the damp. However, the price worked out at less than I’m paying here, and that’s with all of my own facilities. Consequently, we are starting to pull ahead a little (and about time too).

But I turned up trumps in another estate agent’s that I discovered by accident. The guy there downed tools and took me round the corner to show me a studio. On the third floor (with a lift) of a small building in the pedestrianised street between the city centre and the railway station was a small (and I do mean small) furnished studio – nice and clean with a wooden floor and with modern furniture. It’s basic I suppose but it’s there and while I don’t like the situation much, I’ve learned that I can’t afford to be choosy.

Another possibility is a flat by the seaside and some estate agent in Oostende has come up with something too. This was a long shot – something round about Plan Z I reckon – but once more it’s an option.

And so I’ll keep on trucking, but I’ll see what this place is like tomorrow afternoon. If it muts the custard, I’ll be taking that one seeing as how it’s situated near to the hospital. But if it’s no good, I’ll be going for the one in the town I reckon.

It was a long way back tonight and I was thoroughly exhausted. And soaked in sweat too. after a coffee and a little doze I went and had a shower and a change of clothes.

Tea was quite exciting too, especially after I dropped almost all a bottle of hot spicy tomato sauce into my pasta tonight. And the garlic bread was delicious too.

And I wish that these Flemish girls would stop wearing these skimpy skin-tight shorts in this hot weather. It isn’t ‘arf interfering with my breathing.

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Monday 22nd August 2016 – AND WASN’T THAT A WASTE OF TIME?

I managed to arrange two appointments this afternoon for visiting apartments. The first one was at 14:30 down the Kapicijnenvoer and I was there on time. The guy turned up, took one look at me and asked “are you a student?”
“Not at all” I replied
“I only let to students” he replied, returning to his car.
And yet nowhere on his advert was this mentioned and so I had “a few words” with him about him wasting my time.

At 16:00 I had an appointment with an estate agent at a studio not too far from here. And I was on time there too. 10 minutes later I had a ‘phone call. “I’m sorry, Mr X has had something urgent come up. Can he arrange another appointment with you?”
And so I had a few words with them too about wasting my time.

Mind you, it’s true that there’s not a lot of money to be earned from the letting of a studio. There’s much more money to be earned from letting or selling a house, so it’s not surprising that I’ve fallen to the bottom of the queue. But you can see what I mean about Belgium.

I was in a bad humour too. I was still awake last night at 01:35. And for no good reason either – it wasn’t as if my new co-habitant disturbed me any. I just couldn’t drop off.

But when I did finally drop off, I did set off on a few travels. First thing was something to do with a court case and I was cross-examining witnesses. Some barrister came up to me afterwards and offered me a place in his chambers – an offer that was quite interesting (and which rings a bell from an event that took place 25 years ago) but not one that I could take up properly due to the financial constraints that it called for during the period of training. A little later there was a scene where I was with a woman and we were doing something for a young boy who had come off the rails somehow.

The 07:00 cacophony awoke me, and it was quite an impressive one this morning. Once I’d gathered my wits (which doesn’t take long these days) I went off for breakfast. And as I was parting, I was joined by my neighbour. I exchanged a few words of greeting – he said nothing at all – and then I came back down here for a little doze.

The owner of the property came round this morning and we had a few words about this and that. And now the internet is back working again (but for how long I really have no idea) and a couple of essential repairs have been done to the property too. But as for this thing about cleaning – it’s been 11 days since I’ve seen the cleaner and my bedding is starting to smell as badly as I do.

My baguette for lunch was excellent even though it came from the supermarket on the corner and then in between making unsuccessful visits to various properties I’ve been catching up on a few things here and there.

That tinned curry that I bought the other night – it was certainly different but absolutely excellent and I enjoyed my tea. Not being particularly hungry, I didn’t make any garlic bread so I’ll have to attack that in very early course. I wonder what I can eat it with tomorrow. A tin of ratatouille maybe?

But in other bad news, this cold has now developed into a streaming head cold and the cough has now settled properly on my chest. This is not the news that I wanted to hear, remembering my unexpected 10-day incarceration in the hospital last time this happened when I was only supposed to be in there for a couple of hours.How I’m getting fed up of all of this.

