How it started. How it’s going.

Cat on be the pitch! Anderlecht v Antwerpen #thefootbzll

Great day exploring Brussels architecture. More tomorrow! #OpenMonumentenDagen #HeritageDays

If you're on LinkedIn, you'll probably want to switch this toggle to 'off'.

My bank has emailed to tell me, with great excitement, about all the ways I can contact them. Like that’s going to happen.

Highly amused that the francophone women sitting behind me are marvelling that they work with not one but TWO women called Jane. #BrusselsLife

Waterstones Liverpool on Thursday evening is the place to be. @jakethackrayfan.bsky.social will be talking about the book and playing one of Jake's guitars. Tell your friends. www.waterstones.com/events/paul-...

Happy 10 years adoptiversary!

Attempting today’s spelwijze puzzel in De Morgen and I feel strongly that “uilrijk” should be a word and that I should personally be rich in owls.Who’s with me? @maaikeverbruggen.bsky.social ?

Totally hacked off with football. Might get into crochet instead.

Jeezus. The guy sitting behind me at the beer festival (essentially we are back to back) had the same liquid quality as my cat. I keep pulling my seat in and he just expands to fill the space. Stay on your own bench, arsehole.

Went canvassing today. Four different people said they are concerned about immigration, by which they all meant they are concerned by how demonised it is and blame Labour for failing to fight fascism. Inner city Glasgow. Stick that in your narratives

The response is equally shocking, or cynical: “Why did it have to get to this point?” In other words, we don’t want to euthanise them, but they’ve given us no other choice. Where did *they* go wrong?

A very merry beer festival! #wanderlust #brussels

Ah, yes, 13 September. 53rd anniversary of French hypermarket Carrefour encroaching onto UK soil by opening a flagship store in Caerphilly. Obviously Not all that remarkable in itself, perhaps, but its 6th birthday was one to remember – what with the 40ft, three-ton animatronic gorilla and all

Amazing that this story made it to Belgium! 🤣

Well that was pretty darned cool. Watching the new Sainctelette bridge being lifted into place by two massive cranes.

Ipv fotografie of doelloze social media consumptie besteed ik m’n vrije tijd meer en meer aan pen en papier. Hierbij een poging noorderlicht vast te leggen, ergens in Noord Noorwegen, afgelopen voorjaar.. ☺️

I’ve been rewatching the Coen Bros filmography this month and while drawing a Barton Fink illustration, it struck me how much their films feel like Far Side cartoons: funny, strange, clever, yet frequently inscrutable. Anyway here’s a thread!

The #brocante in the Dixmuidelaan is in full flow. Lovely weather - we’re grateful for the shade of the trees.

September is brocante season and this year we’re having a first go at selling. Don’t feel very prepared and we don’t really have enough stock, but hoping to have fun and hang out with our neighbours.

Fun facts and definitions: - a BOG is a wetland that is acidic - a FEN is a wetland that is alkaline - a SWAMP is a wetland that can support trees - a MARSH is a wetland that cannot support trees Now you know!

Lovely. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Municipal guide cover of the day (possibly an all time great!): Croydon, 1971. Countdown typeface klaxon!

First concert: Aztec Camera Last: The Bug Club (outstanding!) Worst: Bob Dylan Loudest: AC/DC Best: Ramones or Shonen Knife or X-Ray Spex (impossible to choose!) Seen most: Ramones, UK Subs Most surprising: Bug Club Happy I got to see: Arno Wish I’d seen: New York Dolls Next: Half Man Half Biscuit

For the first time, minimum salaries are being introduced in the WSL and WSL2 — ending the need for WSL2 players to take on part-time jobs 👏

My Nebula Finalist short story "The Witch Trap" is now free to read in The Dark! The entire issue is stunning and I'm so pleased to have a place in it! www.thedarkmagazine.com/the-witch-tr...

Gail's stuff is ace. Support independent artists.

I’ve been off work for a few days following cataract surgery and trying to make the most of the opportunity to rest and relax (between regular application of eye drops!) It’s a lovely sunny morning in Brussels, so I’m going for a walk to spot more of the pink guys. There are apparently 12 in total.

Nina Jobst-Smith, a UMD graduate, German national team member and draft pick of PWHL Vancouver, joins the show this week to share her incredible hockey journey. Episode 86 of Rinkside Rundown is available now. Check it out and make sure to subscribe. linktr.ee/rinksiderund...

A colloquial Swedish word for giving a confident answer to something you know nothing about is killgissa, or “guy-guessing.” Conversely, the lesser-known word tjejveta (meaning “girl-knowing”) can describe elucidating (shelucidating?) on a topic you have expertise in.

It’s REALLY important that #Vancouver’s Downtown Business Association, who were originally against downtown bike-lanes, are now among their most vigourous supporters, because of the evidence that they are better for downtown business than any street parking they replaced. Bike-lanes mean business.

Godver. Anderlecht apparently aiming to get ALL their players sent off. #thefootball

A few beers down on a sunny late summer afternoon and we are planning a trip to Venice with my mum in December. Currently convinced she will LOVE the idea and therefore excitedly picking what we will do. (She has no idea and may say no.)

The sun is shining and one of our favourite bars is having a Romanian beer weekend. Feeling content in Brussels.

TFW the guys at the next table in the craft beer bar are talking about your area of professional expertise and you’re a couple of beers in and finding it difficult not to jump in.

Live and roll-up versions of @dzyrl.bsky.social at the Ukrainian Independence Day celebrations in Brussels (and if you want information on integration for newcomers in Brussels, check out www.bon.be )

Hive mind: has anyone used the bag drop at Brighton & Hove Albion stadium? Any idea what the max size bag is that you can leave there?

Still absolutely buzzing after The Bug Club’s show at the delightful La Carrière festival, last night in Wallonie. In’t live music brilliant?

On August 23, 1989, about 2 million people from Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania formed a 600 km long human chain that united all 3 countries to show the world their desire to leave the Soviet Union and Communism.

Off to a festival, in a field, somewhere in Namur Province.

Amazing thread. I love that the data is analysed by political party as well as gender and geography.

The council got rid of the benches at the foot of Leith walk and the locals have responded appropriately...

I enjoy the rhythms of the year. Having a beer in my local café as they reopen after their summer congé is particularly satisfying.

I am starting a new podcast called Instant Classics with Charlotte Higgins. About guess what? open.spotify.com/episode/0tyH...

Oops. Is Brussels Times using Google translate or AI there? Interesting news about the trees, though.

Happy Monday! Here’s an ancient amber bear carved about 10,000 years ago! This magical find washed up on a beach at Fanø in Denmark from a submerged Mesolithic settlement under the North Sea. National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen. 📷 by me #Archaeology

Just look at this beauty! In other news, you should all visit Reims.