In order to legally drive your car on Belgian roads you need to have valid insurance, hold a licence, be taxed and have a valid Controle Technique or CT. Now I must distinguish between having the right documents to be able to drive and to actually drive whilst remaining within the bounds of the law. I have no idea whether the problems of the UK such as failing to pay road tax, failing to hold insurance, no valid MOT and driving without a licence are as prevalent here in Belgium. One can only assume that there are similar problems.
When you register your car you get issued a number plate, which has a special mark stamped on it, this means that it is taxed. Tax is relatively expensive and is linked to the power of your engine. The UK is catching up with this but the big difference here is that you can get your plate and they will send you a bill for the tax a few weeks or even a month or more later. In the UK we pay up front otherwise no tax and therefore no car allowed on the road. It is surprisingly common to be billed after receiving the services or at least that is what I have found in my experience here.
You can arrange insurance here much the same way as you can in the UK except that it is less expensive to arrange it face to face rather than online. Insurance, I believe, is less expensive here. You need to be aware that if you have an accident and you cannot agree with the other party as to who is at fault then the police will be called and the cars will remain where they are, however inconvenient it is to the rest of the road users. As you can imagine, the police are called just about every time. In my experience (as a passing motorist) I have never seen an accident that has not involved the police deciding who is to blame. They can be in some very awkward places. In the UK the police are reluctant to get involved unless there is death or injury and then there is not much choice. Cars are shifted out of the way as quickly as possible as the idea is to get the traffic flowing.
To allow you to drive your car on the road you need a CT, which is the equivalent of the MOT test. The CT is conducted by specialist centres and all they do is test vehicles, they do not find faults and then offer to repair them at inflated prices. But then that is not to say that there is no corruption. It is quite likely that they will recommend local garages to fix your problems and who knows what back handers are in place here. You must CT your car when it reaches 4 years old and if you buy/sell it (regardless of age). The CT is reasonably priced at around 50 Euros, although if it fails it costs you around 12 euros per retest and you only have a couple of weeks in which to get the repair done.
I took my car to get tested and it failed on the headlights, basically there is an adjustment lever to dampen down the headlamps and this was not acceptable. Now, I had had my car tested the last time I was in Belgium and it passed with the same headlights and it was tested at the same centre. What does this tell me? Well it says to me that no matter who you ask for advice you will likely get a different answer when you ask again, this is a theme when it comes to officials. It would appear that advice varies with the time of day. In this case I was told I must change even though I produced the same certificate that they had given me and shown them the adjustment lever on the lights. As it was about to cost me over 1000 euros I made absolutely certain that it was required.
Now, changing the lights, that was an experience in itself. I was recommended to a garage that could do the work so I rang up and explained that I had right hand drive lights fitted and I needed left hand drive lights to replace them and make my car road legal by passing the CT. I was asked for the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) so they could get the right parts, the alarm bells should have begun to ring here, this was a British car and therefore the VIN would refer to UK spec lights. Not to worry I had made it very, very clear what my requirements were and the person on the phone acknowledged my requirements. To add to the complications I needed to get the lights changed before the CT certificate expired and before I went on holiday just over a weeks time. The car was duly booked in and on the day I had to juggle the cars with An to enable me to drop it off. I checked to make sure the parts had arrived but, crucially I did not check to ensure they were left hand drive lights.
It took all afternoon and I had to ring them to see whether they had finished. When I called they said there was a problem and I knew what it was, dreaded it really. I arrived, having juggled with An's car and a bicycle (the garage is about 2kms from An's work). when I got there they started with the excuses about the VIN and whether I really needed left hand drive lights. They had fitted a brand new set of right hand drive lights. I re-iterated that I needed to pass the CT test, as I had explained at length when on the telephone. They then started asking me who I had spoken to, in a bid to feign ignorance or language issues. I said it was a bloke but I did not get a name. The person in question was standing quietly at the back looking sheepish, he admitted freely that he had taken the call and that I had specifically asked for left hand drive lights. They then offered to re-do the work, which would involve re-ordering the correct parts. I told them I was going on holiday and that I would begin work the Monday after ie there was only what was left of this week to get it done. I also said that my CT would expire and that this would cost me. They managed after I had to state my personal circumstances again that they would fit me in before the end of the week.
Do you know I did wonder what they must have thought as they replaced perfectly functioning right hand drive lights with brand new right hand drive lights and thought that it must be ok. I mean what sort of idiot British driver would drive to Belgium to have his lights replaced when they work? Words escaped me. I did make this clear to them and they did pay my additional CT test fee as a result.