So tomorrow, I’m back house-hunting again. I’m getting fed up of all of this too!

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Sunday 21st August 2016 – GUESS WHO …

… forgot to switch off the alarm this morning?

And so, despite it being Sunday and despite having managed to sleep through the 07:00 cacophony, there was no possibility of Bane of Britain going back to sleep. Instead, I ended up having another early breakfast.

And in other news, I seem to have come down with yet another heavy cold. And in news that will delight everyone who reads this rubbish, I’ve also lost my voice. And seeing how, starting on Monday, I have about 100 phone calls to make, that is what I call perfect timing. But then again, this is going to be a permanent feature of my life from now on so the sooner I adapt to it the better.

Last night was slightly better. I was only up three times, which makes quite a change from the other night when I seemed to spend more time out of bed than in it. And we had flooded kitchen issues to deal with this morning. Someone had left open the Velux roof light, and we were having a torrential rainstorm. That’s not going to look too nice on the floor when it dries. But by the time I went down the road for my baguette the rain was starting to die down.

With it being Sunday, I had a leisurely start to things, having a second mug of coffee and vegetating around in the room for a while. It was long after 10:00 when I went off to the launderette for the internet. Liz was on line so we had a really good chat for a while and I also caught up with a few things that I had let slide just recently.

My butty for lunch was excellent – there’s no doubt that the bread in the boulangerie round the corner is the best that I have found so far. It’s a shame that it’s also the most expensive too. and this all led to a quiet, relaxing afternoon doing not very much except to listening to radio programmes that I have downloaded from ARCHIVE.ORG and having a mess around with my 3D program, while listening to a new neighbour moving in. I hope that he (or she) is quieter once he (or she) has settled in.

Braving the torrential rainstorm I went back to the launderette for an hour or so to see what was going on in the world (the answer is “not very much at all”) and then came back here to put into action a new procedure. Before going out to buy my Sunday eveing pizza (now that I have some more vegan cheese) I prepared some garlic bread. I’d bought a couple of these half-cooked baguettes and I mixed up some gaarlic butter, using the soya margarine that I had bought the other week, slit the baguette in about 10 places, filled the slits with the garlic butter, and then stuck it in the little oven that I had been warming up.

While the bread was cooking, I went to pick up my pizza and when I returned, the bread was cooked to perfection. And you have no idea just how delicious it was too, washed down with a can of ginger beer that will also, hopefully, become part of my Sunday evening ritual while I’m living here, now that I’ve found a place here in Leuven where I can buy it.

Now I’m going to have an early night to prepare for tomorrow. I have so much to do and not very much time to do it. I shall have to put my skates on.

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Saturday 20th August 2016 – WE ARE BACK …

… in the realms of uncertain sleep – not that will be too much of a surprise for anyone. And that’s despite my having been for a nice walk in the afternoon too.

And so last night I was still awake at midnight, and I forget how many times I had to leave my stinking pit during the night but I reckon that it must have been a new world record. That’s enough to fill anyone with a load of dismay before you start.

But it didn’t stop me from going on a nocturnal ramble or two during the night. Apart from the odd one or two travels that would be of no interest to you while you are eating your breakfast, one one occasion I was out driving with a girl as my passenger. We were visiting various rural areas and in the distance further down the road we noticed a hump-backed bridge that could well have been a railway or canal bridge. It rang a bell with me, this bridge, and I expected to see a rather dramatic northern French town just over the bridge. And so I keyed up my passenger for the view, but once we passed over the bridge I was disappointed to notice that firstly, the bridge took us over an abandoned, weed-infested canal and there was an abandoned, weed-infested marina type of place to the right, and the town that I expected to see was non-existent and the view was quite banal. It was here that, at a road junction, we fell in with another delivery vehicle similar to the one that made an appearance the other night. And as well as delivering parcels, he had some letters to post, as well as having some gas bottles on board his vehicle.

Once I was half-awake, I was in the kitchen early for breakfast, and in fact I made a couple of trips, because the bread that was there this morning was the best that we have ever had. I had a bit of a doze and then headed off to the launderette.

