Tag Archives: alison weihe

Thursday 3rd November 2016 – GRRRR!

Yes, you’ve guessed it. It’s not good news.

Last night was quite a disturbed night and I even sweated a great deal. Dunno whether it was concern about what today might bring me, but there we are. It was quite a struggle to leave the bed after the alarm went off and head off to breakfast, but there I was all the same. And by 07:30 I was out and on the road to the hospital.

The morning was a misty, foggy cold morning and so I walked briskly up to the hospital. By 07:50 I was at the registration desk and by 08:00 I was in the waiting room.

The wait was longer than it ought to have been but eventually I was seen and the blood pressure and blood samples were taken. and then I had another long wait until about 11:00 until the doctor saw me. He asked me all of the usual questions and I had the usual thorough examination, and then I had to wait again.

Lunch was the usual soup and bread, which didn’t take me too long to wolf down; And then I had to wait again.

The nephrologist saw me at 14:30. She said that the protein loss was slowly increasing, and they needed to make yet further tests. I had to go for another set of x-rays. And then I had to wait again.

By 17:30 I was fed up of waiting and so I asked what was going on. It appears that some nurse had told the nephrologist that I’d gone home. And so nothing had happened. The nephrologist told me eventually that she wanted me to come back in on … errr … Wednesday next week. So not even a week before my next appointment. How I’m fed up with all of this.

And my blood count? It’s down to 9.7. I’m pretty fed up of that as well.

I was fed up of all of the waiting too, but at least I was able to do tons of stuff on the web pages that I’m writing.

But it was far too late to do anything else so I booked a room at the Ibis Budget and went there via Caliburn to pick up some spare clothes. I had a good deal too at the Ibis.

After a shower, a shave and a change of clothes, Alison turned up and we went to the fritkot, for a meal and a good chin-wag.

Now I’m having an early night. For I have a cunning plan in the morning. Whatever it might be, you’ll have to wait and see.

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Saturday 22nd October 2016 – I’VE BROKEN MY DUCK TODAY.

cercle brugge stadion den dreef OH Leuven oud heverlee belgium october octobre 2016Yes, for the first time since I’ve been going to watch OH Leuven, I’ve actually seen them manage to struggle to a win

And aren’t the fans happy? It’s not every day – or every match – that they manage to win a game and as I’ve said, it’s the first time that I’ve seen it, so good luck to them all. The final score was 2-0 and they could easily have had two or three more than that.

It took me hours to go to sleep last night after my evening out with Alison and , more probably, the coffee that I had had ans some silly time of the evening, but when I did go to sleep I was away. Miles away until the alarm clock went off without any interruption at all.

And I’d been on my travels too, although I’ve absolutely no idea where I’d been. All idea that I might have had disappeared completely as soon as I awoke.

After breakfast I had a little doze for an hour or so. I wasn’t asleep but just relaxing quietly, and then I attacked my website again. We had an interruption though because with it being Saturday, I headed off on foot to the Delhaize in the town for the shopping. I’m running out of sandwich stuff. The grapes were good value too, and the 650 grams that I bought didn’t last very long at all.

After I’d eaten my butty, I spent the afternoon in my room doing three things. Firstly, I was talking on the laptop to Liz and another friend of mine for quite a while.Secondly, I must admit that I did close my eyes for an hour or so and this time it was … errr … rather more than just relaxing quietly.

As for the third thing though, I’ve finished off what I started yetserday. Now, one page of my 2012 journey between Baie Comeau and Gofbout has now been expanded to four pages by the inclusion of whatever it was that I was up to when I was around there the other week. And now we have this page, this page, this page and this page.

I don’t know where my motivation has come from these last couple of days.

All of that took me quite nicely up to leaving time – I hit the road for the Stadion Den Dreef. Surprisingly, most of the fritkots on the way are closed on a Saturday night although I did eventually track one down. And with a bag of chips I carried on down to the ground.

cercle brugge stadion den dreef OH Leuven oud heverlee belgium october octobre 2016The “crowd”, said he using the term rather loosely, was rather disappointing. There can’t have been 3,000 people in the ground, although the popular end behind the goals was packed and they certainly made enough noise.

