First week away

Hello there from a little town in Belgium called Mechelen. It's the end of my first week here and while I won't necessarily be doing many updates from here I did want to do one this first week. It's not great to be away but I am making the most of it and trying not to miss Bulgaria (and A) too much.

Waving goodbye to A from the bus

Sitting right at the back; not cool

An arctic exploration plane parked next to ours

Detail of the logos

So as you know already from the excellent updates that A has been doing I left last Sunday by bus. It was pretty rubbish really because the bus time was 10.30 and so when A left me just before then I thought we'd be heading off but we sat for another half an hour after I waved her goodbye. It was a busy bus, but a comfortable one - much bigger than the one I get normally at 5am, and the journey was pretty normal. I arrived in plenty of time and shot across town in a taxi which was driven by a guy who obviously wished he was Ayrton Senna! Wow he drove fast. Unfortunately I'd mucked up my checking in and missed out on the good seats so I was right down the back of the plane however this looked like a good option as there was no one around me. The best part of the whole trip was the Antarctic Exploration Plane parked on the apron next to our jet; pretty cool. Before we took off a child started screaming and that was just the beginning of the flight from hell. Of course I was already unhappy at leaving Bulgaria so this really didn't fill me with joy at the decision I'd made. The worst part was that the parents kept bringing the screaming little horror back to where I was sitting. The mother was even laughing at it ripping everyone's ears out. It was horrendous. They quietened it eventually but then when we started in on finals it began again and screamed non stop, blood curdling tonsil wobbling screams, for twenty minutes. I even had a word with the father and told him to put something in its mouth but he just shrugged. Useless. They should ban anyone under the age of ten from flying.

In the AirBNB

As you can tell I was not that impressed. Anyway, the flight was easy other than that and so was customs at Brussels airport. I had booked into an AirBNB for the next two weeks and so messaged the guy when I landed and as we had been delayed slightly he said he'd come and pick me up to speed their evening. This was slightly more complicated than it should have been due to changes at the airport following the bombing there a few weeks ago. Eventually we managed to meet up and he drove us back to the little house, showed me round, blinded me a little with facts and then left me alone. Wow. I'm in another country.

That's enough diary style update I think. It's been an OK week, I found the office very easily on Monday, settled in quickly and was writing code by Tuesday morning which isn't too bad. My colleagues, Schweta my boss and Cis, are very nice and I have been made to feel welcome and valued. The town, Mechelen, is just beautiful and I've tried to get out a bit with the camera to capture it. Randomly enough Thursday was a public holiday which meant I didn't have to be in the office. I strolled into the centre of town around midday and was lucky enough to get there just as the parade went past with a marching band and went into the town hall for some ceremony that normal people weren't welcome at.

First some bridge porn for my dad

A dutch barge converted into a restaurant

A view of a church very near my work

Inside the church, looking up at the windows

Beautiful carving; the church is being renovated now

Well preserved old buildings down by the river

Plaster work of the Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden

The huge main cathedral

Another view of the huge square tower of the cathedral

A very cheeky cherub

The side of the town hall

More impressive decoration on the town hall

Looking down the side of the town hall

Chapel of St Julian, 13 century building

Outside the Church of St Peter and Paul

Some of the carvings inside the church

Looking right through the church

Above are some pictures taken on various walks through the town, showing just how beautiful the place is. I'm not sure I'd want to live here, and two weeks is probably long enough in this house as well, but if you're in the area I'd certainly recommend a visit. I've never seen so many people on pedal bikes either and not lycra heroes either. These are normal people, girls in proper going out dresses and blokes in suits, and none of them look flustered or concerned about getting sweaty. I'd have to shower if I cycled to work like they do but they all look fresh as a daisy. Amazing.

The party gets started in front of the town hall

Back to Thursday and after sitting in town for a bit with a beer I headed home, had some food then went out again in the evening. The place was a lot busier by then but I managed to get a seat back in the same bar and had a few beers before taking a walk as the entertainment had started. I wish I hadn't been so tired as I didn't stay for long but what I did see was two guys on stage leading the crowd in dance moves. Everyone was having fun but the best thing I saw was a toddler, she must have been about three or four tops, dancing very enthusiastically in her interpretation of the twist. There was no way to capture this for you so you'll just have to imagine. It was awesome. I was woken at about 11pm by the sound of fireworks and I'm pretty sure they were going off to music. I looked but couldn't see anything from my window so there's no pictures of this either.

Protection from the mozzies

Such steep narrow stairs!

And so to wrap up, a couple of things about the place I'm staying. First of all the first two nights I ended up being eaten alive by mosquitoes. I never normally get bothered by them but I was covered in bites and kept getting woken up by the sound of them whining around my head. I killed ten in one night and another six the next and then got fed up so after some searching I found a self supported mosquito net thing that I've slept under since and I've not been bitten since either. I'll be suggesting to the host that he gets himself some fly screens for all the doors and windows as well. The house is really lovely and well decorated however the stairs are terrifying. I've lived in Sheffield and these make the steep stairs there look like a flat corridor. In the mornings I take my life in my hands being half awake and attempting to descend these.

So I'll leave you with this video, taken just now as I took a stroll around the local area. There's a little market with niknaks for sale and a guy playing a squeeze box sat on the corner. I watched a videoed for a while and then gave him some money and moved on. Lovely.

So as you can tell I am trying to make the most of it. This time next week I'll be sitting in a new accommodation which I have booked for the whole of August so maybe I'll do another update then or maybe I'll leave it a bit more. Thanks for reading.