Other Than That, Mrs. Lincoln...

You've heard the old joke: the day after Lincoln's assassination at Ford's Theatre, someone asks Mary Todd Lincoln, "So, other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?"
You could say the same thing about our trip last week to Barcelona: "Other than that, how did you like the city?" You see, we were the victims of a clever pickpocket (I say clever, because that makes him look smart, rather than me look gullible and stupid). Our otherwise great trip to a marvelous city was rather dampened when my wallet got lifted, lightening me by around $600, a couple of credit cards, drivers license, ID cards, etc., etc. And, as is usually the case, it really was all my fault as the pickpocketing victim, falling for a trick where the thief pretended to assist us after a "bird" did "his thing" on our shoulders and shirts. He offered to help us clean up and, while I was distracted taking the goop out of Lucie's hair (it seems, after the fact, to have been some watered-down chocolate!), he managed to part me from my wallet. How dumb can I be? Here I was, on alert for pickpockets in all the crowded areas, like subways and buses, never dreaming that I'd fall victim on a quiet residential street. There really is one born every day. I'm getting over it now...slowly.
As for Barcelona, what a great place. I'll post some pictures tomorrow, right after I check my pants pockets to make sure nothing is missing.

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Euros!

No one will ever accuse the Belgians of giving up their traditions without a fight. I just read a blurb in the excellent, English-language weekly newspaper, Flanders Today, that, 8 years after the introduction of the Euro as the currency here and elsewhere, there are still 15 million Belgian franc notes in circulation, worth something like $10 billion. One can still use the franc as legal tender, though I have to say I have not actually seen any in the 2 years we've been here. Belgians seem behind most of the rest of Europe in so many areas, but here are just two more: 1) in converting restaurants to entirely non-smoking establishments, the Belgians trail even two of Europe's most famous human chimney nations, France and Italy. They apparently would rather fight than switch (you have to be real old to understand that one). 2) their license "plates," and I use the term loosely. They look like something East German Trabis might have had on them - some sort of mixture of paper, plastic, and metal. The paint fades so badly on them that I've actually seen a couple which are totally unreadable at 15 feet away. The mandate is to switch to the more modern European plates (I think glue-on numbers would be more modern here) by this summer, but the Belgians are moaning, claiming that this will do away with vanity plates. No such thing actually exists here - you can evidently choose your 2 or 3 letters and 3 numbers and that's it; nothing clever or original is possible. And yet they continue to fight. I wonder how you say "get over it!" in French...

Police Investigate Newest Criminals: ---holes!

That's right: the Potholes of Belgium are gaining such repute that the local police are now involved! Sure, there may be robbers, muggers, and thieves on the loose, but when was the last time one of those perps ever burst your tire or shattered your windshield? That's what the potholes (I think a more apt word might now be "potpits"; that's how large they're becoming) are doing, and you hear of more cases every day. I had to have my windshield repaired thanks to a couple of rocks thrown by a truck ahead of me, passing through the Valley of Doom, near the Waterloo exit off the main highway. One of Lucie's coworkers actually burst a tire passing through one of these not-so-grand canyons. Last week I saw the cops taking appropriate steps to insure that these criminal potholes are brought to justice: they were stopped on the highway, taking photos of several of the most egregious chasms. Now if that doesn't fix the problem I don't know what will! Why spend taxpayers' Euros to actually fill in the holes correctly when you can instead just take photos of them? They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I've got at least that many ready (most are unrepeatable), should any Belgian authority ask my views on how well they maintain their highways...