Off to
the UK in two days, chiefly for the family annual theatre trip; this
time to the Criterion to see the The Comedy about a Bank Robbery . A
farce by the same team as the one we saw two years ago entitled, The
Play That Went Wrong and which went down a storm. So this choice is
by popular request!
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An enthusiastic marching Oompah Band of drums and portable
xylophones provided a robust soundscape!
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But
today, Sunday 7
th January 2018 I stepped out on a sunny,
crisp beautiful day which was also numbingly cold. The purpose was to
investigate whether or not free beer was being handed out to
residents, possibly to visitors and tourists, in the Burg. I found a
huge delighted, buzzing crowd of hundreds milling about, queuing for
free beer, gluhwein and coffee. The atmosphere was joyful and upbeat;
couples, singles, families all greeting each other with the
compulsory triple Bruggean kiss-on-the-cheek and chatting away as if just
released from long solitary confinement. I circumnavigated the
square to find the shortest beer queue [all beer was Brugse Zot as far
as I could ascertain, from the Halve Maan, the local brewery.] and
then joined it. The ambience was happy, happy, to say the least and
the ten minutes for which I queued gave me time to look and listen
and consider. I assume the Burgemeester and his council were behind
the generous gesture; rather more than a gesture in fact. A reward to
the long-sufffering townspeople for tolerating the huge, long assault
on ‘t Zand which continues. One year of chaos down there with buses
re-routed and pedestrians constantly challenged to find the new but
perilous path on traffic-strewn roads to reach the bus shelters, the
Concertgebouw or simply to cross to the other side. The chief
challenge after negotiating the traffic without the protection of
zebra crossings or lights, is to stay upright amid the edges of the
rubble. That so many do that, in generally good humour, time after
time over what will be at least eighteen months, suggests a free
Brugse Zot [Bruges Fool] per sufferer is earned. But full marks to
the Town Council for doing it with the good ambience it creates AND, after all, whisper it not in Gath,
elections are not far away!
