ODDS & ENDS

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This was the Bavarian Embassy in Bonn. Well that's how people described it, I suspect half in jest but wholly in earnest.

Don't forget that in those days Bonn was the capital of West Germany. It was only after re-unification that the capital was moved back to Berlin and that, while clearly an enormous operation, was undertaken for strong political reasons.

The Bavarians, from the south, were regarded by northern Germans as a bit, if not wholly mad, and therefore not real Germans. Hence the Embassy.

Just thought I'd give you a closer look at the British Week (actually a fortnight) bus.

I don't remember where the mask came from but it did the rounds

This is an incident I had completely forgotten. Anders breaking what I am sure must have been a huge crystal mirror at the top of the stairs. Clearly the photo above is a reconstruction as the mirror is already broken while Anders still has the ball in his hand.

Vittorio, on the other hand, is going for the more softly softly approach and auctioning off the ornaments.

This is the wee man peeing (Manneken Pis) in Brussels. He is reputed to have put out a fire that way and has become very much a city, if not a national, mascot.

So if he's in Brussels what's he doing in this series of blog posts about Brugge.

Well, I was told (Wikipedia) that there was another statue of him in Brugge.

But this is all I ever came across, and that fifty whole years later.

God only knows what I was doing here in Oostende - acting the maggot most likely. I should stay away from such things as I have four drownings in my family tree. But then I didn't know that at the time. It only slowly became apparent as I started researching my family tree some forty years later.

This protest graffito in Strasbourg against French state television, the fifth republic and the Springer publishing empire speaks for itself.

In the late 1960s, Springer was attacked by the German student movement for the political opinions propagated through the tabloid Bild and the other Springer media, and became a target of protest marches and direct actions. Anti-student campaigns in his papers were in particular blamed for the murder attempt against Rudi Dutschke.

There was a mention at our anciens' gathering of the time Gustle went out on the roof at Sint-Jakobstraat. I had absolutely no recollection of that and said so.

Image my surprise when I got home and was going through my old photos when I found this.

I still don't remember it, despite the photo.

Photo: Rudy Dannecker

Rector Brugmans demonstrates the right hand reverse head chop to Vittorio. Now, Vittorio subsequently rose to be at least one Secretary General within the EU Council Secretariat. I hope he never had the need to use it on his way up.

Observed on the way from Brugge to Damme. There is something about this picture which has haunted me since.

Somebody discovered a wig and the girls pitched in with my make-up and costume. However, as you can see I'd never have made a career as a queen.

Nuala, on the other hand, who is clearly the real thing, could have gotten away with anything.

I didn't want to spoil the continuity of my post on the Bulgarians with a colour shot or one of the performers in civvies. So here it is - the colourful Bulgarian fiddler.

Jan Van Eyck
"vraagt Leuven vlaams"

Jan Van Eyck is well known as one of the Flemish school of painters. He was also known for including elaborate inscriptions in his paintings and for being one of the few artists of his day to actually sign his works.

His motto always contained variants of the words ALS IK KAN (or a variant) – "As I Can", or "As Best I Can" – from the Flemish saying "As I can, not as I would", and which forms a pun on his name. The signature is sometimes inscribed using Greek lettering such as AAE IXH XAN. The word Kan derives from the Middle Dutch word kunnen related to the Dutch word kunst or to the German Kunst ("art").

So I have no doubt that he would have been quite content to have been conscripted into the language wars of 1968 and joining the call for Louvain university to be exclusively Flemish (Leuven). French out!

I'd like to pay tribute to my reliable photo processor Tuyttens in Nordzandstraat who were still there up to a few years ago. That family business has been replaced by JŪTTU a fashion, interior design, and food store.