The moral of the story, well trust no one and try and remain calm. In my bid to keep my car legal and get it registered it had cost me a lot of money and a great deal of inconvenience. I have to say we have found a local garage that deals mainly with Volvo, this is because An's car is a Volvo. They are excellent and I would thoroughly recommend them, in fact it amazes me that they manage to turn a profit. They are very dedicated and helpful people. They also bill you rather than ask for payment up front, they work out of an industrial unit and are called Carzone. They were recommended by a tyre company that I suspect damaged the bearings on An's car when they removed the front wheels. We could not prove it and left it too long after having the tyres replaced to going back to them to challenge them. Another lesson for us there.
One of the frustrating things I have found when living in Belgium is not knowing where to go or who to trust for such things as cars or building/trade advice. Back home I know all of the places to go to get reliable and honest work done. I also know where to go to find the parts. I do think that the labour charges here in Belgium are lower than that of the UK, a bonus really.
Friday, 10 May 2013
Tuesday, 7 May 2013
The Shopping Experience
In the UK we are blessed with some of the most convenient shopping facilities and opening hours that you could hope for. We have mega supermarkets open 24 hours on six days a week, retail parks and shopping centres which open on Sundays and during public holidays and late night opening. We also have sales practically non-stop, or so it would seem. In fact it is so good that you almost don't have to think about whether or not the shops will be open or not.
Belgium, the shops shut on public holidays, sales are strictly controlled, some supermarkets have only just grasped the concept of opening until 20.00! There are days during the week where some shops are closed, this compensates for being open on Saturday. In smaller towns they close at lunchtime, although this varies. If you want to shop you have to check to make sure they are open, you have to actually plan ahead and think about it! I have been out before and the sodding shop was shut for stocktake during the day! There is not much consideration for the customer, they are just there to buy the stuff and competition is a dirty word.
Do you remember the good old days when we used to distinguish between January and Summer sales? Well they do here. You will only find closing down sales if the shop is actually closing down! There are perks, in a lot of shops they will either have a gift wrapping service or a gift wrapping area. In fact this adds delay to those who just want to get on with it, but then it is a very professional finish to buying a gift. You also have sweets on offer at the counter, when I first saw this I was not sure if I would be charged for having one. Now, however, I take advantage and have one every now and again. they are at the till so please don't go clearing supermarket shelves thinking it is free!
The main hazard with shopping is avoiding being run over by pensioners on bicycles as they go about their business. Actually in all seriousness do look out for bikes as they are ruthless. I must also point out that there is no such thing as a queue in a shop, be ready to just dodge ahead of some unsuspecting customer who has looked away for a millisecond. It is quite odd though that they have a ticketing system in some shops, it is like one extreme to the other.
My personal view is that there is not enough competition and range of products available when you go shopping. It is not the internet effect either as it has yet to really take hold the way it has in the UK. If you are looking for something specific then you definitely need to know where to look.
When you are out and about please be careful when using zebra crossings, drivers will not stop whilst you are waiting to cross, you have to be bold and step out. They then get rather upset when they have to then stop. If you stand there then you will be waiting till the cows come home. Cyclists do not stop in any event they just ring their bells and expect you to jump out of the way, the temptation to push them over is quite strong!
In almost all of the bars and cafes I have been in they will come to the table to serve you and the tip is included in the bill you get, don't leave any extra unless you think they really do deserve it. Sadly, I have found that service is usually quite slow, maybe because they don't see the tip as an incentive (it already being charged regardless of the quality). I was once at a music festival in Leuven and the place was absolutely heaving. The four of us went to an Irish bar, which was also packed. I said to my friends that I would squeeze my way to the bar to get the drinks but they insisted that we sit at a table, which we managed to find somehow. Amazingly this waitress appeared and then took our order. Being a good Brit I ordered a pint of cider (one of the few places you can get them), my wife and the other friends ordered half pints. Now I think it is important to point out that one of them was a veteran paratrooper who had seen combat in the Congo and here he was ordering a half pint. The urge to call him a shandy drinking lightweight (or words to that effect) entered and left my head for a short period of time. Discretion was the better course here! Most beers are consumed in relatively small glasses. Although the glasses come in all sorts of shapes, which is linked to the beer you drink. We are simple creatures in the UK and for us the glass is a functional container that is easy to stack and store. You would be surprised at the fuss that can be created by not having the right glass available for the drink.
Anyway this blog has rather got out of control, I suppose as a bloke the link from shopping to drinking is quite logical and reasonable as our trips have often ended up in the bar somewhere, especially at Christmas!
Belgium, the shops shut on public holidays, sales are strictly controlled, some supermarkets have only just grasped the concept of opening until 20.00! There are days during the week where some shops are closed, this compensates for being open on Saturday. In smaller towns they close at lunchtime, although this varies. If you want to shop you have to check to make sure they are open, you have to actually plan ahead and think about it! I have been out before and the sodding shop was shut for stocktake during the day! There is not much consideration for the customer, they are just there to buy the stuff and competition is a dirty word.