And there was something going on in the way of sponsorship there too. Everyone was handed a flag (although I declined) and the sponsors had people throwing bags of sweets into the ground. I didn’t know about this until I was hit in the face by a flying bag of sweets.


cercle brugge stadion den dreef OH Leuven oud heverlee belgium october octobre 20162-0, I said the score was, and I also said that it could have been more. The Cercle Brugge goalkeeper made two magnificent reflex saves and OH Leuven had a stone-wall penalty appeal turned down. In fact, there were a couple of bizarre refereeing decisions tonight.

But one refereeing decision was excellent. Although I would have awarded a foul against OH Leuven earlier in the move, a OH Leuven player was badly tackled but the referee waved for the advantage as the ball broke to another OH Leuven forward who raced off down the field and scored a magnificent solo goal, right on the stroke of half-time.

That was the second goal – the first one was another breakaway down the field with a one-on-one with the Cercle Brugge goalkeeper.

Unfortunately, most of the action was down at the other end to where I was standing – especially after OH Leuven had a defender sent off after 70 minutes, after which Cercle Brugge came more into the game.

After the game, I had a slow walk home in the cold, because winter really is drawing in now. And now, I’m rather too wound up to sleep.

It’s going to be one of “those” nights again tonight.

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Friday 21st October 2016 – I DON’T LIKE THIS VERY MUCH EITHER

I went round the corner to the supermarket to buy my baguette for lunchtime. And the small woman who usually works on the till was stacking shelves round the back.

“Ohh hello!” she saud. “Where have you been? I haven’t seen you since the summer!” and then started to have a good long chat with me.

One thing that I’ve been trying to do while in Belgium is to passer inaperçu as the French say, to pass by unnoticed. Regular readers of this rubbish will recall all of the issues that I seem to have with Belgian authority as I pass by on my way, so I don’t need to be recognised by anyone while I’m here. But to be recognised – and missed – by someone with whom I haven’t exchanged any more than half a dozen banal words in the past is rather disconcerting.

But to go back to the start of our story, then last night, despite being early in bed, it took ages for me to go off to sleep. Long after midnight, I reckon. But apart from one trip down the corridor I had a really good sleep until the alarm went off.

During the night, I was on my travels with Percy Penguin – someone whom I haven’t see now for 4 years and who at the time didn’t feature in my ramblings anything like as often as she deserved – and we arrived at a boarding house in South Wales near the English border. Here, very much to my surprise we encountered my brother and a lady who was his wife (but who isn’t in real life) and a couple from the Wirral whom I know. We ended up having quite a chat that evening and next morning, when we met up for breakfast, we agreed to meet up at another boarding house further round the South Wales coast that night. Percy Penguin and I had things to do so off we went, but it took absolutely ages to do what needed to be done, and it was 23:00 by the time that we finished. This was far too late to meet up with the others and I was terribly disappointed by that.

Despite the influx of new people yesterday evening, I was on my own at breakfast , so I didn’t hang around. I was soon back in my little room.

And apart from going out for my baguette at lunchtime, what else have I done?

Most of the day, I’ve been working on my website. From somewhere, and I’ve no idea where, I’ve summoned up some motivation and I had a good day working on a page about the lighthouse at the Pointe des Monts in Quebec, Canada. And the page became so long that I’ve been obliged to split it into two – this one and this one.

Not only that, I’ve been working hard on another page too and although there is no amendment as yet to this page, when it’s finished it will need to be split into four because there are loads more stuff currently being added to it.

It’s all about the stuff that I did while I was around here in late September and early October, so you can imagine how this is all going to turn out when it’s finished.

I had a shower and a shave too, as well as a change of clothes. Alison was in Leuven so she came round and we went for a meal in the kebab house down the road and then a coffee round the corner. She turned up at about 19:45 and we spent so much time chatting that is was about 23:35 when she left. It’s good to have a long, healthy chat with friends.

When I was at the supermarket earlier today, I noticed that they had heaved a plastic lettuce box into the waste bin. It looked in good condition too so on the way back I went to have a look and
1) it was still there
2) it was in good condition
so I rescued it from the waste bin and it’s here in my room with the other two that I have rescued.

Now I need to go to bed but coffee late at night is never a good idea.

I’ll be here for hours, I reckon.

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Thursday 20th October 2016 – NOW THAT WAS A NICE TEA!

Start off with a knob of vegan margarine, and when it’s melted, add a pile of sliced garlic. Fry that nicely and then add a tin of lentils. When that’s all stirred around and cooking nicely, add a couple of teaspoons of curry powder.

