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On Saturday March 7th Katy Perry will give a concert in the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels. Katy Perry is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Born in California to pastor parents, she grew up listening to gospel music and singing in church. Katy Perry rose to fame in 2007 with her internet hit "Ur So Gay", and later scored in 2008 her breakthrough single "I Kissed a Girl".

I have a ticket but am not sure yet if I can make it. If anybody is interested, I might sell it for € 35. Seeing the concert has been sold out for over a month now, it might be a good deal.

From June 19th till June 23rd 2002 I went to the south of England with a German friend of mine, Christine. We drove with my green Fiat Punto down to Calais, where we got on a boat from the SeaFrance company. In those days a 5-day ticket for 2 persons and a car cost 153 Euro. I wonder how much that would be now.

If my memory serves me well, we visited Dover, Rye, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Canterbury and we stopped at a friend's, Gary. I have to check for more information, as it is all a bit blurry at the moment, but I do remember visiting a chapel that was actually an ossuary.

Further research on the internet reveals that it was actually St Leonard’s Church in Hythe. Better known as “The Church with the Bones” due to the ossuary in the crypt. It is one of only two ossuaries in England (the other being in Rothwell, Northants) and contains 2,000 human skulls, 8,000 thighbones, a few jaw bones and other various artefacts. The skull and thighbones were usually kept as it was believed that it would ensure physical resurrection.

The exact origin of the bones is unclear, legend has it that they are the remains of Saxon soldiers killed in a battle fought nearby that were dug up when the existing church was built in 1080. A more likely explanation is that they were dug up and stored in the Middle Ages when it was customary to re-use burial plots.

I also remember we slept in a place called "The White House Farm". I'll try to find more details later.

Update: Christine contacted me and helped me remember some more details. I updated the blog accordingly.

I'm slowly putting all my belongings in boxes, since I will join my wife and daughter very soon in our new house here in Belgium. I stumbled across a letter from a penpal of mine, Monique. It was so funny to read again about our lives 13 years ago

She had paid me a visit here in Grimbergen,somewhere in October 1996 and I took her to the Mamoet (our local youth club/pub), we went to a concert of "Boerenzonen op Speed" who had just released there first (and only) massive hit: "Vel tegen Vel" - Skin against Skin. We also went to a disco party, co-organized by my cousin Johan.

And here is a short extract of what Monique wrote to me : "I hear you have a computer at home. Do you also have internet? And what is so fun about it, I hear it's mostly waiting, waiting, waiting".

How things can change :-)

I have never been a die-hard football fan, but I like a good game and have always followed the national and international football games with more than a passing interest. When I was still at primary school in Grimbergen, you had to choose between Anderlecht and Brugge, at that time the two most successful soccer teams in Belgium. I chose Club Brugge and with players like Jan Ceulemans and Raoul Lambert they were quite successful. Lately they have lost a lot of their charm and competitive edge, but I still follow their games on TV.

My wife is from Nürnberg and just like Club Brugge their football team is called "The Club" : 1. FC Nürnberg. This weekend they played against Aachen and since we live there, I went together with my father-in-law and brother-in-law. Unfortunately the "Club" did not play well at all, and we got a 6-2 trashing. It was freezing cold and it even started snowing towards the end.

Standing among the "Ultras" of Nürnberg was quite fun, and even when they were losing the game they kept up the good cheer and shouted abuse at Aachen players and umpire. Whenever the name of an Aachen player was mentioned over the stadium PA system, the Nürnberger Ultras shouted "arschloch", which means exactly what you think: Asshole.

Oh, one nice detail: at the end they announced how many litres alcohol-free Bitburg beer had been sold during the game: 1600 litres.

this article was first published in February 2005

One more week and it's Saint Valentine again !

I'm a single person but I cannot help being slightly euphoric at the thought of all these wonderful warm people hugging each other and kissing and....oh, that sentimental feeling !

But have you noticed how almost all songs talk about love ? After I broke up with my girlfriend, every song seemed to talk to me. When driving home from her house after our final fight, the fist song was "Missing you" by Everything but the girl. And when I put in a CD, I had Natalia singing "I've only just begun to fight".
So maybe there is a higher force that is talking to me through the music on the radio. Have you ever thought that maybe your all life course is being mapped out by music ?
You know what, i'll put it to the test. I'm walking now to my radio, switch it on, and the song will tell me what I should do with this ex-girlfriend.

==> the song they are playing now on Radio 1 is called "she's no lady, she's my wife"...i'm not sure how to interpret this...