Do you remember the good old days when we used to distinguish between January and Summer sales? Well they do here. You will only find closing down sales if the shop is actually closing down! There are perks, in a lot of shops they will either have a gift wrapping service or a gift wrapping area. In fact this adds delay to those who just want to get on with it, but then it is a very professional finish to buying a gift. You also have sweets on offer at the counter, when I first saw this I was not sure if I would be charged for having one. Now, however, I take advantage and have one every now and again. they are at the till so please don't go clearing supermarket shelves thinking it is free!
The main hazard with shopping is avoiding being run over by pensioners on bicycles as they go about their business. Actually in all seriousness do look out for bikes as they are ruthless. I must also point out that there is no such thing as a queue in a shop, be ready to just dodge ahead of some unsuspecting customer who has looked away for a millisecond. It is quite odd though that they have a ticketing system in some shops, it is like one extreme to the other.
My personal view is that there is not enough competition and range of products available when you go shopping. It is not the internet effect either as it has yet to really take hold the way it has in the UK. If you are looking for something specific then you definitely need to know where to look.
When you are out and about please be careful when using zebra crossings, drivers will not stop whilst you are waiting to cross, you have to be bold and step out. They then get rather upset when they have to then stop. If you stand there then you will be waiting till the cows come home. Cyclists do not stop in any event they just ring their bells and expect you to jump out of the way, the temptation to push them over is quite strong!
In almost all of the bars and cafes I have been in they will come to the table to serve you and the tip is included in the bill you get, don't leave any extra unless you think they really do deserve it. Sadly, I have found that service is usually quite slow, maybe because they don't see the tip as an incentive (it already being charged regardless of the quality). I was once at a music festival in Leuven and the place was absolutely heaving. The four of us went to an Irish bar, which was also packed. I said to my friends that I would squeeze my way to the bar to get the drinks but they insisted that we sit at a table, which we managed to find somehow. Amazingly this waitress appeared and then took our order. Being a good Brit I ordered a pint of cider (one of the few places you can get them), my wife and the other friends ordered half pints. Now I think it is important to point out that one of them was a veteran paratrooper who had seen combat in the Congo and here he was ordering a half pint. The urge to call him a shandy drinking lightweight (or words to that effect) entered and left my head for a short period of time. Discretion was the better course here! Most beers are consumed in relatively small glasses. Although the glasses come in all sorts of shapes, which is linked to the beer you drink. We are simple creatures in the UK and for us the glass is a functional container that is easy to stack and store. You would be surprised at the fuss that can be created by not having the right glass available for the drink.
Anyway this blog has rather got out of control, I suppose as a bloke the link from shopping to drinking is quite logical and reasonable as our trips have often ended up in the bar somewhere, especially at Christmas!
Monday, 6 May 2013
Lily Allen - Choice Songs
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!
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!
Sunday, 5 May 2013
Buying Our House
The process of buying a house in Belgium is very different from that of the UK. Of course I am comparing buying a house in the UK in 1996, when compared to buying one in Belgium in 2007. The financial crisis and the waking up of financial institutions to risk has meant that they have tightened up everywhere.
Taking this in stages, one of the first tasks is to get finance, in the UK the market was at rock bottom which meant that more often than not sellers were offering to pay the deposit for buyers, which is what happened in my case. The flat I bought was on the market for £24,000 in 1996. I had absolutely no trouble at all in securing a mortgage in a couple of hours, even though I was on £9,000 gross pa.
In Belgium I had a bit of trouble just negotiating as the house was valued at 190,000 euros and the market was such that any viable property was being snapped up fairly quickly. It is worth mentioning that you get a lot more for your money in Belgium than you do in the UK. Anyway, the additional costs you need to pay here are: The VAT (BTW) of either 6% for houses older than 5 years or 21% if they are younger than 5 years old, the solicitors fees (a fixed % of the property value regardless of the quality of service), the loan arrangement fees and in our case the life insurance policies to cover anything bad happening to either of us. The reason I had trouble is that I was not resident in Belgium, which meant that they could not get access to my salary. Apparently this is a requirement in case I should default for whatever reason. When we made enquiries we could not be given an answer as to how much we could be loaned and therefore there was no quick answer. In fact because of the builder's holiday and the generally slow way in which mortgage applications take place, this turned out to be a very painful and drawn out process. We engaged the same solicitors as the seller, which on face value may not have been that wise but turned out to be quite fortuitous.
When An agreed to buy the house from the agent negotiating on the part of the seller, she aimed for a transfer date of the 15 October 2007 but was concerned that this might not be enough time to get everything sorted out. She had been assured that the solicitors and the bank would complete the arrangements in time. It is critical to point out that in Belgium, when you sign the offer and it is accepted, you can have a maximum period of 3 months to complete the process. Despite a verbal agreement that the 15th October was flexible on the part of the seller, this turned out to be worthless. The key point to hoist in is that whatever you sign up to is the thing you will be held to when it comes to the crunch, you will find that this is the case with all transactions of this type, your word means nothing. When I first came across here I read that you had to be careful about giving verbal agreement to contracts, it is total crap.
