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Tropical tribulations

How I pitied all who drove for days, shuffled along in airport queues or somehow strained to make their way down south for the Easter holidays, as Flanders’ beloved weatherman Frank Deboosere promised us tropical temperatures the whole week through.
Philip Ebels
(April 27, 2024)
Belgium for dummies

You might have already tried to soothe your friends and family back home, panic-stricken by news reports of lawlessness in Belgium. “It’s all right, Mum, this is no Ivory Coast. It’s a language thing.” And then you’re trapped. “Well, you know, they speak Dutch in Flanders, French in Wallonia, and they speak both in Brussels, which is kind of part of both, but not really, and...”
Philip Ebels
(April 13, 2024)
Don’t shoot the teacher

The other day I saw Rundskop, the celebrated film that made it to the Panorama section of the Berlinale this year, the first Flemish film in 10 years to do so. No comments here about the film itself – I wouldn’t dare – just some musings about the language.
Philip Ebels
(March 30, 2024)
'Gezellig'

I never know what to say when people ask me what the word gezellig means. They’ve heard their Flemish friends say it, even when speaking in English, for lack of a suitable translation. And that’s exactly it: there isn’t one. (The BBC once voted gezellig the sixth most difficult word to translate, after the Arab altahmam and before the Portuguese saudade.)
Philip Ebels
(March 16, 2024)
A typical day at the stamcafé

For more than two years now, I’ve been going to the same café around the corner from where I live in Sint-Gillis, to write, have coffee and look out the window. I go there almost iedere morgen, every morning, and it has become something of a second home to me. It is my stamcafé, my regular local hangout.
Philip Ebels
(March 2, 2024)
'vergankelijkheid'

For a few days each year the maple tree burns red in defiance of approaching winter. Now the leaves have fallen, and I pass bare branches. Winter hasn’t been able to wait to finish what autumn started, and the summer is a faded memory. Yet of course patience will bring spring and buds and renewal.
Alistair MacLean
(December 22, 2024)
'geheim'

Thanks to the Big Leak, the cat’s out of the bag, and many secrets aren’t secret any more. It’s true that some secrets are best kept. But, as recent revelations have shown, many are hardly worth the effort. Yet life wouldn’t be half the fun if there were no secrets, and what would Aspe, Deflo and the other Flemish thriller writers do then?
Alistair MacLean
(December 15, 2024)
'sneeuwpret'

Today has a morning-after feeling. The snow blanket has been mostly washed out by drizzle or, as the met office writes: In Vlaanderen dooit het licht – In Flanders there is a slight thaw. Zondag valt er regen in het westen – On Sunday rains falls in the west; elders is dat winterse neerslag – elsewhere is that wintery precipitation (snow, to you and me).
Alistair MacLean
(December 8, 2024)
'speculaas'

Coming out of the station at Amsterdam Zuid we were greeted by the wonderful smell of speculaas from a nearby baker’s. These gingerbread- like biscuits are instantly recognisable, combining kaneel – cinnamon, nootmuskaat – nutmeg, kruidnagel – cloves, and gember – ginger.
Alistair MacLean
(December 1, 2024)
'vissen'

Figures reported could not adequately describe the recent submersion of half of Belgium under a flood: 120,000 zandzakjes – sandbags – were reported to have been used and distraught burgemeesters – mayors – tried to grasp the enormity of the deluge by talking of miljoenen liters water. The sight from the train made a joke of the number of sandbags, and a million litres of water appear like a drop in a bucket.
Alistair MacLean
(November 24, 2024)