Tuesday 4th October 2016

And for my next trick....

Well, it is tome for the monthly meeting in Leuven, but for the first time I started the trip actually in Belgium. This meant all I had to do was get up, have breakfast and get myself to the station, from where there was a direct train to Leuven at twenty to the hour, or something. Anyway, plan is made, and all I had to do was put the plan into action.

I even set the alarm, which was just as good. Outside it was still dark, so I shower and get ready and make my way down to the breakfast bar, where I have breakfast. Fruit and a couple of tiny rolls which I smother in Nutella. As usual. As Belgians don't know how to cook bacon, not like the Danes do. It should be crispy and crunchy.

I could have walked, but I was unsure of the route, but thinking about it I could have followed the tram tracks from outside the hotel, or I could have caught a tram, if I could have worked out how to buy a ticket. Or get a taxi, as the rank was on the other side of the road from the hotel. I chose the easiest most expensive option, of course. Station is station in most places, or at least the driver understood, whereupon he took me on a tour of the Ostend back streets at full speed trying to recreate the French Connection. But with waffles, of course.

We arrive at the station to find them building a new station next to the old one, and no where to buy tickets from. I wander round, and in the hall in the old building, there were two desks, from which I bought a return ticket for €60, and I had 20 minutes to wander round and take shots, and people watch.

Ostend station used to be huge, and very busy, but the ferry traffic has all but dried up, and so the walkways and linkspans beside the station are now unused, and the berths empty. The train edges in, and a few early travelers and myself walk to board. I have upgraded to first class, so I had to walk three quarters of the way up the train to find the first class carriages, I choose a seat just inside the door, and sink into the comfy upholstered seat.

On time, the train cluncked out. Its couplings tightening and loosening until the train built up speed and we moved out of the town, past huge marshalling yards and sidings mostly empty until we were in open countryside. The sun shone on the scene as we rattled to Brugge, and then onto Gent and Brussels. The train filled up, but at the three stations, most people got off, and I was in familiar terrortory as I travel this route each time I go to Leuven.

There is nothing better, at least for me, than to sit on a train and watch countryside, towns and villages and railway infrastructure slide by. And even better when you are paid for doing it too. I was in heaven, but of course once I got to Leuven it would be work time, so better get my serious head on.

The walk from the station is along a pedestrian only street, and one day I will have enough time to look in the record shop, but I had been summoned. No time for lunch either, so I double my pace and walk to the offices where I am let in and showed to the meeting room, and so the fun began.

At four, it was all over, and the three heroes could walk to our favourite bar for a well deserved beer or two. But there seemed little point of walking 5 minutes in the opposite direction, so instead we walk to station square and find a table in a small Brasserie and order beers, then some tapas and then another beer. All was good.

A short walk over the road and down the subway brought me to the platform well in time for my train. And despite the crowds waiting, there was penty of room in 1st, I get the same seat I had before, facing the direction of travel. And so as the sun set, I enjoyed the return trip to Brussels and then onto Gent and Brugge. As we whisked through the felds, the sun sank lower in the east, and just behind it, an orange sliver of new moon followed it.

I could have caught a taxi back to the hotel, or tram or course. But instead I thought that if I followed the south side of the harbour it would meet up with the promenade, and it couldn't take that long, could it. About half an hour was the verdict.

The sky darkened and stars came out, but once on the promenade, the moon had set too, but there was light in sky still, enough to take snaps with the compact camera before walking to the casino and then to the hotel.

A Facebook update revealed my colleagues to be in a restaurant nearby, so I quickly go out to join them, but met them on the promenade, all fed and watered. After a chat, I walk on and decide that it would be Italian, so tkae a table, only two others were occupied out of about 50, and order a beer along with insalata caprese followed by pasta with scampi. And it was wonderful. And English couple come in and sit on a nearby table, clearly on an out of season holiday. They share a starter then both have pasta to follow. They seem to be enjoying themselves. And I am too, even with work.

Which was nice.