Anyway, as the transfer date closed in the solicitor was delaying for one reason or another and low and behold we got a letter saying that there would be interest due for each day of delay. I contacted the solicitor and stated quite bluntly that, as he was working for both the seller and the buyer, he would be liable for the additional costs as he was the person causing the delay. The bank had processed the mortgage, eventually, and it was up to the solicitor to complete the process. He soon managed to get a move on after that and it was completed on time.
During this process I wanted to borrow about 120% of the value of the house and normally, at this time, it was routine to be able to do this. Because of the bank dithering and taking so long to approve the mortgage I had, in the space of a few hours in the UK, secured additional borrowing against my property in the North East of England. I would now have to face the prospect of transferring Sterling over to Belgium, just when the euro/£ began its decline from 1.5 to its present 1.18 euros per £. It did drop further almost to parity, so you can imagine my annoyance at this additional complication in obtaining finance.
The most trying aspect of buying a house was the seemingly endless delays in getting people to do their jobs, the bank and the solicitor in the main. We originally used Immotheaker from Aarschot but they failed even the basics of keeping an appointment. We then decided to use Leuven branch of Immotheaker, which was far more responsive and helpful. Immotheaker is a financial broker and they did all of the arrangements for us regarding loans and insurance, they made it easy.
In the UK, the problem was the solicitor had forgotten all of the things we had discussed when I met him at his office, especially they key point of the seller paying the deposit. A quick reminder sorted that out. During my time with this flat I re-mortgaged several times and each time it was a very quick and convenient process. Nothing is quick and convenient in Belgium when it comes to buying a house. Even the extra borrowing we obtained to get a pitched roof instead of the flat roof involved solicitors, fees and another lengthy arrangement to cover the process.
The lesson from this is never trust anyone's word, get a signed document which details this. I insisted on getting the solicitor to ensure that the seller retained responsibility for the de-commissioned fuel tank that was buried somewhere in the grounds of the house. He was very blasé and when I started getting angry he just gave in and called his far more competent assistant in, who assured me that it would be written into the contract. He can stand by if I ever find out that he was lying! The same man kept An and I waiting as he discussed the décor of his house in plain view of us. Our appointment time came and went and he then had the balls to try and persuade us to arrange a post nuptial agreement to cover our house should one of us die. Apparently half of the house would go to the family under current arrangements as we had bought this before getting married. All the time my ticket on the car was getting closer to expiry and in fact I ended up with a parking ticket. I was livid and ended up demanding that they pay it as they had kept us unnecessarily. In the end I did not follow this up but rather resolved to never ever use them again and not to recommend them should anyone ask.
I got the feeling that there were people just on a gravy train and that within Aarschot there was a small town complex and that everyone is just taking advantage. I am sure it was just me being sceptical and wary of being had, still didn't make any difference though!
The house we bought, although fundamentally sound was in dire need of updating. in fact just about any house that was available on the market needed a good gutting and refurbishment. It seemed that no one had decorated since moving in sometime in the early 70s. The house was a 1970s social housing build, part of a 100 house development. There was wood panelling throughout the ground floor and on the ceilings, the bathroom and kitchen were original and probably antique. It was dark and in need of brightening up. I have to say that housing design in Belgium is extremely varied with all sorts of shapes and designs, almost as though there are no planning controls. In fact, as I understand it, they have really only just started to get to grips with planning controls as I will reveal in another blog about our loft. They do seem to like narrow buildings though and in a lot of cases they look like bunkers, lego block buildings with narrow windows. It is too varied to generalise though. One thing for certain is that you usually get land and a garage too. In the bigger cities this is less so, but for the most part you do well. In the UK garages, relatively speaking, are rare as is the availability of off road parking. In fact a lot of small gardens in the UK have been overlaid with concrete to provide this parking space.
Of course things have now changed both in the UK and Belgium as a result of the financial crisis, mainly in terms of securing mortgages. I still think that convenience and service is better in the UK, but I am sure there are many with experience in the UK who will disagree.
Taking this in stages, one of the first tasks is to get finance, in the UK the market was at rock bottom which meant that more often than not sellers were offering to pay the deposit for buyers, which is what happened in my case. The flat I bought was on the market for £24,000 in 1996. I had absolutely no trouble at all in securing a mortgage in a couple of hours, even though I was on £9,000 gross pa.
