Tag Archives: anderlecht

Wednesday 6th July 2016 – THAT WASN’T SO GOOD.

We’ve been having a couple of late nights just recently – and also quite a few early mornings. But it all goes wrong when you have a late night – like 01:40 and you are still sitting up – and someone comes along to use the kitchen at 05:40.

I think that I was up and about once, and I don’t remember being on any travels either. But at least, by 07:30 I’d already breakfasted and was working away on the laptop.

Most of the morning was spent doing updates to the blog, and I’d done quite a few by the time lunchtime came round. I’d been to the boulangerie just down the road for my baguette which saved me a good half-hour.

This afternoon I meant to carry on with the blog but Liz came on line and we had quite a lengthy chat. And then, I crashed out here on the sofa for a couple of hours. I must have needed it.

Anderlecht stadion den dreef oud heverlee OH Leuven BelgiumThis evening in the beautiful sunnyweather I went for a stroll to the edge of the town by the inner ring. This is where the Stadion den Dreef, the home football ground of Oud Heverlee Leuven might be found.

Anderlecht from Brussels are in training ready for their European football matches and tonight they had arranged a friendly against OH Leuven and so I went for a wander down to see what was going on.

Anderlecht stadion den dreef oud heverlee OH Leuven BelgiumIt’s only a small ground and it seems to be undergoing a process of renovation. On the north side of the ground there’s a new stand that looks as if it’s just been built and in the process of being kitted out.

Because I didn’t have a membership card I had to go and sit in the “away” end with the Anderlecht fans which annoyed me because they are far from being my favourite club, but at €15:00 for a ticket I can’t complain too much.

Anderlecht stadion den dreef oud heverlee OH Leuven BelgiumIt was a pretty miserable game, the first half anyway. Anderlecht were poor but OH Leuven were thoroughly clueless.

The first 10 minutes of the game were spent in the OH Leuven penalty area laying siege to the goal. Anderlecht had one decent break through on goal, saved by the keeper’s foot, but apart from that, Anderlecht never looked as if they were seriously going to threaten the OH Leuven keeper.

Anderlecht stadion den dreef oud heverlee OH Leuven penalty BelgiumWe were treated at half time to the astonishing event of OH Leuven going in for the half-time cuppa in front one-nil. They had had just one shot at goal during the first half, which was well-saved onto the post by the Anderlecht keeper, but they won a rather soft penalty a couple of minutes before half-time.

The keeper nearly got to it too and had he done so, no-one could have complained. It would have been justice.

Anderlecht stadion den dreef oud heverlee OH Leuven BelgiumI’m not sure what the Anderlecht trainer put in the half-time cuppa but I could do with having some of it, that’s for sure. Within 10 minutes of the restart Anderlecht had scored three goals, and they went on to score a fourth near the end of the game.

It was still very much a huffing, puffing performance and they didn’t look all that impressive. Playing like this, they aren’t going to make too much of a mark in Europe. But it’s going to be a long, hard season for OH Leuven in the Second tier of the Belgian Football League.

I had a nice walk back here and picked up some chips on the way. I have clean bedding tonight and I’m going to make the most of it. I hope that I don’t have the 05:45 starters tomorrow morning.

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Tuesday 5th July 2016 – I HAD ANOTHER REASONABLE NIGHT

I didn’t even have time to watch a film last night before I’d gone off into the Land of Nod. I was well-away with the fairies. Only two trips down the corridor as well, and not only that, I was on my travels too. I was driving a coach along the A51 northwards somewhere around Barbridge and I was completely exhausted. Nerina said that she was in no fit condition to drive and if I needed replacing there was someone else on the coach who could drive. But I didn’t know what this person was like and so I resolved to keep on if I could – after all there was only 10 miles to go.

Someone woke me up from the kitchen this morning at 06:44 and so the blasted bells didn’t bother me too much. And I’d breakfasted (and a good breakfast too) long before 08:00.

