A telephone conversation

Setting : Saturday afternoon December 13, making a telephone booking for a reservation for 14 persons at a buffet restaurant. (Pls note that this conversation took place in Dutch)

Me : Hello, is this 'Peking Wok'?

Lady on the phone : Ya, this 'Peking Wok'.

Me : Is it possible to book a table for 14 this evening at half past six?

Lady on the phone : 14? Nooo, today 13, tomorrow 14.

Me : ?!? Excuse me ?!?

Lady on the phone : Today 13, tomorrow 14 !!!

Me : Aah, no I mean, I want to book a table for 14 for this evening.

Lady on the phone : Today?! You change to today and not tomorrow, December 14?

Me : Y'eeeeees, today...is that possible at half past six?

Lady on the phone : How many people?

Me : (becoming slowly annoyed now)....14 people.

Lady on the phone : No problem, always place here. What is your name?

Me : Manyee.....M-A-N-Y-E-E

Lady on the phone : Eeeuh what? M-A-N ?

Me : Manyee.....M-A-N-Y-E-E.....two E's

Lady on the phone : Manyeo correct?

Me : (exasperated)......ya, whatever. G'bye.

Lady on the phone : Till this evening.

Somebody should send this lady in question for a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Course ASAP.

Anyway, when we reached the resto in question I took a glance at the booking list....and yes, a certain 'MANYEO' had made reservation for 14......No wonder my friends who arrived earlier had no luck in retrieving my booking, lol. 'MANYEE' was not on the list.

Guns

Guns .... one might wonder how mankind can be fascinated by such a destructive device. In the hands of wrong men, it creates havoc and misery upon the victims inflicted by it.

My bro had the luminous idea to round up a gang of friends (Wim, Michal, Luc, Eric and Kim) for a round of airsoft gun battle. Using replica of real guns, powered by batteries and shooting plastic pellets, it is the near thing of real combat. Our gang was pit into battle against a bunch of Dutch fella's....and so it became a Belgium vs Holland game (with MainWah opting for the Dutch side to make the 2 sides even.....the traitor!!!).

2,5 hours of total mayhem, in a near pitch-dark warehouse .... the inevitable friendly fire (thanks Kim), the forbidden close-combat shots (yeah Luc....you really pissed those Dutchies off).....wins and losses.....pure adrenaline and curses. Cooling tempers down with a drink and buying those grumbling Dutchies a round.....no harm done, only some ego's bruised.

Boys will be boys.....no matter what one's age is. But heck, the day after, every single one of us bore the result of this supposedly harmless game......sore body all over, red spots on the body indicating the hits received.

Ofcourse, back home MainWah couldn't resist showing off his arsenal of gas powered guns. Wow, that's a different league altogether....lethal till a certain range (if not lethal, it can still inflict tremendous amount of pain......an example, one shot can still penetrate an empty tin can on both sides at a distance of 50 metres). And yups, little gal after hearing about our excursion playing airsoft guns wanted to hold a rifle in her hands herself.

And I always thought that girls only play with Barbie dolls........phew......I'm definitely mistaken....I better adjust to the modern era.

De Muze

"De Muze"

Imagine yourself an old jazz pub, where the interior has barely changed since its ineption in the 60's. Live jazz music every evening, relaxed atmosphere, drinks and titbits which are simple but oh so tasty and affordable.

And ofcourse, I did spend a good portion of my late teens and early 20's here in this pub, lounging with my friends of that time.....

Was strolling in the neighbourhood and Laetitia told me that she was thirsty and hungry and instead of opting for the fastfood joint/quick snack....I took her to this pub.

I guarantee you, in no time was she settled in, making herself comfortable, having a hot chocolate, eating an apple pie and reading her magazine......how blissful

Yes, it's dark, the smoke of cigarettes is constantly in the air, service is slow..... but nothing beats the atmosphere......ask the little lady.....kids are frank.

There you go, make De Muze a definite stop on your next trip to Antwerp. You will not regret it.

Sourcing reading material

Finding an English book title in Belgium is not really a given, as the lingo used here is Dutch, French and German.
But I promised to bring the little gal to the local bookstore and source out some reading lecture for her.

We barely entered the shop and her sharp eye caught hold of her favourite reading series....."Geronimo Stilton"!!!!!

Laetitia rushed like a girl ,who desperately needs some candies to quelch her sweet tooth, to that particular section but she suddenly applied full brakes when she reached the table displaying the Geronimo books. And her whole body demeanour changed, displaying total disappointment.

"What the h...?!?!" I thought, so I calmly made my way to her to see what was wrong.

Aaaaaaaah, the Geronimo books for sale were all in Dutch!!!!

Tough luck, girl .... continue your search.

Oh what a beautiful day

Browing through our media archive of our recent trip to Hong Kong and stumbled upon this clip. How could I have missed it?

Couldn't resist to show this to you.....the little lady in a splendid mood doing her thing.....enjoy the innocence and exuberance of childhood.