Ten years ago, the three Ks met for the first time: Karen, Kristel and Kathleen were brought together to form K3 (say “ka-dree”), Flanders’ answer to the Spice Girls. Ever since, K3 has ruled the world of kleuterpop – toddler pop – in Flanders and the Netherlands with titles such as “Oma’s aan de top” – “Granny’s at the Top” – and “Jongens zijn gek” – “Boys are crazy”.
Somewhere in the back of a drawer I still have my old smiley Kernenergie? nee bedankt – “Nuclear energy? no thanks” badge. These days I see things differently.
What goes around comes
around, and that applies to this
column, too. One of my first
extolled the benefits of medicinal
chest rubbing to deal with
coughs and a snotneus – a
snotty nose. And in the depths
of last winter I described the
arrival of the H3N2 flu virus –
where did that go to?
Dutch is not a language you
would expect to find has been
borrowed by other languages.
Walk through any Flemish
village, and you get the impression
that life here has always
been so good, you wouldn’t
want to move, not even to the
next village.
I can’t imagine you’re reading this while driving. If you are, do let me know. There’s probably a law against it and quite right, too. Certainly you can get into trouble if you use your mobile phone while driving. Perhaps you think that since so many do it you’ll never get caught. Well, if you live in or near Mechelen, you should watch out.
The ophthalmologist described my complaint as a case of “recurrent erosion”. Knowing there was a name for my stupidity was comforting. He said that mostly it was caused by people sticking combs in their oog – eye, or in my case a cocktail stick.
The holidays are over, at least for the sandwich-maker. No doubt you know someone who knows someone who’s trained their kids to get up half an hour early to make their own sandwiches to take to school. From my experience, this seems so improbable that it comes under the category of urban myth.
While I was reading under my oak tree last weekend, an acorn on my page reminded me that the summer was almost over, or rather that the school holidays were fast coming to an end. For Flemish schools de zomervakantie is an immovable feast: the full months of July and August.
Spending a couple of days at the coast is not recommended for those wishing to get away from it all. A stroll along de dijk - the promenade - will often involve seeing someone you know. At times Belgium can be quite a small place. Last week, we bumped into the lady who works at the baker's in our village and her grandson. She informed us that her daughter was zwanger - pregnant - with her third. Perhaps it was this comment that got me looking and what I saw was how many visibly pregnant women there were on de dijk.
These last remaining weeks of summer, many people start to complain of a certain aandoening - a condition known as festivalitis. De symptomen zijn - symptoms include - droge mond, vermoeidheid en hoofdpijn - dry mouth, exhaustion and headaches. Wat zou de oorzaak kunnen zijn? - What could be causing this? Well, my best friends know good and well that dit heb je jezelf aangedaan - this is entirely self-inflicted.
Flanders Today is a 
