This is kind of a difficult post to write as it is trying to explain the complete difference in attitude to playing songs on the radio. I can't remember where I was when I first heard the song F**k You on the radio, but I do remember being quite shocked. I think at first I was not really sure until the DJ said the title and artist clearly after the song had finished. If you haven't heard this song before then I would encourage you to seek it out and listen. It is a very catchy tune and as it is widely and openly played on the radio here in Belgium I can just imagine kids skipping along merrily singing away.
I don't think I have noticed the Belgian equivalent but then perhaps that is the secret, the equivalent word in Dutch is neuk. They could do what they have done to a couple of Robbie Williams songs and sing them entirely in Dutch, but maybe that would cause more than a few people to choke on their coffee as the sound of neuk reverberated around the streets...
There is a clean version of this song which just omits the F-word, it is almost the same as the brain simply fills in the gap, but then the DJs in the UK do not emphasise the point by saying in a cheerful voice 'oh and that was F**k You, doing well at number 15...'.
I was discussing this with the family yesterday and even then I could not bring myself to say the word in front of them. It is just shocking and me being a Navy man of some experience, I do not shy away from such things, normally!
Apparently the song was a protest aimed at George W Bush and if you listen to the lyrics it is a good song!
The radio in Belgium is much like that of the UK, except that you lose most of the Dutch stations as you enter the Wallonian side. There is one other thing which is definitely different to the UK. For some reason they report the length of traffic jams but as one figure. For example they may say that there are 100kms of traffic jams in Belgium at any given point. It never ceases to amaze me I mean who cares? What you really need to know is where the traffic jams are not how many kms of queues there are. It may be better to say that normally there are 50kms of queues as a benchmark but then they don't give any clues about that.
The reality is that they may as well say the usual spots are jammed, as they always are at given times during the day and then just report the accidents. On my journey to and from home to work the choke points are always the same. If you leave, as I do, at around 6am then you miss the really heavy traffic but it is still busy down the stretch from Aarschot to Leuven (E314) down to the E40 which is the run in towards the ring road. Once I get down to the ring I have the joy of going left towards Waterloo and away from the chaos that is the airport direction and the infamous Antwerp junction. As I pick up speed and head west I see the traffic backing up on the opposite carriageway. Of course all of this is totally messed up when there is an accident or bad weather.
Anyway I digress, starting with Lily Allen and finishing with traffic jams!
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