B for buses .... (in memoriam for a brave man)

A few days ago a traindriver was sitting on the bus that normally would have taken him to the station, so he would be able to start a normal day's work.

While sitting on the bus, a few youngsters became very loud and annoying to the other commuters. The traindriver decided to try to end the ongoing quarrel and walked towards the group of youngsters. He politely asked if they could keep things a little bit more quiet ...

Little was he to know that this would get him involved in a fight that he wouldn't survive. During the fight, most commuters left the bus. Only the driver and one couple stayed on board.

It's not the first time that people leave public transport while a quarrel breaks out. Up until 10 years ago, I too was a keen user of public transport. I quit taking the bus or the tram after witnessing a quarrel between a busdriver and a group of ladies that refused to pay the fare ... I also ended up staying alone in the bus, with the busdriver trying to break up the quarreling in order to get the very abusive ladies off the bus. My concern was for the busdriver. My eyes and ears were focused on both the ongoing situation and the busdriver's radio. I was thinking about how to operate the radio at the moment the driver would get into trouble ... (I didn't own a mobile phone yet at that time)

All the others had left ... Ten years ago the busdriver was able to manage the situation.

Ten years have past since then. The public's behaviour only has gotten worse. Some youngsters, regardless their nationality, seem to have no values at all. I didn't feel safe at that bus 10 years ago, but I had the guts to stay put.

But I must admit, after that incident, I've rarely taken a bus or tram.
Some people must think that I'm crazy ... driving through Antwerp! At least I have the feeling that I'm in control of my own situation and I drive as responsible as possible with respect for all, whether they are pedestrians, cyclists, drivers of their own mopeds, motorcycles or cars ....

And I certainly feel a deep respect for the drivers of all forms of public transport! Nowadays they risk their lives. During my childhood and youth, taking public transport was fun!

The world has changed a lot since then!

B for books and where to find them

Well you are most likely to find books in the city library:
http://stadsbibliotheek.antwerpen.be/MIDA/

Then there some renomated second hand bookshops like De Slegte:
http://www.deslegte.com/index.jsp
This shop is very well known in Antwerp. But what the inhabitants of Antwerp tend to forget is that De Slegte is in fact a Dutch firm!

My second favourite is 'Het Boekenvoordeel'
http://www.boekenvoordeel.be/

But in and around the city smaller second hand bookshops are to be found!
Whenever you come to Antwerp you must visit the Statiestraat in the district of Berchem and the Hoogstraat in the centre of Antwerp.

Do you want to buy new books?
Well, FNAC and Standaardboekhandel are the best known and biggest shops in town.
http://www.fnac.be/
There's only one FNAC in Antwerp, to be found at the Groenplaats, near to the cathedral
Standaard Boekhandel however, has got many shops across town!
http://www.standaardboek.be/

Well most books you find in the shops or the library will be in Dutch, but the library has got an extensive collection of books in foreign languages and also in Fnac and Standaardboekhandel you can find books in common foreign languages like English and French!

Absurd traffic situations and how to handle them

At this moment, a lot of road works are going on in and around Antwerp.
By this I mean, you must be either a very experienced driver to survive in Antwerp, or you must be ... local and used to all kinds of crazy situations!

Let me give you an overview:
Last year the highway around Antwerp was being repaired and we had to use secondary roads to arrive at our destination. Now the secondary roads need to be repaired and emergency bridges had to be towed away, so the highway is full and accidents happen every day.

Meanwhile, there are also road works going on in the centre of the city. If you don't know the shortcuts, driving through Antwerp is bound to make you nervous!

Next, traffic signs can be very confusing here: sometimes you will find signs telling you to do opposite things! Pretty confusing...

Last but not least, the average Antwerp driver is not very patient. It happens to me more than once a day that someone loses his/her temper because I mind cyclist and tend to stop to let pedestrians cross the street at a zebra crossing ...

Antwerp actors

Axel Daeseleire, best known for his role in the Flemish detective series 'Flikken' (Cops, in case you were wondering ...)



