h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Welcome to "De Uiver" - a small bar in the Belgian town of Zaventem. You have walked across the town square, and are standing close to the church. Across the road from the church is ... De Uiver. Please - come and join the regulars.

It is a small bar - the street frontage is only about 6M. In summer, customers occupy all the pavement outside. Inside, there are tables along the front window. The bar runs down the left-hand side of the building - with enough room for about ten bar stools. There are tables along the other side. Towards the back of the room, a large pillar interrupts the bar. Two stools stand beyond it, partly hidden from the rest of the bar; the beer pumps are also behind it - and that is where the barman and the cash register stand. Only regular customers may use those two stools. By the way, the family that run the bar are Dutch - not Belgian ... but (of course) they speak Flemish.

"De Uiver" means "The Stork". Why does the bar have this name? It is the name given to an airliner. In 1934 there was a competition, sponsored by the British government, to see who could provide the fastest passenger service between London and Melbourne. Many teams entered. As it happens, the race was won by a British team, using a purpose-built plane ( the De-Havilland DH66 ) which could carry only one pilot and one passenger. The team that finished second were the moral winners. They were a Dutch team from KLM, flying a DC2 plane (named De Uiver). They carried a full complement of 12 passengers, and ran to an airline schedule - stopping every night, allowing passengers to sleep in hotels. They arrived only one hour behind the "winners". The bar you are in recognises what they did. That explains all the photographs and posters. I can tell you about them later, if you are interested.

Please - have a drink. Do try the beers - even if you are not a regular beer drinker. Belgian beers are special. This bar can offer you everything from the beers brewed by Trappist monks (so stong that you won't reach the third one), to light beers with fruit flavours. After trying at least one, you can change to whatever you prefer - just show willing - the manager, Paul, will apreciate it.

Most of the customers drop in for a few drinks after work. They work in the computer firms along the nearby highway. By about 20:00 in the evening, the bar is quiet - the manager looks after those who stay, and the place never closes. We can eat here, if you wish. Nothing exotic - just good, simple cooked food, or a plate of cold salad.

We have a "reservation" - I spoke to Paul earlier. The two bar stools hidden behind the pillar are for us. "Goede avond, Paul, Hou gaat et met u? - eine Palm en eine Bollicke, alst u blieft.". There - the drinks are ordered. Shall we talk?

alst u blieft?

Yes - the polite way to say "please" ... literally "as and when it suits you..."

Ah... as you wish!

Indeed. Let me know how you like this beer - it's from the Brabant area ... Cheers.

Goede avond, the beer blieft wonderfully, blieft?
Tastes very good, though!
Prost, or whatever.

oh no.... what happened here!!!!


people talking strange

what must I do.... is is contagious?

Oh.... I'll just have a beer
and wait for things to happen.....
do you have Hertog-Jan for me please?

It's a bar - strange things happen in bars. Your beer is on its way. Sure you wouldn't rather have a Duvel, and fall over in half the time?

I guess that depends on the companion... who I don't know yet

but why not have a Duvel indeed......

Doctors could probably quote several reasons for not having a Duvel, but after two, I forget the reasons. Well, de Uiver was my local when I worked in Zaventem a couple of years ago, so i reconstructed it here. What brings you here?

BTW - don't know how long you've been in h2g2 ... but if you're fairly new, you can click on the names in the posting headers, and go to the person's home page ... that's a way to find out about your drinking company!

Cheers!

uhm.. to be honest, i got here cause i saw it was the most neglected place
... and a belgian place, so i got curious.. (i'm from holland)

tnx for the tip, i used to be a lot here though...

went away for a while.. got thirsty.. and ran straight into a bar

can i have another duvel please?

You're most welcome.

Hey - Paul - another Duvel, please ... and a Hoegarden blond for me.

Ah! Thought I hadn't seen your name in the postings before. Welcome back.

Paul... Paul...???

am I drunk?

Hello, King Fabels, please forgive my rudeness, I have been daydreaming quite a lot lately!

Holland, right next door, isn't it?

Paul is the one who will be bringing the food and drink.

I'd like to know which beer is the one made by Trappist monks, though.

it used to be next door, but since the door had to be repaired all the time, they took it out of its construction and burned it ritually... these days it's a lot easier to get from holland to belgium and v.v.

Hi Paul, how are you?
you do a good job