Happy Farmers of Europe

In the same block of offices where I am working for these couple of weeks is the office of COPA-COGECA. This organisation is the combined forces of the farming unions and farming co-operatives in Europe and does its best to represent the views of the millions of farmers, big or small, across Europe to 'Europe.' I can't argue with those grand aims, and neither should any of the farmers that are represented in the fantastic photography all over their offices. With apologies for the pretty poor quality and reflections of me taking them, here are a few I managed to get as I came out of a meeting today.

Happy Flowers

A cheese producer fully signed up to the concept of 'Movember'

My particular favourite...a very happy dairy farmer

Hop on, Hop Off

Working in Brussels for a couple of weeks meant that this weekend I had time to myself to explore the capital city of Belgium, the powerhouse of the European Union and all round rather grand place to take a stroll around. Except I didn't, not for all of the day anyway. For some of it I went on this:

And what a great time I had. I figured that rather than pretend I am a good European (I speak no language other than English and even that not too well sometimes, I cannot compete with Brussels residents on their dress sense/general stylishness and I am unable to drink coffee or smoke a cigarette with quite the same panache as any of the people I have watched while I am here) I may as well admit defeat and become a tourist. That way all of the above is entirely excusable on a Saturday afternoon because I am either queuing for, sat on, or have just got off the hilarious experience that is the Brussels hop-on-hop-off-sightseeing-tour. I could hardly get my 20 euro out quick enough when I saw the bus waiting at the Rene Margritte gallery, and after nearly getting run over by a man on a scooter and tripping over a cobble, I was on.

It is good news that other folk who aren't English struggle with being abroad at times too. I was sat next to a lovely fellah from Scandanavia, well rather too close actually, because his earphone lead was a little shorter than it really ought to have been and he had to lean in because the socket was on my side. Needless to say I wasn't really bothered because within 5 minutes I was COLDER THAN I HAVE EVER BEEN so was quite happy with the extra warmth.

Now if I was a tourist bus driver I would get a little bit stressed if it was busy with traffic. And it was. I don't know if we had a new driver or what was going on, but his tape with the explanations of the landmarks we were driving past was running quicker than the bus could get to them. This made the whole experience a lot more fun I thought: 'And to our left you see the Church of the blah blah built in the 17th century for King...' to actually see a McDonalds with a drunk man with an alsation with a bandana on sat outside it.

By and large though, a good visit. I have learnt that it was either easier to get things built in the past, or the Royal Family of Belgium had more money, or both. King Leopold was certainly adventurous in his construction and most certainly prolific, with most buildings we went past having some connection to him- a Royal Park here, a monument there, and my favourite, a beautiful gothic church built before his wife died ('Now Leopold,' said she, 'we could do with a better church for me to be laid to rest in when the time arrives, can you build one?') and now standing as a lasting memory to the Royal family as all the dead ones are in there.

My favourite bit was here though. Look at it!

This is the Atomium...representing the 9 seperate areas of Belgium at the time it was built for what was, as far as I understand, essentially a huge jamboree to celebrate the end of the war and the technical prowess of Belgium. It seemed to me very much like our Festival of Britain which gave us the South Bank in London. There is a lot to be said for this type of back-slapping-aren't-we-good-and-don't-worry-because-everything-is-going-to-be-alright-everyone type of building project. It makes people feel better about themselves and their country and ultimately is a good draw for tourists. With the current problems in Europe, something similar again wouldn't be a bad idea.