Off to Belgium

[edith]

(No I'm not moving again )
I'm off on a trip to Belgium for three weeks as part of my PhD work starting on December the 1st. I should have internet but if I don't, or if I'm exceedingly busy then (I might be), you'll know where I've disappeared to!
I might also be very busy this coming week as I need to pack and sort out various things!

[Hans]

Have a safe trip, Edith. Enjoy yourself and don't forget to take some pictures!

[Greenrider Tresa]

What Hans said!

[jube]

Enjoy, have fun and tell us all about it when you get back. Safe trip!

[Sandi]

Thanks for letting us know. And I agree with what everybody else said. Stay safe, have fun and take pictures!

[kevia]

Have a great time, Edith!

[mawra]

I hope you have a great trip. Pics please!

[Lady Maelin]

Edith...have a fantstic trip...don't forget to take time to rest, eat and take a few photos...Belgium is lovely I hear.

[GinnyStar]

Well ejoy youself my friend. See you when get back both here and NKT!

[P'ter]

Oo Belgian Chocolate!!!

[Farclas]

And beer. And Manneken Pis!

[edith]

Somehow I'm going to have to manage 3 weeks of clothes, some rather expensive samples and vast quantities of chocolate (the beer is very available here ) on the train on a Friday afternoon.

Unfortunately I'm not going near Brussels Farclas. There is the Museum of Torture nearby though!

thanks for the good wishes folks.

[Cheryl]

Have a great time Edi!

[Farclas]

Originally Posted by edith

*SNIP*
Unfortunately I'm not going near Brussels Farclas. There is the Museum of Torture nearby though!
thanks for the good wishes folks.

That's no way to talk about the European Commission!

[edith]

Originally Posted by Farclas

That's no way to talk about the European Commission!

I'm going to Ghent (which is spelled in so many ways that I'm completely confused). Apparently it is a very nice place to visit, which is a bonus, although I wouldn't care if the place was like Coventry (only city I have no real desire to revisit) if I can get the new parts of my experiment done.

[Hans]

Farclas

Hmm, Belglim seems to have more than its fair share of Museums of Torture Here's a friend I photographed at the entrance of the Antwerp one:

[kc]

I've never been to Ghent but I have heard it's a nice town.

Don't forget the chips with mayonnaise either Edith

I travelled on the train between Amsterdam and Brussels (then from Brussels to the Hook of Holland) too long ago to be relevent now but they were reasonably easy journeys I seem to remember.

Kath

[granath]

Oooh! Sounds very, very good. Belgian chocolate... *drool*

[P'ter]

My only encounter with Ghent was that darned poem, known to us at school as 'How We Carried the Aches to the Loos in the Gents.'

[Hans]

Doesn't work P'ter, different pronounciation.
Well it works in the UK probably but wouldn't even bring a smile in Belgium...

[edith]

I don't think I know the English pronunciation of the word .
It's not a place that turns up in everyday conversation and I've heard the Dutch pronunciation rather a lot recently!
One thing I am not looking forward to is that the university is very much Dutch speaking Here, pretty much everything is bilingual and all the information on the university webpages has been translated. U. Gent's webpage is Dutch with a little bit in English. My Dutch is still far from good enough to cope with that.

[P'ter]

Hans: it doesn't work in England either; except possibly to a group of 11 year old boys.

[Hans]

Now that, in itself, is funny

[Lady Maelin]

Edith, are you trying to learn Dutch as well as the work on your Phd, while you are in The Netherlands....?


Peter...as usual you do have a way of finding the tickle in the thread

[StevenB]

Best of luck Edith. Have a great trip.

[P'ter]

Linda: what DO you mean 'the tickle'?

We HAD to rename it!

Have you ever had to learn such a wodge of words?

How they Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix by Robert Browning

I SPRANG to the stirrup, and Joris, and he;
I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three;
‘Good speed!’ cried the watch, as the gate-bolts undrew;
‘Speed!’ echoed the wall to us galloping through;
Behind shut the postern, the lights sank to rest,
And into the midnight we galloped abreast.
Not a word to each other; we kept the great pace
Neck by neck, stride by stride, never changing our place;
I turned in my saddle and made its girths tight,
Then shortened each stirrup, and set the pique right,
Rebuckled the cheek-strap, chained slacker the bit,
Nor galloped less steadily Roland a whit.

’Twas moonset at starting; but while we drew near
Lokeren, the cocks crew and twilight dawned clear;
At Boom, a great yellow star came out to see;
At Düffeld, ’twas morning as plain as could be;
And from Mecheln church-steeple we heard the half-chime,
So Joris broke silence with ‘Yet there is time!’