When that’s all nicely mixed in, empty a tin of macedonian vegetables into it all, followed by a pile of bulghour and leave to simmer.

While that’s simmering away, put some rice on the go.

When the rice is almost ready, add a Carrefour vegetable stock cube to your lentil, veg and bulghour mix – and there you are. And there’s enough lentil curry for a couple of days.

Downright delicious it was, and followed by a pot of the new Alpro coconut flavoured soya dessert, what else could any man desire? Apart from Kate Bush and Jennifer Agutter of course.

I should have been out wining and dining with Alison but she’s come down with the dreaded lurgy and of course my health is rather fragile. She needs a rest and I don’t need to catch anything at all.

But as for the usual activities, it’s a good job that I went for an early night last night. This morning at blasted 06:45 I was awoken by a couple of residents shouting up the stairs at each other. Some people have absolutely no idea of what it means to “live in Community”.

But I had been on my travels during the night too. I don’t remember too much about it, but I was somewhere in Belgium talking to a group of nouveax arrivants. We were discussing income-generating activities and it turned out that four young boys were involved in making jewellery. They were planning on having an exhibition and so I was giving them advice, like holding in on a Sunday when most Belgians liked to have a day out, and where to go to have leaflets and flyers prepared.

Breakfast was crowded this morning. Hordes of people up there, and that makes a change. It was difficult to sit and read my book. And did you know that they had motor vehicles in Middle Earth? There’s a delightful little paragraph – “Legolas and Gimli were to ride again together in the company of Aragorn and Gandalf, who went in the van with the Dúnedain and the sons of Elrond.”. I wonder which van it was.

After breakfast I had plenty of things to do but for some reason or other I closed my eyes fora few minutes. Next thing that I remembered, it was 11:25. I’d been on my travels too during that … errr … three hours that I was away. Good grief!

I was chatting to a friend of mine on the internet until lunchtime, and then went to purchase my baguette for lunch. And after lunch, the bank in Pionsat would be open, so I needed to telephone them to report yesterday’s little accident. I was pushed around from pillar to post, as you might expect, but eventually I could register the accident and receive a file number. So that was all organised.

I attacked the website after that, and I’ve made some progress with that. Slow, to be sure, but progress all the same. It’ll probably be 100 years before it’s finished.

I had tea after that, and now I’m planning for an early night. After my exertions of this morning though, I’m not sure whether or not I’ll be having another difficult night.

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Saturday 15th October 2016 – I HAD ANOTHER …

…bad night last night. It took ages and ages for me to go off to sleep. In fact, round about 00:30 I gave up the effort and there I was, working on the laptop. That’s how much I was awake.

And I was there for ages working away, trying to drop off to sleep.

But sleep I must have done because I was off on my travels again. I can’t remember too much about it but I was somewhere up in the far North of Canada with some dog teams and a couple of groups of people.

The alarm went off at 07:00 and again at 07:15, and by 07:30 I was in the kitchen having breakfast. And following that, I went and had a shower. Alison was coming into town and we had arranged to go off for a coffee.

So once I’d cleaned myself up, changed my clothes and had a shave, I came back in here with another mug of coffee and carried on with some work that I had been doing during the night. And when Alison came round here, she awoke me and we hit the town.

First stop was the Wibra – I wanted some more of the plastic storage boxes that I had bought before leaving. But Wibra has moved into smaller premises while their main shop is being serviced. The new place isn’t big enough for all of the stock to be displayed and the boxes that I wanted were not on display.

We went then to Zeeman, which is a similar establishment and although they didn’t have exactly the type that I wanted. But there were some that were suitable and so I bought a packet of three.

Alison wanted to go to the new Charity Shop near the railway station to see if there was a television table. Nothing was suitable and there weren’t any CDs that interested me either. We went back into town, I bought a baguette for lunch and some boulghour because I forgot that the other day at the shops, and then we had a pleasant couple of hours in the cafe down the road from here, having a chat and drinking coffee.

After Alison had gone home I came back here for lunch and then to carry on with what I’d been trying to do a little earlier. After having had a good chat with Liz and another good friend of mine, I went back to work on the laptop and awoke an hour or so later.

