Before I forget!

Now that I have finished my summer read for Nicola’s book club and have almost made up my mind which book I decide to be called my personal best summer read, I can read one of the books that I keep as back up reading. I picked a Melissa Hill book. This Irish lady writes not books that you consider making it on the shortlist for the Booker Prize. No, these are reads that are easy and light and can be finished in no time. Still, in those reads there is sometime something that can touch you and that is exactly what ‘Before I forget’ does with me.

The story is a bit cliché. Nice girl falls in love, girl looses her love of her life, girl looses her spirit, girl gets into an accident, blablabla….. Part of the story takes you to NYC around Christmas time and that gives me already goose bumps. But it not only that. The story deals with the one ability the brain grants us to brighten up our lives: memory creation!

Memories we sometimes take a bit for granted. They are hidden in that one box that we can open whenever we want or feel like it. But what if you would not be able to do this anymore and that bit by bit your memories will fade away?

The protagonist in ‘Before I forget’ Amy decides to fight back and she creates a to do list she wants to do in order to create unforgettable memories. When I read her list I wondered what my list would look like. After some thinking I came up with this special to do list.

Things to do (unforgettable)


1. taking ballroom dancing lessons (with or without P)
2. interviewing my uncle J who was a Royal Navy diver during the 2nd world war
3. taking pictures during the four seasons of the oak tree in my mother's yard.
4. writing a book and trying to get published!!!
5. following my heart in most cases
6. visiting the Hermitage in Saint-Petersburg
7. attending once the Olympic games
8. change jobs more then once
9. parking my car in our tiny garage (back ways!)
10. learning one more foreign language (odds are high that it will Spanish)
11. visiting all the continents (this will be a tricky one!)

Some of these things won’t be that tough to do but some other might take some time. Also will cost some money but then I have some good reasons to hold on to my money instead of spending it too much on bags and books!

Knowing P some of these undertakings won’t include him. It is a personal list but you only get one life! Number 6 seems perhaps a bit strange but I really want to go there. The parking thingy is a challenge. In our tiny garage two cars fit when you can park your car very professionally and that is something that I really suck at. So this will also take some time but then I will be also able to park in other places less claustrophobic!

Number 4, 8 and 10 are perhaps a bit too much asked but I am already working at it. Perhaps I should have only put down 10 items but none of the above seemed less important to me. So this is it! You are happy to join me in most adventures! But cheering on can also so create a miracle! I promise that I will support any adventure that you are about to go on and you can call me when you need bailing out of prison! Unless I have turned off my mobile while visiting the Hermitage!

Back to life, back to reality!!

Soon my two months summer break will come to an end. For sure it was a very fun time that I got to spend with A at home and abroad. Highlights were the trips to Yorkshire to the B-family, the three days of Disney fun and the sunny break in Zürich in family company.
Now I am facing a new school year and that is always a bit scary. At one end I don’t mind getting back to work it is part of my job description. Of course it will take some adjustments after spending two months in the sunshine, stress free (most of the time!) and letting the day itself decide what we will do or won’t do.
Starting Tuesday I will be facing:

-daily traffic jams and hoping that I will always make it in time. I even thought about camping in the patio at work.
-Hearing the annoying sound of my alarm clock and then forcing myself to come out from under the cosy duvet in order to brush my teeth and facing my wrinkles in the mirror.
-Pupils with tons of wishes and sometimes outrageous requests. This year I will be teaching 6 hours of Religion so I hope that I can stay in the Zen mode as long as possible or that Saint Peter will grand me daily the entrance into the heaven.
-Tons of paperwork. Even for requesting a little amount of chalk or wanting someone with more brain cells taking a look at my computer in distress I will have to use ink and paper.
-Home work! Lesson preparations, the digital school diary and platform, evaluations, report cards, email-traffic, brainstorming, reports, creating new projects, etc. Tons of stuff that will be facing me after spending time in my car and getting the rumble out of the way that I created in my kitchen in order to prepare something nutritious for A&P!
-Putting lunch bags together for A and me! Cutting tons of pieces of fruit. I keep my fingers crossed that A will prefer a banana once in while.
-Meetings that will not always will be effective. I do sometimes imitate teachers who are planning ahead and I have to be honest it is not a pretty sight. Yes, I do admit it: TEACHERS ARE DIFFICULT PEOPLE TO DEAL WITH!
-Coffee breaks! I do need a cup or two in the mornings in order to return to the living but I am still amazed how much black liquid some of my colleagues can take in! I did try to keep up once with them but turned into an over active teacher. So I already packed some cans of Diet Coke to face those moments of the day!
-Parents in all moods, sizes and colours. Last year I had some less nice encounters but I am ready to face ‘the enemy’ and trying to mend fences in the hope there can be light at the end of the tunnel!
-New projects at home, at work, at the gym (yes, I do intend to go back there as well!),a new season at the book club with some challenging reads, last but not least at college! Yes, I did not end up getting good grades or finishing all my courses successfully but I won’t give up yet!
-My computer!!! More and more that little chap lets me down by not delivering the work I expect from it! Dreading the fact that I will end up in one of those computer shops where I nerdy salesman will try to sell me a new high tech piece of equipment and ruining my savings account!
-A team consisting out of tons of old colleagues but also new ones! Getting to create new memories and experiences! Guiding the new ones and student-teachers through this adventure! But also missing my close colleague I, who now faces her personal new challenge! I will miss her and already feel a bit lost at work not having her that close by any more!
-Driving around with A! Taking him to school, gym classes, grandparents, swimming lessons, play dates and other destinations. We will be for sure spending some quality time in the car together and I already want to warn the other drivers: pulling faces and head banging!
-The Swine Flue (we call it here the Mexican Flue) and hoping that I won’t catch me! Chances are quite high that it will find me having a doctor in the house, a five year old and then me working with some kids who think that soap and water you only use to wash dishes!
-The key routine!! Stallie and keys is not a winning combo and I will be spending quite some time searching for my car keys, the key of the mailbox, the key of my class room, the key of my locker at school. I bet that I will be emptying tons of bags in order to find those useful objects!
-Looking for new challenges! I am working at it but it is not that easy to find that one new challenge you are after. So once more I will need to write CVs and letters and buying stamps at the post office!
-To do lists!!!!!! So many things, so little time! I will run out of time and won’t make some dead lines! I wonder if I can buy a time machine to make up for lost time! Like the time I already lost by typing this blog entry!

Wish me luck!!! I will need it this year! I do promise that I won’t be a mean teacher, won’t give that much home work, will be nice to parents, my principal, colleagues, pupils and you!!! And not giving low grades! Uhm, that last one will be hard because I don’t teach geniuses but you can bet that they are geniuses in finding outrageous excuses that will make you LOL!! Hope to have school year full of smiles! I will promise I will put on my nicest smile when facing the 1st of September! Please be so kind and smile back!!!

A New Running Machine? Cool runnings, Part II

~A Gal's Journey~: Cool Cartoon - Discovering A New Running Machine?

Shared via AddThis

When seeing this all I could do was LOL!!! I came across this one when looking for a cartoon for my piece about atletics!!! Sports can be dangerous!!! Have fun and LOL!!

Cool runnings!!!

Once more we came home empty handed from the WC Athletics in Berlin. Not that is must have been a surprise to many but still. It is never fun having to face the fact that we can’t seem to compete with the rest of the globe in certain things. One of them must be then athletics and it seems that it is going to cost some time till we will be able to beat some of these big guys and women out there on the track.

Okay, Usain Bolt is a league of his own. While I was in 7th heaven in Zürich he won the gold medal in fantastic time. Cool, man!! According to many this won’t be the last time that this Jamaican will amaze us.

Reading the newspapers I did feel the tension out there in the Belgian camp. Especially the women’s 4x100 felt the heat. And it was not only the exotic temperatures I am talking about. Since Kim retired last year in order to become mother and did gave birth in the second week of the tournament the rest of the team need to rethink their strategy. The fastest girl of our nation left behind a huge gap that had to be closed.

The three knew that they were not going to find another Kim very soon and it was not with high ambitions that they left for Berlin. So when the first new reports reached us from Berlin I knew that these girls were in a pickle.

The heat was on and it did not make them run faster!! Nope they seemed to be out of breath and had no plan B to turn to. So when the four ladies failed to make the finals and the reporter asked them what went wrong I knew we had something coming.
The reporter was facing four athletes that were catching some air but at the same time looked very upset! The answers he got were very straightforward. Once more they felt so let down. “Hey, we did run not that well!! Nothing went okay! Passing on the stick went wrong most of the times. We did not practice together many times.” , were some of the sentences that came out.

Normally that would have been the average chat would be aired out to us but then the tone of the girls did change. “Hey, how do you think we feel? Nothing went right the last few weeks! What they have written about us did not make it any easier. Not only one year after the medal at the Olympics it seems that we are treated as dirt!’ , were basically one of the words of the out of tune ladies. They were pointing the fingers at each other while explaining why things did not went that smooth like one year ago.