Filip Peeters, best known for his role as a private eye in a lawyers's practice. Today he's hot in Germany (or so I'm told)




Jan De Cleir, our most famous actor and former teacher at the 'Studio Herman Teirlinck' acting academy. A few years ago he came very close to winning an Oscar!






Johny Voners, my favourite actor. He's got multiple talents, from comedy to classical acting and even singing Charles Aznavour!




Julien Schoenaerts: a real classical actor, who's also know for his excentric behaviour. Nearly every former Antwerp highschool student who took Latin, Greek or Estetics as major subjects must remember him as Socrates in Plato's apology!

Nowadays, he must be over 80 years old. I hope he still gets the respect he deserves in his old age!


Werner Van Asbroeck, mostly known as a soap star, but I'm sure he's got other tricks up his sleeve...


Links will be provided later, please come back!

A: Alternative theatre: absurd or confronting the inhabitants with some of their bad habits

Antwerp is a city of many theatres, from biggest and classical theatre (Toneelhuis), Theatre companies acting in dialect, street theatre, satirical performances, amateur societies, all are to be found in Antwerp.

Here are some links to the sites of Antwerp theatre companies:
http://www.toneelhuis.be
http://www.echtantwaarpsteater.be (in dialect)
http://www.dezwartekomedie.be (satire)

I tried to find sites about local amateur societies, but so far I wasn't very successful. I'll add links later!

A for alternative music - meet some Antwerp Musicians

Meet some of my favourite Antwerp musicians!

Axl Peleman, my favourite contemporary blues musician http://www.axlpeleman.be/
Deus, yes, they really are from Belgium, http://www.deus.be/index.php
The Internationals, an Antwerp Ska Band http://www.internationals.be/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-cFeeN4Ayo&mode=related&search=cameleon%20festival (so you can listen to the music)
Savannah Station, an Antwerp reggae band: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScVMo2yO8iA&mode=related&search=cameleon%20festival (so you can listen to the music)
Ferre Grignard, sadly died in 1981, he can be described as our local John Lennon.
http://vtik.telenet.be/nieuws/kunstenaar.htm (I wonder how Ferre would react, seeing his name mentioned in websites)
The Kids, the first Antwerp punk band http://www.thekids.be/
Wannes Van de Velde, the best known Antwerp folksinger. http://www.wannesvandevelde.be/
John Lundstrom, folk singer (°1919 - +1990). Sadly today, there is not a lot of information available concerning John Lundstrom. Many of his songtexts got lost over the years ...

Do take a look at the links in this post!

Assassinations in the streets of Antwerp.

Thursday, May 11th 2006 will remain a black day in the history of Antwerp.
On this day, 3 people were shot in broad daylight and in cold blood. Two of them died instantly, a 2-year old girl and her African au pair. A Turkish woman who was reading a book while sitting on a bench got critically wounded, but according to the latest news, her healing process is getting along fine.

On Friday, May 26th 2006, 18000 - 20000 people took part in a silent demonstration. People that were not able to attend to this event were asked to wear white clothes at work to show their sympathy with the victims. I wore white that they at work, but seemed to be the only one apart from those who had the liberty to take some hours off to go to the demonstration.

The assassin was a 18-year old schoolboy, who'd previously to his actions, had been sanctioned at school. In the media it was said that the boy was known to have extreme right wing sympathies. He was being described as a skinhead.

Later on in the news, we learned the young man was related to an MP, belonging to the extreme right wing party Vlaams Belang. (Vlaams Belang can be translated as 'Flemish Interest)
But I wonder, how can it be in the interest of Flanders to shoot innocent people in cold blood and in broad daylight?

At the time of the demonstrations many participants hoped that the killings would make people think twice before voting Vlaams Belang again.

Now, as I'm completing this article, it's been 4 weeks since the killings. Polls have showed that voters aren't likely to change the party they for ...

I'm wondering, what does it take, before one changes his/her mind?