Trying to decide what to have for tea, I worked out that pasta and ratatouille would be good enough. That called for garlic bread and so having bought some garlic and some vegan margarine, I nipped to the shop on the corner and bought some half-baked half-baguettes, as well as something to drink (because I’d forgotten that earlier) and and some soya milk for my breakfast.

Tea really was gorgeous too, although I maybe put a bit too much chili in with it. The soya caramel dessert that I had for pudding was even better. All in all I ate well tonight.

So now I’m going to have yet another early night. There’s an opportunity for me to go out on my travels tomorrow so I want to be at my best.

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Wednesday 12th October 2016 – AT 03:45 …

… I was still awake, tossing and turning around, but I don’t remember too much about anything after that.

However, I do remember the alarm clock going off at 07:00 and again at 07:15. and when they started using a percussion drill at 08:30, I remembered waking up then – just for a brief moment. It was 10:15 when I finally rose from my stinking pit.

I’d been on my travels too – rambled for miles and miles, but I don’t remember too much about it. All that I can remember was that I was in the trenches in the front line in World War I. I went to put my suitcase in the store, which caused my colonel to burst out laughing and he told me to take my rifle out of it – I’ll need it. He was right too because later on, there was a huge attack by the enemy – dressed in early 19th-Century uniforms. They came in several parallel point formations, really powerful, deep and strong. We were told initially to retreat but then to regroup and fight off the enemy. The point that was attacking where I was stationed was led by a soldier in his 20s with big round spectacles. We fired into the group but it had little effect and the leader, who had bayoneted several of my colleagues, ended up bayoneting me too.I wasn’t seriously wounded at all, and the attack line swept over me. Then it went calm and I was wondering whether to surrender or to try to creep back to wherever my lines might be, once it had gone dark.

First thing I did was to go to the supermarket downstairs and buy some stuff for breakfast. But surprisingly, I didn’t feel all that hungry so I didn’t eat it. And back here I carried on with some work that I needed to do. I even managed to miss out on lunch.

Round about 14:00 I started to sort out my belongings and packed everything into my suitcase that I won’t be needing tomorrow in the hospital. Once this was organised I set off for a long walk. All the way out to Caliburn in fact.

As I was passing by the Hema, I popped in. I’d seen a really decent wok in there, much better and heavier than the old one that I had been using back at home. I’d decided while I was in Canada that I would treat myself to that, but I also picked up a new small frying pan of the same model, and as well as that a new saucepan – a nice small heavy-duty one.

The Bank was the next port of call and I checked my bank accounts. Everything seemed to be in order there, especially as two payments had been made in without anything being withdrawn. That’s always nice to see.

school crocodile leuven belgium october octobre 2016And I also encountered something about which I had completely forgotten, and it didn’t half bring back many memories of when I was Roxanne’s stepfather for those three years.

That’s right, Rhys. Forget all about your school buses. In Belgium they have the school crocodile. Three or four parents and groups of the kids of the school, each group with its own route and dropping off the kids at their house or apartment. How environmentally-friendly is this?

Caliburn was a little sluggish to start – no surprise after being laid upf or almost seven weeks. And it was good to be behind the wheel with a proper steering wheel, a clutch and a real manual gearbox. We all enjoyed ourselves – just like old times. There was a parking place just opposite the hotel, which is a real surprise as you know. And so I picked up my suitcase, heaved it into the back of Caliburn and then drove him back to his parking. Strawberry Moose quickly installed himself in his habitual place and then I set off back to my room.

On the way back, I noticed a shoe sale in a really good-quality sports shop. My shoes are falling to bits and the boots that I have back home aren’t much better. And so I nipped in. And nipped out again with a really good pair of all-weather mud and snow leather walking boots at just €60:00 and a pair of high-quality trainers reduced to a final reduction price of €20:00. And these are the most comfortable shoes that I have worn for years.

taart with slagroom leuven belgium october octobre 2016There’s a glorious art-deco building in the pedestrian street. It’s a library and community centre with a café-restaurant in the basement. I felt that after my exertions today I deserved a coffee.

But you just have to love Flanders and the Flemish language. I don’t know about you, but I’m always up for a bit of a taart, especially if there’s a slagroom available. And at €4:00 a go – well, it makes me wish that I was a few years younger.

After the coffee, I headed back to the hotel and went for a shower. Now, where are my clean clothes? Where’s my razor?