At Aerschot, up leaped of a sudden the sun,
And against him the cattle stood black every one,
To stare through the mist at us galloping past,
And I saw my stout galloper Roland at last,
With resolute shoulders, each butting away
The haze, as some bluff river headland its spray.

And his low head and crest, just one sharp ear bent back
For my voice, and the other pricked out on his track;
And one eye’s black intelligence,—ever that glance
O’er its white edge at me, his own master, askance!
And the thick heavy spume-flakes which aye and anon
His fierce lips shook upwards in galloping on.

By Hasselt, Dirck groaned; and cried Joris, ‘Stay spur!
Your Roos galloped bravely, the fault’s not in her,
We’ll remember at Aix’—for one heard the quick wheeze
Of her chest, saw the stretched neck and staggering knees,
And sunk tail, and horrible heave of the flank,
As down on her haunches she shuddered and sank.

So we were left galloping, Joris and I,
Past Looz and past Tongres, no cloud in the sky;
The broad sun above laughed a pitiless laugh,
’Neath our feet broke the brittle bright stubble like chaff;
Till over by Dalhem a dome-spire sprang white,
And ‘Gallop,’ gasped Joris, ‘for Aix is in sight!’

‘How they’ll greet us!’—and all in a moment his roan
Rolled neck and croup over, lay dead as a stone;
And there was my Roland to bear the whole weight
Of the news which alone could save Aix from her fate,
With his nostrils like pits full of blood to the brim,
And with circles of red for his eye-sockets’ rim.

Then I cast loose my buffcoat, each holster let fall,
Shook off both my jack-boots, let go belt and all,
Stood up in the stirrup, leaned, patted his ear,
Called my Roland his pet-name, my horse without peer;
Clapped my hands, laughed and sang, any noise, bad or good,
Till at length into Aix Roland galloped and stood.

And all I remember is, friends flocking round
As I sat with his head ’twixt my knees on the ground;
And no voice but was praising this Roland of mine,
As I poured down his throat our last measure of wine,
Which (the burgesses voted by common consent)
Was no more than his due who brought good news from Ghent.

[edith]

Originally Posted by Lady Maelin

Edith, are you trying to learn Dutch as well as the work on your Phd, while you are in The Netherlands....?

Yep! I know what a microscope slide is in Dutch now
I don't have to learn it but I need to.

[Lady Maelin]

Good Luck then Edith, with learning Dutch...its the devil of a language to try and learn...

Peter...a chuckle, a laugh, a giggle....the funny side of the thread, with a twist of course...but thats just you...

[P'ter]

Linda: at one time I could have recited the whole thing off pat, complete with actions!

[Hans]

So P'ter, you not only had a good memory when yung (to be expected) but you also were an "action figure"?

[P'ter]

We used to be entered for local festivals. I also had to learn great chunks of Hiawatha!

"By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Dark behind it rose the forest, ... "

wanders off chuntering. (For the benefit of the antipodeans I said 'chuntering' NOT 'chundering')

[Lady Maelin]

Oh noooooooooooo you boys are going at it again...

Noooooooo please, not Hiawatha....

[Hans]

My, my.. action figures first and men at work a moment later

[P'ter]

Lyn: we had to SING it!

(And, being an all male school, guess who got landed with Old Nokomis? At least it wasn't Minehaha. My younger brother got to be the warriior who threw his grandmother up to the moon.)

[edith]

I'm almost packed.
I just have to empty my suitcase one more time in order to fit in my dressing gown and rearrange my samples so that they're all packed in tightly. (It does not help with packing to have a bag where I can't put anything in that I might need on the journey as I have my samples in it and it's the bag that would be most ideal for stuff on the journey, which is also why its ideal for the samples). Then, at bedtime, I'll put my laptop away.

[Hans]

Have lots of fun and succes and a good and safe journey, Edith

[edith]

Thanks.

My laptop is switching off mow.
See everyone again when I'm in Belgium

[Lara]

Originally Posted by P'ter

Lyn: we had to SING it!

(And, being an all male school, guess who got landed with Old Nokomis? At least it wasn't Minehaha. My younger brother got to be the warriior who threw his grandmother up to the moon.)

LOL P'ter, when staying with British cousins, I learned to sing it too...
You shall hear how Paupukeewis
How the handsome Yenadizzee
Danced at Hiawatha's wedding...

I won't swear to the spelling, but who could forget the rhythm!
Edith, Ghent really is a beautiful old town, with a huge amount of historical interest.

[edith]

I'm here, but I have limited internet.

[StevenB]

Welcome to Belgium Edith. I hope you have a really successful visit (and you find some better access to the internet).