… the centre of Leuven all decorated up for Christmas, let me tell you a little about what I have been up to today.
It’s Saturday and as you might expect, I’ve been out and about late this morning, doing my shopping ready for the weekend.
And I took the opportunity to go for a walk up into the centre of town to see what was going on.
In fact, there was a good purpose for going up there.
I wanted some vegan cheese and some spray-on vegan cream from the Vegan shop ready for Christmas. But although the door was open and there were people there, the shop wasn’t open for customers yet.
I can’t believe how much money Belgian shops turn away with some of the silly ideas that they have. After all, I wasn’t going to hang around for another hour.
But I can’t believe how empty the town centre was today. I was expecting the place to be teeming with people seeing as how close we are the Christmas, but it was more like an early Sunday morning up there rather than a late Saturday afternoon.
It wasn’t all that cold either. It doesn’t seem at all like Christmas right now and I’m clearly missing something somewhere
The decorations in the city are rather half-hearted and that doesn’t add too much to the festive atmosphere. I was expecting much more than this here in Leuven, to be honest.
All in all, I wasn’t out all that long. A quick lap around the Delhaize (where they had some grapes alredy bagged up on special offer) and my wasted trip to the Vegan shop, and that was that.
But there is one thing that I do have to say – and that concerns the barrel organist whom you might have seen in a previous photo.
I don’t care what anyone says, Christmas carols sung in English with a Flemish accent sound far too much like Goldmember for my liking. I was trying my best not to burst out laughing as I listened.
So my early night last night must have done some good somewhere for despite having to go off down the corridor at one point, I ended up being awake, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (well, sort-of) and out of bed at all of 06:02 this morning.
I’d been on my travels too – something to with kids in the snow in Northern Labrador (i seem to be stuck here right now, don’t I?), but sometime later, it was a morning of really heavy snow and I was on my way to work. It was to a new job in a new office. And I was admiring the snowmen that people had built in their gardens. It was Shavington, on the corner or Rope Lane and Main Road by the Co-op where I arrived next, and here I fell in with two people who were to be my new colleagues. One of them I recognised immediately – he was someone with whom I’d worked in an office previously. We started to chat and he told me a little about my new place, and that he was getting married – to someone that I knew – that morning so we would have the day off anyway. But he was already making plans for a subsequent marriage, and it all sounded rather weird to me.
After breakfast I did some stuff on the website and then went off into town to buy what I need. And that took me nicely up to lunch.
This afternoon I went for a coffee and a really good chat, and that took a good few hours, we had so much to talk about.
I had a crash out when I returned, and then I had a little treat. The Welsh Premier League matches broadcast on Sgorio aren’t accessible to people living outside the UK, but someone “shared” it on his social networking site and by this method I was able to see the game.
The first this season, I reckon.
I missed tea tonight – I couldn’t summon up the energy to make it. Instead I’ve had a relax and now I’m going to have yet another early night.
Tomorrow afternoon, I’m going off on my travels, I reckon.