Ohh I know – I don’t need them in hospital. They are … errr … in my suitcase that I had just taken right across town to Caliburn.

I just about made it to Zeeman in time before closing. Now I have some razors and undies and the like and I could have my shower and shave. And having showered and shaved I headed off into town to meet Alison, because we had agreed to meet up for a chat and a meal.

loving hut vegan restaurant shop leuven belgium october octobre 2016There’s a new vegan restaurant opened in the city and so we headed off there. The food was rather expensive (or, rather, there wasn’t a lot of it for your money) but it was delicious.

And that wasn’t all either because there’s a shop there. And that sold vegan cheese at the cheapest price that I have seen in Belgium, and some spray-on vegan cream. That is now in a paper bag by my bed ready to be taken up to the hospital (the cheese that is, not the cream) in case I am detained.

That’s right – I’m back at the hospital tomorrow.

We went to a couple of cafés for some stuff to drink and to continue our chat, and then Alison dropped me off back here. Now, I’m organising myself ready for tomorrow and my appointment with destiny. How did I do after six weeks without medical treatment?

Did I survive?

I suppose that I don’t really want to know.

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Wednesday 7th September 2016 – WHAT A GOOD DECISION …

… that was, to book into that hotel at the back of the coach station.

I was stark out as soon as I laid down my weary head. We did have an interruption at about 23:45 when a baby started to cry, but that can happen in the best of places and it was a thing of five minutes. And then I needed to make a trip down to the corridor at about 03:00. I finally came to my senses, such as they are, at 04:45, having had a good night’s sleep in this extremely comfortable bed. The night porter’s call at 05:00 was therefore rather superfluous but it was nice to know that it was available and that it works.

But I’ll tell you this – $30-odd less per night than sleeping out at an airport hotel and while the comfort is rather less, I don’t need most of the difference. For the time and money that I save and for the convenience of being in the city centre, if I do ever make it back to Montreal I’ll be coming here, even if it does involve a 500-metre drag of the suitcase. And remember – when I stayed in Lille the other year I dragged it farther than that – and uphill too!

Let’s face it. It’s seen better days, this hotel, but I had a good shower, a really comfortable sleep, and no-one stole my boots. What more do you need?

I was too early for breakfast of course, but that can’t be helped. My bus was more important. I was at the coach station in no time flat and a friendly security guard unlocked the door to the left-luggage room and took my voucher so that I could recover my suitcase and Strawberry Moose, and we took our place in the queue, chatting to a guy who said he was a scouser, although he sounded more Northern Irish to me.

The trip to Sainte-Foy, on the edge of the city of Quebec, took just under three hours and I spent the time in half-asleep mode. After all, it was quite early in the morning. And it’s a good job that I didn’t go to sleep (or is it?) because this bus apparently goes right out to Sept Iles, somewhere else where we’ve been before and where I can catch a train to Labrador.

But when we reached our destination – Sainte Foy, not Sept Iles – a couple of mugs of coffee and a few rounds of toast and jam revived my spirits somewhat, although I’m not sure that you really need to say more than once that you don’t want butter on your toast.

viagra condom machine st foy coach station quebec canada september septembre 2016But what’s this all about? That chewing gum was disgusting – $2:00 for three slices and it tasted of nothing but rubber. As for the viagra however, I tried that once many years ago whilst in the company of the much – maligned Percy Penguin, who didn’t appear in these pages anything like as often as she deserved to back in those days. And I clearly didn’t swallow the viagra quickly enough – I had a stiff neck for a week.

And you all know that the wish that I have about my departure is to go suddenly while in the arms of a nubile nymphet a third of my age. Were I to be lucky enough to find a willing volunteer, the viagra would come in handy in those circumstances. But it would take them three days before they could put the lid on the coffin.

ship of the day pierre laporte bridge st lawrence river quebec canada september septembre 2016Coming over the Pont Pierre Laporte, which we’ve visited before, there was a ship a-sailing … "a-dieseling, you mean" – ed … by, up the river towards Montreal. It’s too far away to see what it is, but it’s the only likely candidate for today’s Ship of the Day and so we’ll include it in here.

We’ll see if we can identify it at a later date when I can access the record of the Port of Montreal … "he couldn’t" – ed.