In Belgium I had a bit of trouble just negotiating as the house was valued at 190,000 euros and the market was such that any viable property was being snapped up fairly quickly. It is worth mentioning that you get a lot more for your money in Belgium than you do in the UK. Anyway, the additional costs you need to pay here are: The VAT (BTW) of either 6% for houses older than 5 years or 21% if they are younger than 5 years old, the solicitors fees (a fixed % of the property value regardless of the quality of service), the loan arrangement fees and in our case the life insurance policies to cover anything bad happening to either of us. The reason I had trouble is that I was not resident in Belgium, which meant that they could not get access to my salary. Apparently this is a requirement in case I should default for whatever reason. When we made enquiries we could not be given an answer as to how much we could be loaned and therefore there was no quick answer. In fact because of the builder's holiday and the generally slow way in which mortgage applications take place, this turned out to be a very painful and drawn out process. We engaged the same solicitors as the seller, which on face value may not have been that wise but turned out to be quite fortuitous.
When An agreed to buy the house from the agent negotiating on the part of the seller, she aimed for a transfer date of the 15 October 2007 but was concerned that this might not be enough time to get everything sorted out. She had been assured that the solicitors and the bank would complete the arrangements in time. It is critical to point out that in Belgium, when you sign the offer and it is accepted, you can have a maximum period of 3 months to complete the process. Despite a verbal agreement that the 15th October was flexible on the part of the seller, this turned out to be worthless. The key point to hoist in is that whatever you sign up to is the thing you will be held to when it comes to the crunch, you will find that this is the case with all transactions of this type, your word means nothing. When I first came across here I read that you had to be careful about giving verbal agreement to contracts, it is total crap.
Anyway, as the transfer date closed in the solicitor was delaying for one reason or another and low and behold we got a letter saying that there would be interest due for each day of delay. I contacted the solicitor and stated quite bluntly that, as he was working for both the seller and the buyer, he would be liable for the additional costs as he was the person causing the delay. The bank had processed the mortgage, eventually, and it was up to the solicitor to complete the process. He soon managed to get a move on after that and it was completed on time.
During this process I wanted to borrow about 120% of the value of the house and normally, at this time, it was routine to be able to do this. Because of the bank dithering and taking so long to approve the mortgage I had, in the space of a few hours in the UK, secured additional borrowing against my property in the North East of England. I would now have to face the prospect of transferring Sterling over to Belgium, just when the euro/£ began its decline from 1.5 to its present 1.18 euros per £. It did drop further almost to parity, so you can imagine my annoyance at this additional complication in obtaining finance.
The most trying aspect of buying a house was the seemingly endless delays in getting people to do their jobs, the bank and the solicitor in the main. We originally used Immotheaker from Aarschot but they failed even the basics of keeping an appointment. We then decided to use Leuven branch of Immotheaker, which was far more responsive and helpful. Immotheaker is a financial broker and they did all of the arrangements for us regarding loans and insurance, they made it easy.
In the UK, the problem was the solicitor had forgotten all of the things we had discussed when I met him at his office, especially they key point of the seller paying the deposit. A quick reminder sorted that out. During my time with this flat I re-mortgaged several times and each time it was a very quick and convenient process. Nothing is quick and convenient in Belgium when it comes to buying a house. Even the extra borrowing we obtained to get a pitched roof instead of the flat roof involved solicitors, fees and another lengthy arrangement to cover the process.
The lesson from this is never trust anyone's word, get a signed document which details this. I insisted on getting the solicitor to ensure that the seller retained responsibility for the de-commissioned fuel tank that was buried somewhere in the grounds of the house. He was very blasé and when I started getting angry he just gave in and called his far more competent assistant in, who assured me that it would be written into the contract. He can stand by if I ever find out that he was lying! The same man kept An and I waiting as he discussed the décor of his house in plain view of us. Our appointment time came and went and he then had the balls to try and persuade us to arrange a post nuptial agreement to cover our house should one of us die. Apparently half of the house would go to the family under current arrangements as we had bought this before getting married. All the time my ticket on the car was getting closer to expiry and in fact I ended up with a parking ticket. I was livid and ended up demanding that they pay it as they had kept us unnecessarily. In the end I did not follow this up but rather resolved to never ever use them again and not to recommend them should anyone ask.
I got the feeling that there were people just on a gravy train and that within Aarschot there was a small town complex and that everyone is just taking advantage. I am sure it was just me being sceptical and wary of being had, still didn't make any difference though!
The house we bought, although fundamentally sound was in dire need of updating. in fact just about any house that was available on the market needed a good gutting and refurbishment. It seemed that no one had decorated since moving in sometime in the early 70s. The house was a 1970s social housing build, part of a 100 house development. There was wood panelling throughout the ground floor and on the ceilings, the bathroom and kitchen were original and probably antique. It was dark and in need of brightening up. I have to say that housing design in Belgium is extremely varied with all sorts of shapes and designs, almost as though there are no planning controls. In fact, as I understand it, they have really only just started to get to grips with planning controls as I will reveal in another blog about our loft. They do seem to like narrow buildings though and in a lot of cases they look like bunkers, lego block buildings with narrow windows. It is too varied to generalise though. One thing for certain is that you usually get land and a garage too. In the bigger cities this is less so, but for the most part you do well. In the UK garages, relatively speaking, are rare as is the availability of off road parking. In fact a lot of small gardens in the UK have been overlaid with concrete to provide this parking space.
