It didn't work

Trying to bake my way out of post-Christmastime ennui

Losing my shirt

Love is.... Lao Gan Ma in your Christmas stocking

Good haul this morning at Casa Walsh (We will most likely be listening to Kpop Demon Hunters all morning)

Happy Christmas Eve-Eve! It's time for our Reader's Choice roundup, something that always brings up interesting patterns—for example, every single one of our most-read stories this year was about beer or pubs. www.pelliclemag.com/home/2025/12...

My love letter to Dublin the 5th most-read article in 2025 on UK's best food & drinks publisher! Mostly down to @davidsquires.bsky.social's illustrations, & all the people who gave their time to talk to me, @lisagrimm.com @stephenclinch.bsky.social @gerrytastic.bsky.social @braciatrix.bsky.social

“This is the kind of content designed for clickbait and ragebait.” - Reddit. I mean, they’re not wrong, but that’s no reason not to read it 😂

"...when Anderlecht sneezes, the rest of us in Brussels get covered in snot - and right now, Anderlecht has a heavy cold." Last year I ranked Anderlecht the second-best commune in Brussels. This year, not so much... Find out why ⤵️

I was scared when the piece solely on Schaerbeek centred on Place Dailly, but Eoghan has rightfully recognised it as a top-tier commune

Entirely correct ranking, at least for the top one.

"...when Anderlecht sneezes, the rest of us in Brussels get covered in snot - and right now, Anderlecht has a heavy cold." Last year I ranked Anderlecht the second-best commune in Brussels. This year, not so much... Find out why ⤵️

#145: What is the best commune in Brussels - 2025 edition Rated and slated, here is the DEFINITIVE LIST of the best and worst communes in Brussels, from 19 to 1. See you in the comments section...

Les 19 communes de Bruxelles classées. Et vous c'est quoi votre top 3 ?

Come at me, Brussels

#145: What is the best commune in Brussels - 2025 edition Rated and slated, here is the DEFINITIVE LIST of the best and worst communes in Brussels, from 19 to 1. See you in the comments section...

Suppositories were one of those things I only really discovered when I moved to Belgium and had kids. Great when you have a wriggling baby who won't take their medicine. Not so great when you have to clean up the carnage they've wrought on the poor child's digestive system.

Looks like someone got a spine for Christmas!

Do I have any translators in my Brussels network who can make certified translations of official documents?

The most satisfying thing about this is that I managed to pull it off without once sparking a migraine - unprecedented scenes. I'm almost 6 weeks migraine-free and all it took was finding the right *checks prescription* blood pressure medicine!

Embarking on a foolhardy creative project is the perfect way to kick off the holiday season! 1 newsletter a day from me, every day, until Christmas - what could go wrong? Join the party, if you dare. open.substack.com/pub/brussels...

And we're done! Today I posted the final installment of my 19-day tour around all of Brussels' communes. Exploring them all has been mostly fun, sometimes enlightening, and only occasionally irritating. The full thread of all 19 posts is below, and we're wrapping up today on home soil: Koekelberg

As an aside, I feel sorry for kids today who will never experience the illicit thrill of stumbling across a Videodrome or Phantasm or Shivers on late-night TV and having their world's changed. Another reason why the algorithm has impoverished contemporary culture

Brussels Notes #144: In The Mouth of Madness We made it! The final entry in a 19-part tour through Brussels. And we're ending things by exploring one of its most unsettling buildings: the Koekelberg Basilica. Come for the architectural critique, stay for the John Carpenter references! Read on...⤵️

Will be interesting to see how Anderlecht's majority will be able to implement their own mobility plans in the future, given the precedent they have set in caving repeatedly to the demands of a violent minority (and a less violent wider group). Haha JK - they of course have no mobility plans 😂😭

All due respect to Tolkien but knowing what he wrote after it, The Hobbit really does feel like someone sketching out some rough ideas rather than a coherent *story*. Maybe it’ll all come together when we reach the Lonely Mountain

Reading The Hobbit to the kids and with every new chapter I can’t help but remind myself that Peter Jackson made THREE films out of a book that is all set piece and no plot! I mean, fair play to him, but still!

Brussels Notes #143: The Prelude I've reached the penultimate entry in my newsletter journey through each of Brussels' 19 municipalities. For today's entry (which was originally titled Goin' Back), we're going over old ground in Schaarbeek Read on...⤵️ brusselsnotes.substack.com/p/143-the-pr...

"Saint-Josse est une commune modèle. Je n'accepte pas les critiques" - says the mayor of a bankrupt rotten borough reliant on external government support to stay afloat.

Brussels Notes #142: Machine Room For today's newsletter - day 17 and the antepenultimate stop on my tour around Brussels' 19 communes - I go to one of my favourite rooms in Brussels, which happens to be in Vorst. Read on...⤵️

I mean, a Thali buffet, how could you go wrong

Best new restaurant in the European Quarter just opened 👀

I did it! I asked someone on the Brussels metro who was a grown up to turn off the sound on their phone! And I didn’t get murdered! (They didn’t really turn down the sound but still, progress!)

Interesting as an Irish person to read the security calculations of another notoriously neutral European country

You’re telling me I have to buy *more* Bohs jerseys? Okay then…

I finally went to Brussels only proper dive bar. It was not a happy experience.

“All I wanted to do was spend a couple of hours on a quiet Sunday sitting by myself at a bar with a little beer and a book, watching people scuba dive past my table. “That’s all I wanted, and you couldn’t even give me that, could you Uccle?”

Did you know that Brussels once had the deepest swimming pool in the world? Now it's only the 3rd deepest, another reflection of Western Europe's civilisational decline no doubt

Brussels Notes #141: Bursting Bubbles For today's newsletter - day 16 of my tour around Brussels' 19 communes - I try to give Uccle another chance, but I just keep getting burned by that bastard commune. Read on...⤵️

Two ideas for Christmas presents for people you love who are cool and sexy: 1. A subscription to Pellicle: www.patreon.com/c/pelliclema... 2. My zine, A Place To Be: www.pelliclemag.com/shop/a-place...

After a couple of encouraging years, 2025 has been a pretty dark one for road safety in Brussels.

Still a few of these little beauties available after last week’s launch. It might be our best edition yet - a little zine celebrating the best Brussels cafés. Send me a DM if you’d like one (and live in BXL)!

15 communes down, 4 to go. Some good ones, and one bad one, still left.

Brussels Notes #140: After The Market Today’s newsletter - day 15 of my tour around Brussels' 19 communes - takes us to Jette, and a Sunday afternoon drinking beer on a cold terrace. Read on ⬇️

oh no not chomsky who could have expected he had bad vibes

And they say there are no positive male role models out there anymore

*taps mic* Eat the Brussels rich brusselsnotes.substack.com/p/139-eat-th...

I went to the commune I never go to (not that one, the other one). It ended up more or less as I expected.

"Going to Rob The Gourmets’ Market was my first mistake. Going to Robs The Gourmets’ Market on an empty stomach, that was my second mistake." In today’s newsletter - day 14 of my tour around Brussels' 19 communes - I get a stomach ache in Brussels' most gourmet supermarket.

Every day provides another opportunity for anti-tech radicalisation