But on the subject of Pierre Laporte, the whole world is currently up in arms about what they perceive as brown-skinned terrorism, but never forget that Pierre Laporte, a leading Canadian politician, was kidnapped and brutally murdered in cold blood by white-skinned Catholic terrrorists during a major terrorism in Canada – and some of the perpetrators of the crise d’Octobre were given a free passage to Cuba by the craven Canadian Government.

And not only that, some modern-day Quebec politician proposed to erect a plaque in their honour. Yes, and the Canadians complain about brown-skinned terrorists. You couldn’t make this up, could you?

orleans express bus sainte foy riviere du loup canada september septembre 2016But now the bus is in, and it’s two hours from Sainte-Foy to Riviere du Loup.

So feeling a bit more like it after the coffee, I did a pile of paperwork on the laptop and listened to some good music to pass the time. I’m in Traffic mode right now and I had a good listen to Sometimes I Feel So Uninspired from the magnificent On The Road album, because that’s just how I’m feeling right now. And if he can play a lead guitar solo like the last four minutes of that track when he’s feeling do uninspired, whatever could he do if he were to have some inspiration?

holland hurricane express bus edmundston new brunswick canada september septembre 2016By the time I got to Phoe … errr … Riviere du Loup I wasn’t all that far behind where I wanted to be. But we were late and the connecting bus was already in so I had no chance to buy something to eat and drink. Luckily, I still had a packet of the vegan crisps that Alison had bought for me in Belgium and which had survived the voyage across the Atlantic. They didn’t survive the voyage down to Edmunston anyway.

And our Holland Hurricane has internet available and I can actually configure it to work. All I need now is a few people on line to talk to, but as soon as all of my friends see me come on line, they all clear off rather smartish-like.

We had a 15-minute stop at Edmundston (it’s nice to be back in New Brunswick anyway. Home Sweet Home, an hour in front of Quebec time of course) which was plenty of time to visit the gentleman’s rest room and to pick up a coffee. That’s me organised now for the two hour journey that remains.

Much to my – and everyone else’s – surprise, the bus was bang on time to the minute on its arrival at Florenceville. Rachel, my niece, was already there and waiting and so that was ideal. She had a few errands to perform and then it was off to Centreville and the tyre depot. Rachel went on to do some more errands and I came back here with Darren and Amber.

First task was to sort out Strider. He’s been in his little hidey-hole since last October and needed to see the light of day. Even though the battery had had the odd trickle-charge it was a little flaky so that will need to be replaced, and the tyres were down. And not just that, but some creature or other had made a nest with the soundproofing from underneath the bonnet. But it’s good to be back behind the wheel of Strider again – just like old times and as soon as I can resolve this continuing insurance issue we’ll be in business.

Darren and I had quite a chat but I eventually called it a night. It’s far too much for me these days. It’s amazing just how tired you become doing nothing but sitting around all day on a bus.

And it’s nice to see some friendly faces, but a couple of weeks with me will soon take care of all of that.

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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 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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Tuesday 16th August 2016 – I HAD A BETTER …

… sleep last night. I was off with the fairies fairly early and although I had to leave the bed once during the night, I was pretty much asleep for most of it until I awoke – bolt-upright – at 06:10. And you won’t be interested in hearing where I’d been during the night either, because you are probably eating your breakfast or some such.

I had breakfast early too – at 06:30 I was up in the kitchen.And we had the muesli back as well, much to my delight. And afterwards I packed my things ready for the hospital, as well as having a little crash-out for about 10 minutes.

It was such a pleasant morning that I had no doubts whatever about walking up to the hospital, even though I had my larger, heavy bag with lots of stuff in it. But not, as I was to discover later, my slippers. And not my vegan cheese either. This was bad planning!

They weren’t expecting me at the hospital this morning. It transpired that they were full and so I’d been sent to a different ward – one where the people aren’t quite so nice and friendly (I’ve been here before). Waste of time me prettying myself up in case I were to encounter Tara, the cute little nurse, wasn’t it?

They installed me in a room and because I was first I could choose my bed. And so I’m next to the bathroom (ease of access) and away from the window (far too hot in summer).

It looked as if it was all going to be super-efficient. I was quickly rigged up with my catheter (didn’t feel a thing) and given the antidotes and so on. And then I waited

And waited

And waited.

16:30 or so when they came around with the Mapthera. Wasn’t that a waste of a day? but at least I’d had a lunch and it was something that I could vaguely eat too. Tea was a bit miserable though, especially without the vegan cheese, but luckily I’d brought one of the big packets of crisps that Alison had bought for me the other day. Good old Alison!