Of course things have now changed both in the UK and Belgium as a result of the financial crisis, mainly in terms of securing mortgages. I still think that convenience and service is better in the UK, but I am sure there are many with experience in the UK who will disagree.
Saturday, 4 May 2013
A Nice Cup Of Tea
A nice cup of tea is something you will not find in Belgium unless you make it yourself or find one of the few special people who have been indoctrinated in the art of making a cup of tea. The hot drink of choice here is coffee, in fact I was so annoyed with the poor standard of the preparation and quality of tea I even chose to drink a koffee verkeerd whenever I went to a café. It took some time before I found out that the word verkeerd meant 'wrong', so I was ordering a coffee wrong, which says it all really.
Anyway, order a cup of tea in a café and you will get a glass cup, no milk and probably a slice of lemon. The glass cup will have some tepid water in it and the tea bag will be in an individual wrapping on a saucer. You will also get some kind of accompaniment such as a biscuit or, heaven forbid, Speculoos (a traditional Belgian biscuit). The temptation to whip out a projector, laptop and various other learning aids and deliver a presentation on how to prepare a proper cup of tea is very strong, but it is in fact an utterly pointless exercise. On the packet that the tea bag comes in there is a pictorial representation of how to make a cup of tea, they key point being that it requires boiling water to be poured over the said tea bag. The exercise is also questionable because the quality of the tea is low to say the least. They most often serve Yellow Tea or English Breakfast, which of course is not to be found commonly consumed in the UK! They do have other teas such as Earl Grey, but they are for those who know what to ask for and in any event you cannot get past the criminal act of having it served on a saucer next to a cup of hot, but not boiling, water. So with the quality and preparation being so poor it is hardly surprising that there are not that many tea drinkers around, perhaps this was the anti-competitive behaviour of the coffee suppliers or just plain ignorance.
I must report that I have had some success in converting the family to Earl Grey tea, or Flash as it is known by the family back home on account of its similar smell to the detergent. I normally drink Tetley, which provides a good strong cup of tea. I do, however have to import this from the UK. The other thing I failed to mention is that if you ask for milk you will be given cream, because that is what they use for coffee, it just adds further insult really. As sophisticated as the Belgians are with coffee they are equally unsophisticated with tea and lets be honest why would they worry?
I regularly bring back tea for my in-laws and An is fully converted and knows the importance of ensuring that the water is boiling. For my father-in-law, he prefers it if I just waft the tea bag at the water as it goes into the cup, he does not like strong tea and certainly no milk. Occasionally he takes a bit of lemon, but at least it starts the right way. My sister-in-law has in fact broadened my tastes to other forms of tea but I do draw the line at fruit teas In my view these fruit teas leave an enduring taste in whichever cup or pot they are brewed in and a blowtorch would not get rid of this residual scum even if applied vigorously followed up by a wire brushing.
I mentioned speculoos earlier, this is a popular and famous biscuit that Belgians find very appealing and seem to like serving with coffee and other hot drinks. Speculoos is similar to a ginger snap but without the ginger, which begs the question, why? The British have an incredible range and diversity of biscuits but this is not reflected in the same way over here. In terms of appeal I would compare speculoos to a Rich Tea or for those weirdos that like Rich Tea, perhaps if I said it had the opposite appeal of a chocolate Hob Nob? I think that some brilliant entrepreneur came up with this biscuit baked with a bit of sawdust and managed to market it as the perfect nibble to have with your coffee and in doing so dominated the market. To all Belgians out there, try some biscuits from the UK, you will be pleasantly surprised, mind you they might introduce an import tariff if they get too popular.
Anyway, order a cup of tea in a café and you will get a glass cup, no milk and probably a slice of lemon. The glass cup will have some tepid water in it and the tea bag will be in an individual wrapping on a saucer. You will also get some kind of accompaniment such as a biscuit or, heaven forbid, Speculoos (a traditional Belgian biscuit). The temptation to whip out a projector, laptop and various other learning aids and deliver a presentation on how to prepare a proper cup of tea is very strong, but it is in fact an utterly pointless exercise. On the packet that the tea bag comes in there is a pictorial representation of how to make a cup of tea, they key point being that it requires boiling water to be poured over the said tea bag. The exercise is also questionable because the quality of the tea is low to say the least. They most often serve Yellow Tea or English Breakfast, which of course is not to be found commonly consumed in the UK! They do have other teas such as Earl Grey, but they are for those who know what to ask for and in any event you cannot get past the criminal act of having it served on a saucer next to a cup of hot, but not boiling, water. So with the quality and preparation being so poor it is hardly surprising that there are not that many tea drinkers around, perhaps this was the anti-competitive behaviour of the coffee suppliers or just plain ignorance.
