Time to stand and stare.

Along the far bank of the Groenerei. Artist unknown
but a beautiful work of art together with the backdrop of
hortensias.

A little time to stand and stare after a busy period. So for a Goodbye drink with Edmond and Patrick; leisurely lunch with Michelle Sunday; a coffee date and another lunch-with-friends coming up later this week. Perfect. Starting Dutch next month as is my vague intention, will be a shock to the system, especially as I have not spoken one word of it since March! Brugge is not the ideal town in which to  feel highly motivated to speak Dutch when the Bruggelingen tumble effortlessly from one European language to another, without a pause. Even the lowliest road-sweeper can speak some English!

In my more leisurely wanderings, I saw for the first time after an early swim, two men with a wheelbarrow, an amount of wet cement and two shovels, in Jan Van Eyckplein, adjacent to the

famous statue of the artist, carefully lifting, cementing and replacing upstanding cobblestones of the variety which caused havoc to my jaw last October. I felt a warm gratitude. An employee in some official capacity told me earlier this year that one person is employed just to walk around Brugge spotting troublesome high cobblestones. Plus, apparently, at least two more to re-sit the offending upstarts. Brugge, I salute your wish to escape litigation from troublesome tourists as well as enhance its mediaeval beauty!

Taking advantage of my lack of time pressures, I paused to notice an interesting little phenomenon in St Jansplein at the corner between Chocostory and the Belgian Pigeon House. The tarmac and under-rubble have been stripped back to the earlier cobblestones, covered when Brugge was
perhaps less concerned about historical preservation. New cobblestones are being laid; perhaps the original or earlier stones are unfit for use now, or cannot be re-used decently or are too large? The newly-laid stones will look great when the job is finished; tourists will be impressed with the continuing authenticity of the streets and the sleight of hand, as it were, will be mainly undiscovered! More stage presentation than necessity perhaps and none the worse for that. I remain incredibly impressed with the huge effort and expense to which the city goes, to preserve and enhance its mediaeval beauty. I further noticed today [Tuesday 29] that large-scale work is going on further down the same St Jansstraat and the road is closed to all traffic with buses re-routed etc. Nothing done by halves here!

 Reflections above and to the left. The original
window image of the mediaeval house
is much better in the actuality than
in the adjacent photograph.

Other little charmers noted on my more sedate wanderings these precious few ‘winding down’ days are the reflection on my terrace window of the tower on the Zwarte Zusters [and the semi-permanent crane] opposite; an exquisite little image in coloured glass [one of several] in a window in a notable house on the Potterierei, and a lovely lithe and liquid statue recumbent before a little bank of hydrangeas [hortensia] on the far bank of the Groenerei.[see above] All aesthetic life-enhancers previously and frequently unnoticed or not noticed with any serious sense of gratitude! I shall display this panoply of images for the delectation of the reader!