So now that I’ve been disconnected from the drip, I’m going to settle down for an early night and watch a film. I hope that my room-mate doesn’t snore or anything like that. He likes his TV so it’s a shame that he doesn’t have any ear plugs. I on the other hand have comfortable headphones, as long-term readers of this rubbish will remember.

I do hope that I’ll have a good night’s sleep.

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Sunday 14th August 2016 – IT WAS ANOTHER …

… unsettled night last night. I was in bed early enough and even watched a film on the laptop from start to finish, but eben though I was quite tired I had trouble dozing off to sleep.

And not only that, I had to leave the comfort and security of my stinking pit on more than one occasion too, for reasons that I don’t really understand as I had been very careful not to drink anything as the evening wore on last night.

The final time – round about 04:20 – and I couldn’t go back off to sleep and just lay here ruminating until the crowds started to emerge at about 06.50. And no chance of going back to sleep once they were up and about, no matter how tired I was feeling.

I’d been on my travels during the night though. I’d taken Zero, together with her mother (although the woman in the dream wasn’t actually her real mother) to one of these adventure parks somewhere. She’s met a girl of about 13 or 14 and they were hanging out together going on the rides and so on and I was keeping an eye on them, making sure that they didn’t get into any mischief.

There was no internet again this morning, which is rather miserable, I reckon. Dunno what’s happening here and the office is closed all day today so that won’t be sorted out for a while. I shall have to do something in real life instead. Meanwhile, after breakfast, which I took in company with another couple or three of my housemates, I headed off to the laundry around the corner in the Ridderstraat to take advantage of their wi-fi connection. I can see this becoming something of a habit.

I’d picked up a baguette from the boulangerie on the corner for lunch. With the hummus, tomatoes, olives and salad mix, it was very delicious too.

This afternoon I had a play around with my 3D program and then had a shower and a shave and a change of clothes. I’m dining out with Alison tonight so I need to look my best. I’d also found a plastic crate that had been abandoned, so I washed and cleaned that in the shower too and sorted out all of my tins of food to make the place look prettier and, more importantly, so that I know what I have. Tidying up, me? If I’m not careful, I’ll be sorting myself out before I’m too much older, and that will never do.

When Alison came round, we went off into town to hunt down some more flats and studios, and then Alison took me to a small restaurant that she had discovered – a Thai restaurant where my vegetable curry was outstanding. We had a coffee or two in the square, watching the world go by, and then had a slow walk back here. And Alison had a surprise for me too – she’s been to the English shop and had bought me a couple of packets of vegan hummus-flavoured crisps. Just the thing to smuggle into the hospital on Tuesday.

So now I’m back home. Still no internet so I’ll be having another early night with a couple of films on the laptop. And it looks as if I’ll be off to the launderette tomorrow if this internet situation isn’t sorted out.

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Wednesday 10th August 2016 – I HAD A QUIET DAY TODAY

And that’s no surprise either. I had another bad night – still being awake at 02:00 this morning, and then having to make a couple of trips down the corridor during the night.

The alarm went off at 07:30, and it was something of an effort to crawl out of bed, but it had to be done. And then I staggered off upstairs for breakfast.

We seem to have run out of muesli and no-one has replenished the container. So it was cornflakes for breakfast with my toast, coffee and orange juice and somehow it’s not the same. I hope that they will refill the container sometime soon although when I was up there making tea it was still empty.

This morning I haven’t done too much at all, but at lunchtime I went for a walk. I checked on Caliburn in his new home and he seems to be fine. And then I went off to spy out the ALDI down the road from there. They don’t sell baguettes unfortunately but they so have some cheap stuff including the soya desserts and soya milk, as well as having a small range of vegan food like burgers and falafel. I’ll check this out when I find a proper place to stay. But it just goes to show you how far France is behind the times when it comes to this.

This afternoon, I crashed out for an hour or so – and quite right too for I was feeling pretty miserable what with having a bad night. But I wasn’t as miserable as the weather, which had rained when I was out and about on my travels at lunchtime although it did clear up later.

