Two Men in a Bush in Brussels

Hi!

How are you?

This entry comes to you from jolly old England. I returned to the UK on Sunday after spending four days in Brussels.

You might just notice that this is my first entry in a long time that isn't sad or melancholic. That's because I had a very good last day in Brussels. Wonderful. It's that day I want to tell you about.

I saw some lovely places, met some nice people, basked in beautiful warm sunshine, disturbed two men having sex in a park, ate a lovely ice cream and had my photograph taken with a cheetah and a bee.

The day started off with a visit to a couple of buildings - Saint Michael's cathedral being one of them - and a museum of music called Old England, which was very interactive and very good.

Later I boarded a Brussels sight-seeing bus and visited a park called Mini-Europe. It was amazing. By far the best place I saw.

They have lots of impressive small-scale replicas of European landmarks like Big Ben, the houses of Parliament, the Eiffel Tower, the leaning tower of Pisa and so on.

While I was there I was conned into having my picture taken with a man dressed as a bee. Later I was conned into having my picture taken with a man dressed as a cheetah. In both photographs the cheetah and the bee looked better than I did.

Anyway. Something funny happened to me in Mini-Europe. I bumped into two people - a woman and her teenage daughter - from Poland. We managed to communicate in mini-English and mini-Russian.

The conversations didn't last long because their English was as bad as my Russian. It wasn't so much small talk that we engaged in - more like tiny talk.

I saw Polish Woman and Daughter often in Mini-Europe. It was nice. After we left the park we said our goodbyes and I went to look at a huge and pretty impressive molecule-shaped type thingy nearby. While I was there I ran into Polish Woman and Daughter again. This time when I said "privet" all I got was two polite smiles. Then I saw them again and in return for my smile I got two more polite smiles.

Then five minutes later I saw them again and the polite smiles had become nervous glances. I realised they probably thought I was some sort of stalker and so I tried to stay out of their way!

Then a few minutes later I saw them again and they pretended they hadn't seen me. I decided to take a different route to them out of the molecule-shaped type thingy and I soon reached the outside.

Then I saw them again.

After that, I boarded my sight-seeing bus (just made the last one, too) and made my way back to the centre of Brussels. Polish Woman and Daughter packed their bags and boarded a flight to Warsaw.

Once back in the centre of Brussels, I visited an Internet cafe and made some more use of my free sixteen hours. Some time later I took a walk around the city and came across a lovely park.

I sat on a bench next to a calm and very peaceful pond. I mentally opened the book of my life and skimmed through its pages. I thought about my life, where I'm going, where I've been.

I never realised how travelling makes you think. It really helped clear my head, and helped me to forget Patricia's cruel words. I sat there for hours, looking at the stillness of the water, then I took a walk through the park and came across two men having sex in a bush.

At least I think that's what they were doing! They both emerged from the bush looked nervous, flushed and worried. So I went on my merry way and left them to their carnal desires and their vaseline...

Later that night I visited an ultra-cool, you-must-go-there-and-see-this, tiny cinema museum. I watched a silent film from 1928 which was accompanied by a man sitting in the corner of the cinema playing piano. It was unbelievable. Unforgettable.

I sat there for an hour in this small, dark cinema as this guy played the most beautiful music I have ever heard in my life. It was lovely and really quite moving - an hour I will simply never forget.

If you ever find this place, take a look in the book of appreciation, if they still have it. You'll find enclosed within some rather sentimental words left by a Professional Englishman.

And that was it for Brussels. I can't think of anything else worth mentioning. I used up plenty of my free Internet time. I walked a lot. I answered the call of nature a couple of times. Oh, and I discovered that I love Belgian waffles! And that was it!

After I got through the first couple of days there I did enjoy my time in Belgium and it is a place that I will visit again. I don't know when. But Brussels and I will eventually meet again...

And that's it! Thanks for reading this entry. I guess that this, my first non-melancholic entry in a long time, just goes to show:

Even a Professional Englishman can have good days now and again.

From the memory box of a Professional Englishman.

Skyler Black.