Watching this scene I did feel sorry for them! Right there in the sun were standing frustrated, feeling let down, disappointed, outraged women. I think that all they wanted to do was run of as fast as they could to a shower and cool down! Instead they had to face once more the national press and answering useless questions. No harmony what so ever in that team and I do agree with that they need some more time in order to run more smoothly. Patience they asked of all of us and I am going to grand them exactly that.

The contrast with the men of 4x400m couldn’t have been more obvious. The fast guys did pretty well last year in Beijing and it was rather an unusual sight to see one white boy running passed some of the these coloured speedy Africans. They came in fifth and so the expectations were kind of high as well went they put on their running shoes. And what a sight! They first won their head and just ran past the Bahamas and the Dom. Republic.

I do love that race the 4x400m!! I am sprinter and so I know that running 400m can kill you!!! Before you know you will run without a breath! Respect to those people that seem to be able to disect their own running pattern in order to figure out the perfect race! So that we Belgians seem to be rather good at this very hard race is an accomplishment on its own!

Nils, Cédric, Antoine and Kevin just did one thing and that was running very fast. When they were asked why it worked so well, it was the oldie of the team, Cédric who gave the best answer: ‘ We want to fight for one an other! We just go for it! The trust grew trough out the competition!’ He pointed out that they did not had the opportunity to practice together a lot but that once they need to deliver they go for it. Cédric also pointed out that we have to be mild with the women of the 4x100!

Their final was also quite impressive! They ran a very tactic race and came in fourth and that is even better then one year ago. The boys were satisfied! Amazing to state is also the fact that this was not the best team that Belgians have out there. Jonathan is injured for the moment an he is our fastest runner! So very promising for the next big meet!

Comparing the two means it just shows that trust and unity is very important in a team. Perhaps that was something the 4 girls were running without. Also the lack of cement, of an individual who motivates and stimulates them! They are still looking and seem to be lost!! Cédric does it for the boys but there were moments that also the national press gave him a rather hard time. But put him in a team he will grow by the minute and so do his team members.

So the biggest challenge the next few months for Elodie, Hanna, Olivia to find the perfect fourth match for their team or at least find the cement they need to make the team stronger as ever. Not only in order to win races but also be a unity!!! ‘Cool runnings’ seems to be something that not everybody is good at. ‘Cool, man!!!’, would the average Jamaican say! It worked for Bolt but then they have got white beaches, palm trees, blue water and rum!!! So ladies perhaps a ticket to the tropics?

Züri Liebe

Zürich!!!!!! It got under my skin and not only because my sis L now lives there. Nope from the moment the plane made its touch down till we left it took possession of my hardest spot to invade. After six days tasting the Swiss life in all its dimensions I felt that this city for sure belongs on my city hot list.

While wandering around in a town where my sister already knows the hot spots and the hidden corners I did feel something that you want to feel when you are traveling. It is the rare sensation that this place could be your home where you can come to peace with yourself. The one spot where you can put life in the right perspective and where you want to pour an extra glass of that magical potion.

I had been to Switzerland before and I have to be honest Zürich was not on my wish list of places that I want to visit before I die. Thanks to my sis who decided that working there could be a real investment in life-experience I booked a flight. On top of that I was able to convince my mum to hop on the plane with.

So there we were two Belgian tourists who were going to check out this place. The moment we got out the train where L was going to meet up with us, it hit us! While sitting in one of the green city parks I became aware of how quiet this city was. Around me were tons of people sitting and you can be sure, most of them were not tourists but locals who were taking a break from work or taking the kids out for a day in the park.

While life was passing by all I could do was taking a deep breath of Swiss air and feel at peace. I did most of the stuff that my travel guide advised me to do. According to them you can manage this town in a few hours! Yes, you can pass by and just take a dip of the Zürich salsa or you give it the time it really deserves.

So this Belgian girl walked her shoes off, awed at the Chagall window panels of the Frau Münster Kirche, drank tons of fresh mountain water, sat down at borders of Zürich lake with a tasty ‘cervela’, paid a fortune for two scoops of sorbet, took tons of pictures with her tiny digital camera, tried out the superb public transport (it is even scary how punctual they are!), pulled herself together while passing by bakery Sprüngli (did spoil myself on the airport with buying the tiniest box of ‘Luxemburgerli’, sorry to break the news to you but I am not sharing those with anyone!!!), checked out unknown supermarkets with names like Migros or Coop, lost her sense of time while wandering through one of those Swiss temples of art, the Kunsthaus.