For tea, I cooked some of the vegan pastries that Alison had bought me, together with potatoes and mixed vegetables cooked in butter and with garlic. That was a very good tea, and there’s enough left over for tomorrow. The little oven here isn’t very powerful but it managed to do the job, and I need to look out for a small, cheap baking tray. Looks like a trip to IKEA is on the cards, especially as now I can access Caliburn without any effort. Renting this parking place looks as if it’s a good move.

So now, I’m going to try again to have an early night. And quite right too because my appointment at the hospital is for 09:10 tomorrow so I have to be early. I’ll pack some stuff in case I have to stay the night but if I don’t, I’ll be on the phone afterwards trying to sort out some accommodation. I have a few ideas, and a few phone numbers, up my sleeve.

But all of this assumes that they can tell me how long I have to stay here. I need to have some kind of idea so that I can make further plans.

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Thursday 4th August 2016 – BACK IN MY LITTLE ROOM …

… I had a reasonably comfortable day.

I managed without any tea when I returned last night although I polished off a packet of Alison’s crisps. And then I was in bed reasonably early afterwards.

And comfortable the bed is too. I only had to leave it once, and I was well away for most of the night. 06:50 was when I eventually saw the light of day – which makes a change not to be awoken by the cacophony of bells across the road. It really was a pleasant, comfortable sleep.

There was no rush for breakfast. It was about 08:00 when I finally made it into the kitchen, having had a nice relaxing lie-in. And then you can guess what I did for the rest of the morning. That’s right – absolutely badger all. I didn’t do a tap and quite right too. I made the most of my comfortable chair here and that was that.

At about 13:00 I nudged myself into action and headed into town seeing as how there’s not a lot of food in
the place, and nothing whatever for lunch. I spent about €11:00 in the Delhaize stocking up and then €14:00 in the newsagents because my bus ticket is running out. Here in Leuven you can buy a 10-trip ticket for €14:00 – each ticket gives you up to one hours worth of travel on the De Lijn buses with as many connections as you care to make. It’s really good value.

After lunch, I had a chat with Liz and with someone else and then I … errr … went off with the fairies for a couple of hours. I’d had quite a brisk walk into town and back, the first time that I’ve been anywhere quite like that for a few weeks and it took it right out of me. I was absolutely stark out too, and for a couple of hours – you could have had an earthquake or something and nothing would have awoken me. I went off on my travels too during this particular period but you are probably eating your meal or something and I don’t want to put you off.

Despite my little sleep, I still wasn’t feeling up to much after I awoke, but I forced myself to go and make tea. Kidney beans, olives, mixed veg and boulghour, with pasta and tomato sauce. And there’s enough for tomorrow too. It’s the best that I could do without making too much effort. And it was then that I realised that I’d left behind in the hospital fridge the food that Alison had bought me. I’ll have to nip back for that tomorrow before someone else liberates it.

So now I’m going to have an early night and watch a film. I deserve a good relax tonight. And even though this place isn’t ideal by any means, it’s nice to be back. I missed my little room.

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Sunday 31st July 2016 – I HAVE DONE SOMETHING …

… totally and utterly decadent today.

That’s right – after breakfast, I went back to bed. And there I slept until they brought the lunch around and awoke me. It’s a long time since I’ve done anything quite like that, but ask me if I care.

Mind you, I had a different kind of night last night. What I mean by that is that I didn’t go to sleep for ages and ages. It was certainly long-after 01:30 because I was still awake then. And then I had a restless night as usual, up and down on several occasions.

I was on my travels too – back in France at a building that I had converted into apartments and one of the tenants was being difficult. Someone else there knew him and remembered him being difficult at the last place where he was living.

I struggled awake all on my own at about 07:40 without the help of the nurse, but I wasn’t awake for long. Just long enough to stuff my breakfast down my throat.

After lunch, I did absolutely … err … badger all, just talking to a couple of people on the internet. I did manage a trip to the shower at about 16:20 – a good wash and brush up and a change of undies did me the world of good and I’m now ready for anything, even a visit this evening from Alison who brought me a packet of rice crackers. That was really nice of her.

It’s a long time since I’ve had such a leisurely Sunday and I reckon that it did me the world of good. The only issue now is whether or not I can go back to sleep this evening or will I still be awake like last night, long after midnight.

But with a bit of luck, this will be my last night there, if I don’t have a bad reaction to the Mapthera tomorrow. I’m on my own yet again tonight, so I ought to make the most of it.

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