It’s been an odd weekend here in Brussels. For security reasons, in light of an apparent credible and specific threat, much of the public transport system (anything that goes underground) has been shut down, shopping centres have been closed, and people have been warned to stay away from places where there might be large crowds. Football matches have been cancelled, municipal sports centres and swimming pools have been closed, as have museums and monuments like the Atomium.
In addition, the army have been brought onto the streets of Brussels:
Metro closed, all football games cancelled and city center looks like military base. #Brussels 2015 #Bruxelles
— Zaprudsky (@ZaprudskyOU) November 21, 2015
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
No one seems quite sure when this is all going to end – obviously, if they catch whoever they’re looking for, that would be grand. But if they don’t, are they just going to lift the restrictions anyway to let people get to work during the week? Is the threat something peculiarly time-limited which means it could only happen this weekend, for some odd reason? Who knows. For once, I’m not bothered that we don’t go into town much at the moment!
The Atomium photo above was taken a few weeks ago, when my in-laws came to visit – this weekend, though, the weather has joined in the general misery, with yesterday seeing our first snow of the year. I’d like to think it will also be our last, but that’s overly optimistic, given the bloody freezing temperatures forecast for next week… Another good reason to stay inside with the heating on and pretend that we’re somewhere tropical.
The boy has started trying his hardest to stay awake for as long as possible, even when he’s absolutely exhausted. Which leads to him getting angry and crying (he takes after his mother in this respect), which stops him sleeping, which all builds into a vicious cycle. The only way we’ve found to break the cycle to to wrap him in his sling and take him for a walk outside. This is quite a nice idea when it’s sunny outside, even if it’s a bit cold – less attractive an option when it’s dark, raining and freezing, though… We need to find an alternative that works that we can use when the crap weather really kicks in – I fear there might not be one. Any suggestions gratefully received!
When he’s not screaming, we’re introducing him to books. It started well:
And then he got bored of reading and decided to eat the book:
We’ll come back to that one…
ExpatinBrussels 