I must report that I have had some success in converting the family to Earl Grey tea, or Flash as it is known by the family back home on account of its similar smell to the detergent. I normally drink Tetley, which provides a good strong cup of tea. I do, however have to import this from the UK. The other thing I failed to mention is that if you ask for milk you will be given cream, because that is what they use for coffee, it just adds further insult really. As sophisticated as the Belgians are with coffee they are equally unsophisticated with tea and lets be honest why would they worry?
I regularly bring back tea for my in-laws and An is fully converted and knows the importance of ensuring that the water is boiling. For my father-in-law, he prefers it if I just waft the tea bag at the water as it goes into the cup, he does not like strong tea and certainly no milk. Occasionally he takes a bit of lemon, but at least it starts the right way. My sister-in-law has in fact broadened my tastes to other forms of tea but I do draw the line at fruit teas In my view these fruit teas leave an enduring taste in whichever cup or pot they are brewed in and a blowtorch would not get rid of this residual scum even if applied vigorously followed up by a wire brushing.
I mentioned speculoos earlier, this is a popular and famous biscuit that Belgians find very appealing and seem to like serving with coffee and other hot drinks. Speculoos is similar to a ginger snap but without the ginger, which begs the question, why? The British have an incredible range and diversity of biscuits but this is not reflected in the same way over here. In terms of appeal I would compare speculoos to a Rich Tea or for those weirdos that like Rich Tea, perhaps if I said it had the opposite appeal of a chocolate Hob Nob? I think that some brilliant entrepreneur came up with this biscuit baked with a bit of sawdust and managed to market it as the perfect nibble to have with your coffee and in doing so dominated the market. To all Belgians out there, try some biscuits from the UK, you will be pleasantly surprised, mind you they might introduce an import tariff if they get too popular.
Thursday, 2 May 2013
Pancakes - Pannekoeken - Crepes
Pancakes, along with waffles are to be found served in most cafes and restaurants and, unlike their British counterparts, tend to be made from a batter mix that is creamier and sweeter. In fact you normally cannot get pancakes in most places in the UK as it is associated with Shrove Tuesday. What has become a treat in the UK is taken for granted here in Belgium and is freely available. There is, however, more to it than just a pancake, naturally.
I should start by saying that if you ask for a pancake with sugar and lemon, the waiter or waitress will check to see if they heard you right, at least twice. Pancakes are served in Belgium with among other things, ice cream, jam, chocolate sauce, warm cherries, sugar, whipped cream and a few other dressings. With one exception that I found whilst at the coast, they are never ever served with lemon. If you ask you will more often than not be given a rather lame slice of lemon, which they sometimes forget to bring so you have to remind them. You will also end up with three types of sugar, which is normal. The only place I have found a pancake with lemon and sugar on the menu was as Siska's, a famous pancake and waffle café on the coast in Knokke. Here it was called the American.
The drawback to pancakes in Belgium is the little known law that they can only be sold between the hours of 14.00 - 18.00 the sale of pancakes is strictly prohibited at any other times. I believe this is to do with the Union of Pancake Cooks who, after years of struggle with domineering employers, have managed to introduce legislation to protect their rights. Actually I am kidding, it just appears that whenever I want a pancake the cafes seem to cease making them for reasons best left to Stephen Hawking to work out.
I have often made illegal pancakes in the privacy of the home, in fear of being raided by the pancake police. I do however go back to basics with mine and use just plain flour, eggs and milk, this way I really appreciate the special ones when I can get my act together to be at the right place at the right time.
I do believe that waffles can be eaten at anytime, so maybe it is a competition thing that the waffle makers have over the pancake makers. We cannot call them tossers as I don't think I have seen a pancake cook frantically tossing away, but then it is in the privacy of the kitchen and I really don't want to know how they prepare the food.
Waffles can come with ice cream and or powder sugar, called bloem suiker. The bloem is Dutch for flour and also flower, confusing or easier to remember do you think? The bloem zuiker ends up everywhere especially if you try and make someone laugh while they are taking a bite. I might add that these waffles are very light and delicious as they are freshly made. You can get the dry dense ones in the supermarkets but they are not a patch on fresh ones.
I should start by saying that if you ask for a pancake with sugar and lemon, the waiter or waitress will check to see if they heard you right, at least twice. Pancakes are served in Belgium with among other things, ice cream, jam, chocolate sauce, warm cherries, sugar, whipped cream and a few other dressings. With one exception that I found whilst at the coast, they are never ever served with lemon. If you ask you will more often than not be given a rather lame slice of lemon, which they sometimes forget to bring so you have to remind them. You will also end up with three types of sugar, which is normal. The only place I have found a pancake with lemon and sugar on the menu was as Siska's, a famous pancake and waffle café on the coast in Knokke. Here it was called the American.
