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

Hello Honey. Thought I'd pop over and say "hi" cos I don't know many Belgians (none at all, actually).
Do you get out and about? Ever visit England? Nearest I've been to Belgium was a year ago when my wife and I celebrated my 50th birthday in Paris.
It's a Bank holiday over here which means most people have a day off work (yes & the banks are closed!) but the weather isn't up to to much so will have a relaxing day at home. How about you?

well, no holliday today over here (not for me anyway...), although the weather is GOOD! (boohoohoo...)
Yes I've been in England, couple of times. Been to London (of course), Cambridge, Oxford... I LOVE your country, it's so *green*! A colleague of mine drove me through the verrry green hills around Oxford, while we were on a company visit, just to show me some things I wouldn't have seen otherwise.
Oxford impressed me. I was there for only four days (for a course) and I was alone. But people were very nice to me, they just came up to me to have a chat or show me around, it was great!
How about you? Where do you live?..

Live quite away from Oxford. Do you know the river Humber on the east coast? I'm at the estuary on the south side. Place called Grimsby. Heard of it?
And where abouts in Belgium are you?

Nope, never heard of it... Is it lovely?

I've lived in Gent for eight years now, but before that I lived with my parents closer to Brussels, in a tiny village. Gent is a nice place. It has historical value, and a lot of culture. Quite some young people (about 50.000 students!), so it is very *alive*! But it's not very big (I guess about 350.000 people in total), so it still has the atmosphere of a village, in fact. People are open-minded and care for what happens to their city. Anyway, if you ever come to Belgium, you just *have* to visit Gent! There isn't nearly any touristic guide that will tell you this, but it's true... It's more interesting to visit than Antwerp, I think... But maybe i'm just being a bit chauvinistic... (?)

Gent sounds delightful. Grimsby on the other hand, is probably not! It used to be a large fishing port about 30 years ago but not any more. There are lots of factories on the banks of the river: petrochemical refineries, a man-made fibre factory and lots of chemical plants. It really isn't what you would call "scenic" but if you venture inland just a little it is a different story. Lots of green fields and nice pubs...

Pubs are important!
Why do you live there if you don't really like it? More because of job-reasons, or is it a sentimental string (you know, family or something) that makes you stay? (or is it really the pubs?..)

Pubs, family and scenery....
Have spent all my life here and haven't seen anywhere else I'd like to live. Apart from Greece, Turkey, Italy....!
It really isn't so bad!
Have you any plans for the Summer?

yeah, some plans... I'll have to work till July 13th, but after that I'll take two weeks off and hurry down south of France to rest in the sun and do some sight seeing and barbeque with friends till late at night with a good glass of wine... (oh, I'd better not think about it yet, makes me wanna be there NOW!)
After that, August will be a HELL of a month trying to get together enough info to talk about on an oral presentation in Copenhagen, end of August.
And then hopefully, september will be a little bit more quiet again, and maybe it doesn't rain for a couple of days!

*sigh*

and how about you? Planning to travel?

Your plans sound good.
Nothing happening here this year - all spent up = broke!
Hoping to take the two grandkids to Portugal next year. We shall see.