Carl Billen wrote:
> Vlaams (Flemish), actually. I live in Schoten, which is a town
> adjacent to Antwerp (in the Northern part of Belgium). Actually, my
> French is worse than my English, which is quite normal for all the
> Flemish people (who have Dutch as their mother language), because
> their third language (English) is much better than the second
> (national) language, French. But how is it that someone from
> Australia (as your e-mail address indicates) knows of the two
> languages of our tiny country ? ;-)
I lived in Hengelo, the Netherlands for 10 months, (where I ruined my
German and picked up some Dutch), then in Bremen, Germany for 2 years
straight and 20 months over the next 3 years (which means I now speak
both German and Dutch very badly).
On weekends, I'd often pick a direction, and take a train for the day. I
ended up in Ghent once. Stayed a few days in a hotel in Brussels.
Visited Antwerp. Learned what beer to order (Stellar Artois) and what
beer NOT to order (Jupiler). Note that Australians have a different
conception of distance. Sydney, for example, is 300 km away, and we
sometimes go there on a weekend for shopping.
I loved Belgium. It's almost surreal that half the country refuses to
speak the language of the other half. Must be a bit like Quebec...
It really tickled my sense of the ridiculous. I found the Flemish to be
amzed and delighted that ANYONE spoke Vlaams/Dutch. The Waloons were...
the Walloons. 'Nuff said.
Belgium's a great place for shopping, Brussels even had several Wargames
shops, vs 1 in total for the Netherlands (since closed).
And the Ardennes is some of the most spectacularly beautiful scenery
anywhere. Did a lot of driving round the Maas/Meuse.
> A digital camera would, of course, produce more pleasing results :-)
Yes, even my crappy painting seems a lot better when photographed.
> Maybe the 'Epic Identification Guide' is a good idea for Basil's
> /Commander Walker's new epic site...
YES. JML should really have photos to go with the E41K rules, just to
show what a Mk 1, Mk 2 and Mk 3 Vindicator looked like (REALLY Bad, Bad,
and very good respectively).
> Many thanks, for the extensive history description. I hope I can help
> you some time...
You already have. My wife's a chocaholic, and Belgium provides the world
with some of the very best chocolate in the world. :)
--
aebrain_at_... <> <> How doth the little Crocodile
| Alan & Carmel Brain| xxxxx Improve his shining tail?
| Canberra Australia | xxxxxHxHxxxxxx _MMMMMMMMM_MMMMMMMMM
abrain_at_... o OO*O^^^^O*OO o oo oo oo oo
By pulling MAERKLIN Wagons, in 1/220 Scale
Received on Wed Dec 03 1997 - 08:01:36 UTC