Furthermore I dipped my hands in the many colorful water fountains of Bern, taped my mother and sis while discussing the quality of the Swiss bread, got some make-up at the Swiss Harrods Jelmoli and got a nice make over by a really nice sales person (believe it or not but in Zürich every customer is considered important!!!), walked into numerous churches and caught the last sound of some splendid organ music, went for a day to Bern (calling it Basel half of time), went BIO at the Junkart farm, smiled at some nice looking bankers or stockbrokers who just seemed to have walked out of Hugo Boss add, checked out the oldest vegetarian buffet of the restaurant Hiltl, broke a huge (but fortunately) empty glass in the middle of the cafeteria at my sister’s work, helped my mother to escape the Kunsthaus after she touched the ‘Olivestones’ from Buyse and was covered in the olive oil, tried to cross the streets of Zürich like my sis (who trust every Swiss driver to stop for a pedestrian!!), took a break in the park to see Swiss Life pass by!

So ladies and gentlemen by day tree this Belgian girl was totally hooked! It did not matter that half of the time I did not understood the German they speak. And this even after some months abroad in Austria! Once a city finds a way into your heart and you feel the vibes you feel at home!! That is what happened right there at the banks of Zürich See. Can’t describe this very specific feeling but globetrotters will for sure know what I am talking about.

Suddenly it is not enough to be a tourist you want more, you want to fit in. Blending in with the landscape, do what the locals do and for sure talk like they do. But it is hard to keep up with the Swiss who seem to know where they heading for even if they wear high heels or speed by in a spic and span bloody red Ferrari! Believe me, I tried but my accent (like always!) gave me away in no time! So with sorrow in my heart I did board the plane heading back home.

I now try to make clear that Zürich is really worthwhile to stop at instead of ignoring when driving to your annual skiing trip or summer holiday! It seems so ordinary and rather dull. That this country is so clean is not thanks to the 7 dwarfs! No jokes allowed about dwarfs in Switzerland because this nation is proud to be that spotless.

And they should!! One look at the average highway you pass by in this tiny nation you know that we can better then the present result. Lately we not really turn up in any best list what so ever unless it is the worst. My sister pointed out that according to her own experience many Belgians work more effective and get done more in less hours but that there is not as much stress. According to many tourists Swiss are not easy to approach but that is not completely true. It just takes a bit more energy but once you managed to crack the ice they love to talk about many topics and things.

One of the very surprising things that I experienced was that they consider me talking Flemish!! Some people pointed out to me that we should be proud of the language that we speak and that it is not the same then Dutch. It is always strange to be pointed out by others that your own cultural heritage is worth while to cherish and take care of.

So what are we waiting for let us get all the rumble out of the way and make sure that there are more trashcans all over the place so that we at least can see clearly all the beauty. In Switzerland I did see some splendid views, art, landscapes, buildings, monuments and people and was I able to take deep breaths of fresh air!!

Okay, thanks to having my sis L over there it helps to feel more at home but I do consider Zürich now one of the big surprises in the list of places that I have visited on this globe. That Monocle, a well known traveler’s magazine , put Zürich first place on the list of best places to live and to start a business on this globe, is no surprise to me anymore. I do think that Chagall, James Joyce, Carl Jung, Tina Turner (according to my sis she walks through Zürich wearing a wig!) and even Lenin will still agree with that verdict.

Anyone for tennis!?

In about 4 days I will fly across the Swiss border and check out the new home base of my little sis L! Can't wait to wander around in the streets of Zürich and get lost in a new city to discover the hidden treasures! Already checked out the weather forecast and will need to take an umbrella but I don't mind this time because I will take my mum along. So it will be the three ladies out there and that is already so great. For my mum it is the first time that she will be back on a plane since dad died! On top of things it is also the premiere of a trip that she will spend with her two daughters! Can't wait and I will for sure have plenty to write about once I am back.





While I am out there there in the home country of tennnis legend Roger Federer there will be on other very happy tennis event going on: the official comeback of Kim Clijsters in the WTA!!! Yes, I am still a fan! Many people have wondered why I still have not written a piece about her. Well, the fact is that I just can't seem to find the words to realy describe her in a few sentences.





Believe it or not but I already knew her name before many other people combined her with a tennis racket. Due to the fact that my dad did spend every Saturday with friends who already were convinced of the her talent. It was the time that Dominique Monami and Sabine Appelmans traveled through the tennis world with a Belgian passport. My dad was a die hard fan and he even called in during surgery to have my mum keep him update while these ladies tried to play serve and volley!