I had a good chat with someone on the internet for an hour or two and then went off to buy a baguette for lunch. I went to the supermarket on the corner just here seeing as how I didn’t need anything else, but I also bought a packet of garlic powder and madras curry powder. I’m here for 11 weeks so I may as well try to make my meals appetising to some degree during that time.

I’ve spent all day (or what was left of it because I had rather a long lunch break) on the blog, doing some updating. And one of the entries ended up being something of a mega-project. I’d had a day out on the 4th July 2011 and wrote all of … errr … 250 words about it and posted two photos – out of about 30 that I had taken. And so I sat down and re-wrote it completely.

I spent all afternoon doing it, including doing a pile of research, and there are now over 6 times as many photos and almost 6 times as many words and you can read all about it here. It’ll keep you all out of mischief.

Liz came on the internet too a little later and so we had a good chat. I might be having to go on a little train journey sometime soon. It’ll be good to change the scenery a bit.

And talking of a change of scenery, I might be having an evening out tomorrow. Anderlecht are warming up for their matches in European competition and they are coming here tomorrow night to play a match against OH-Leuven. Depending upon how I’m feeling, I might have a stroll down the road. I shan’t expect the local side to do very much but it’s ages since I’ve seen a good football game and I could do with an evening out.

For tea, I finished off the other half of yesterday’s meal and had to have my spicy cake with no custard seeing as how I’ve run out. I’ve run out of spicy cake now but that doesn’t really matter because I’m eating out tomorrow night if I go to the footy.

So I’ll have a nice quiet relax and then I’ll be off to bed again. And I hope that I’ll have another good night again.

But before I go – here’s a thing. We’ve all been told by the UK Government and the Chancellor of the Exchequer how evil it is to borrow money and spend our way out of recession. And yet today, the Bank of England has issued instructions to the UK Banks to ease their “special capital requirements for banks, potentially freeing up £150bn for lending” and “to provide more lending to households and businesses”.

There has never ever been such a dramatic U-turn by the British Government as this, and it shows you just how much of a panic the Government is in as the British economy is melting away because of the Brexit.

Strangely enough, the National Press hasn’t picked up yet on this – presumably because the Papers don’t want to spread even more panic. But it’s totally amazing, the depths to which this Government is sinking as it tries to shore up the sinking economy.

And the Pound dropped today to its lowest level against the Dollar since 1985. The UK is on the run, big-time.

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Friday23rd April 2010 – I’ll be back …

… on the road in about 10 minutes. And I’ll be very late getting away tonight, much later than I wanted to be, but then again, a lot has happened.

Firstly we had yet another “end of an era”. Long-time followers of this organ will recall the white LDV that I bought in 2002 and which ran for ever once we put a new engine into it but which was defeated by rust and lack of spare parts. It’s been sitting outside the apartment at “Expo” for three years since Caliburn came along and everyone was moaning about it, so I had someone come along and take it away.

A vehicle dismantler in Brussels has an LDV and he can’t find spares for it either so he gave me €100 for it, which I reckoned was excellent value.

Cleaning it out discovered hordes of goodies that I had forgotten all about too as well as a full set of tools, so it was quite profitable all told.

After that I went for lunch with Mike, who is doing my old job as chair of the Open University Student Association’s North European Revolutionary Forces. And I had quite a laugh as on the way there I saw a billboard saying “You have won the lottery. Where will you be dining now?” Well, I had effectively won the lottery with disposing of the LDV and I was taking Mike to a fritkot. My generosity knows no bounds.

And so, after paying all of the bills and so forth, I cleaned up Expo just a little bit, loaded up Caliburn, and hit the road.

I also found some time to call in at the IKEA Anderlecht (where I was one of several persons involved in an argument on the car park) for one or two things that I need at home.

And so, all in all, it is going to be a very late departure and I’m not planning on making it all the way home in one go. After all, I’ve had quite a busy day.

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