I wasn’t there long. I checked my mails and the like, and had a good chat with Liz, and then headed off to Caliburn. Once we were reunited we set off for Kessel-Lo and the Bio Planet place. As well as the wholemeal baguette and the nibbles that are always on offer, I picked up some vegan cheese. They had a new variety of sliced cheese – one that I haven’t tried before – and so I bought the only packet of that which was left.

Round the corner and LIDL, I stocked up with a few other bits and pieces, and then over the road to the Carrefour for the rest of the shopping. A big pile of stuff, but nothing exciting except, maybe, a bag of sweets to suck on through the week.

There was an advert that had caught my eye a few days earlier. About a student accommodation agency in fact, and it was advertising open days between 10:00 and 17:00 every Saturday from May to September. Accordingly, I went round there on my way back from Kessel-Lo and, sure enough, it was all locked up and there was no-one there. Of course, this is Belgium, isn’t it? It’s the kind of thing that you can understand in France – the best-laid plans of mice and men oft go gang agley when the cow gets loose or the boulanger calls and if you don’t expect that sort of thing then living in rural France is clearly not for you, but there’s no reason for this kind of behaviour in Belgium, which is supposed to be much more cosmopolitan.

After lunch, I had a quick shave and shower because Alison was in town. We met up and went for a coffee and a good chat before her bus took her home. I picked up a tin of exotic curry stuff for tea but I wasn’t really all that hungry. Instead, I went back to the launderette to check the mail and had another chat with Liz.

But I have had a reply to one of my enquiries. One place was advertising studios “from £750 per month” and so I had enquired. Of course, £1350 per month is quite clearly “from £750”, but I only wanted to rent a room, not buy the building. I’m clearly going nowhere here.

And so now I’m going to have yet another early night. Tomorrow is, of course, another day and we’ll see what tomorrow might bring.

I hope that it’s more positive than today because all of this is starting to get me down.

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Friday 19th August 2016 – I’M FED UP OF THIS!

I managed to doze off quite early last night, but I wasn’t asleep for long. My co-habitants came back shortly afterwards and we had the usual round of “good-nights” that awoke everyone in the building, and probably in the next street too. From then on, it was a tale of regular up-and-downs during the night. Three or four times, I can’t remember now.

I was also on the espionage trail at various times during the night. This place here featured in my nocturnal voyages at one time, as did one or two members of my family. However, I can’t remember much in the way of detail now.

After breakfast, I didn’t feel up to much and sat around vegetating for a while. About an hour in fact, and I was well away with the fairies too for a short while. I must really have needed it. but by about 09:15 I was down at the launderette again.

Apart from the usual stuff, I spent quite a while tracking down accommodation. I have quite a few addresses that I’ve discovered, and already sent out a few enquiries. And by the time that I was back in the launderette I’d already had a few responses. One invitation to visit, that I’ll be following up of course, and several requests for further information. Already, I’ve had more responses that I’d had earlier in the summer. Nothing concrete though, unfortunately, but while there’s life, there’s hope.

After lunch, I went for a walk. Down to the Aldi to see what was going on, and the short answer was “nothing”. I pushed on to the Carrefour near the Stade Den Dreef – the football ground – and picked up one or two things that I might need.

On the way back, I stopped off to check on Caliburn and ran his engine for a good few minutes. I sorted out a few things that I needed (but forgot my hair clippers) and then had a nice walk back.

It will be no surprise to anyone to learn that once I arrived back here, I crashed out for a good hour. Well away too. But a coffee soon revived me and then I did some work. I discovered some notes that I had made of a journey that I had made through France in May 2014 so I made up a web page and started to link the photos in with the text. That will keep me out of mischief for quite a while once I can set up a reliable internet connection, which doesn’t look as if it is going to be any time soon. The manager has been in here this evening, and done nothing about fixing it so that looks as if it is that.

For tea tonight I had pasta, a tin of ratatouille, green flageolet beans and garlic fried in soya margarine. That’s filled me up quite nicely and now I’m ready for anything.

Tomorrow I might go out for a drive. It’s been ages since I’ve set foot out into the suburbs so it looks as if a mega-shopping visit is on the cards for tomorrow.

And I’m sure that regular readers of this rubbish will agree. I really ought to get out more.

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