The drawback to pancakes in Belgium is the little known law that they can only be sold between the hours of 14.00 - 18.00 the sale of pancakes is strictly prohibited at any other times. I believe this is to do with the Union of Pancake Cooks who, after years of struggle with domineering employers, have managed to introduce legislation to protect their rights. Actually I am kidding, it just appears that whenever I want a pancake the cafes seem to cease making them for reasons best left to Stephen Hawking to work out.
I have often made illegal pancakes in the privacy of the home, in fear of being raided by the pancake police. I do however go back to basics with mine and use just plain flour, eggs and milk, this way I really appreciate the special ones when I can get my act together to be at the right place at the right time.
I do believe that waffles can be eaten at anytime, so maybe it is a competition thing that the waffle makers have over the pancake makers. We cannot call them tossers as I don't think I have seen a pancake cook frantically tossing away, but then it is in the privacy of the kitchen and I really don't want to know how they prepare the food.
Waffles can come with ice cream and or powder sugar, called bloem suiker. The bloem is Dutch for flour and also flower, confusing or easier to remember do you think? The bloem zuiker ends up everywhere especially if you try and make someone laugh while they are taking a bite. I might add that these waffles are very light and delicious as they are freshly made. You can get the dry dense ones in the supermarkets but they are not a patch on fresh ones.
Wednesday, 1 May 2013
Frietjes
Coming from the nation that is renown for fish and chip shops I had no idea that Belgian Frietjes were quite famous for their quality and preparation. In the UK you can get a considerable range and quality of chips from place to place, some are quite honestly, awful, greasy, floppy things. In Belgium it does not really matter where you go, the Frituur or Chippy, will serve pretty much the same style and thickness of crunchy fries. I must point out that they will have a slightly different taste depending upon where you go and I have no doubt there are some Frituurs out there who stray from the standards expected. In the main the standard is high and consistent across the board.
The Frituur cooks very much to order, they do not have things pre-cooked and awaiting the customer. It is always fresh and you always have to wait, regardless of how simple your order is, for example a small fries. The penalty of waiting is more than made up by the quality you get. In a British Chippy, you will get a variation of freshly fried produce depending upon when you happen to wander in and the tempo of earlier customers, this means that you can end up with some rather stale chips and dry fish. There is as much a range of extras in a Frituur as you will find in a Chippy but there will not be pies and they do not have either vinegar or baps, more of that later.
The Frituur is always busy and if you are considering a portion of fries then be aware that a small fries is in fact a mammoth portion that you will have difficulty eating. It almost doesn't matter what size you order at times. You will be asked if you want mayonnaise or something similar, there are a range of other sauces. The mayo can be splurged on top of your fries or apart in a plastic tub.
When I first met An she introduced me to Belgian fries and in turn I introduced her and her dad to a great British tradition, the chip butty. We were sat round the table having just been to get the fries and I innocently asked for some bread and butter. At first they thought, okay a bit strange but there you go. The faces then looked rather serious as I started to put together my chip butty, what on earth was this? It was as though I had taken two fries and shoved them up my nose. What a weirdo, why have them in bread? Well I have to say that I have not managed to convert anyone to chip butties but by God Belgian fries make good ones. The only drawback, as mentioned in the Pies blog, is the bread, if pre-sliced it is quite inadequate for the task. This is where you need to plan ahead and rugby tackle the girl in the bakers before she slices your bread.
The Frituur cooks very much to order, they do not have things pre-cooked and awaiting the customer. It is always fresh and you always have to wait, regardless of how simple your order is, for example a small fries. The penalty of waiting is more than made up by the quality you get. In a British Chippy, you will get a variation of freshly fried produce depending upon when you happen to wander in and the tempo of earlier customers, this means that you can end up with some rather stale chips and dry fish. There is as much a range of extras in a Frituur as you will find in a Chippy but there will not be pies and they do not have either vinegar or baps, more of that later.
The Frituur is always busy and if you are considering a portion of fries then be aware that a small fries is in fact a mammoth portion that you will have difficulty eating. It almost doesn't matter what size you order at times. You will be asked if you want mayonnaise or something similar, there are a range of other sauces. The mayo can be splurged on top of your fries or apart in a plastic tub.
When I first met An she introduced me to Belgian fries and in turn I introduced her and her dad to a great British tradition, the chip butty. We were sat round the table having just been to get the fries and I innocently asked for some bread and butter. At first they thought, okay a bit strange but there you go. The faces then looked rather serious as I started to put together my chip butty, what on earth was this? It was as though I had taken two fries and shoved them up my nose. What a weirdo, why have them in bread? Well I have to say that I have not managed to convert anyone to chip butties but by God Belgian fries make good ones. The only drawback, as mentioned in the Pies blog, is the bread, if pre-sliced it is quite inadequate for the task. This is where you need to plan ahead and rugby tackle the girl in the bakers before she slices your bread.
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