My dad could rave on about Dominique because she was so little and but had that look in her eyes that only winners have. I did consider her for a very long time the best tennis player we had and I just adored her little steps the took while walking back to the baseline. When she won the Olympic bronze medal in doubles I was really happy for her. That this Walloon born girl could actually speak Dutch and gave such funny sounding interviews just made it even better. For me that lady really opened up the possibilties for all the other tennis girls that came after her. Her modesty, flair, urge to win, personal style and most of her so sincere smile were her true hallmarks. The little fist she showed when she had hit one of her winners was like she showed that this little nation was stronger then it considered itself!





So when Kim and Justine followed in her footsteps I was a bit sceptical. That Kim was born in Bilzen (I know P, she does now live in your hometown Bree!!! )did not give her extra credit. The two of them had to win my trust that they really were up to the test. Justine did that when John McEnroe raved about her backhand and announced himself being a fan. Kim did this the day played against Jennifer Capriati in the finals of Roland Garros! I remember that day so clearly. It was a nice sunny day and very nice temperatures and Belgium seemed out there to cheer her on. The match turned in a teetch clencher and although Kim did fight till the very last seconde she did loose that match.





BUT that day Belgium entered centre court to stay for a very long time. We suddenly were granted access to Wimbledon, the US-Open and the Australian Open and not a single reporter seemed to doubt about the talent of this girl! Kim Clijster won over many hearts out there and many collegues considered her the nicest player on the circuit. Even Venus and Serena were nice to her.



When Kim decided to take a time out in order to get married, become a mother, say goodbye in a proper way to her dad and giving her body a break I just sensed she was going to come back. Very soon there were rumors and already some people said that 2009 was going to be the year that tennis was going to be back on her menu. Also some sceptical souls wondered why she wanted to do this. It won't be that easy to face back the racket, the yellow flying objects, the 'mean' opponents and the fact that your body did grew a bit older! For the money she does not need to do this? So why?


Does it matter? Kim seems to know why! Personal I think that is the only thing that is important. Does she really have to give us a reason why she wants to play again, put her cute daughter (and does she look like her mother!!!!!) Jada on a plane and travel again in order to find out if her body can still manage to run wild after a flying object and hit it back the hardest way possible in order to win a game, set and match? Only Kim knows why, she senses something that made her decide to do this. So to answer the question her above? Anyone for tennis? Kim for sure!!!!

I can't wait to see the 'new' Kim on the court. Just hope that the average tennis fan will have some patience with her. The night of the game I will be sound asleep while Kim will be back facing her first love: tennis! On the opposite side will be standing the number 12 of the world. Bartoli is not an easy walk over. Kim even thinks she might not win her very first 'real' match but she is ready to face that fact.

So once more I want to thank Brian, her husband, that he gave Kim his blessing. Knowing that he also had to make some sacrifices (giving up your own sports ambitions in order to support your wife!!) he gains my respect as well. Personal it does not matter to me that she might not win this very first though match. I am already afraid of the newspapers that will call her comeback a nightmare! Kim deserves a bit more credit then that and we should be grateful that she wants go back out there. And God, I am grateful that I still drive my little Opel Corsa Kim Clijsters version!!! Love the woman, love the car, love the game!! So all she has to do now is hit that ball and feel the passion! You go girl!!!

Obama, the Cliniclown!

O is for sure not spending a lot of time out on the beach! First he tried to mend fences between a professor, a police agent and the half of the nation who really thought that he needed to rephrase what he said when asked about this rather unlucky incident! On top of things the press started to analyse the president his beer preference!! And even there he just got bad press because he filled up his bladder with 'Belgian beer'!!!

Uhm, Budweisser, Belgian beer!!! So sorry to break the news to you, my American friends out there, but the average Belgian would never call a Bud 'Belgian' beer!! I even dare to bet that a huge number of Belgians even does not know that Inbev ( the Belgian Beer corporation who owns Bud) hooked up with that brand. Personal, I only consider, Belgian beer, beer that is manufactured on Belgian soil! Honestly I just thaught that this was again so American to actually starting to put a secret agent on that topic!!!

I then guess that O has for sure some reasons to have a six pack or two in the fridge because for the moment he is trying to come up with something new in the hardest topic in the whole American politics, and that is health care!! You can be sure that many US-citizens are watching him very closely for what he is about to change for the better or the worse!!

When reading the local newspaper I do find not many articles what really get into the real problem that O has with changing American health care. Not that I blame them. Not at all because for the mainstream European who managed to get this part of this daily life completely covered it is a topic that we don't even consider that hard anymore.

I was 18 years old when my dad pointed out that when I was being an exchange student out there that my first priority was going to try to stay healthy. Being the very caring dad he took some extra insurrance to make sure that in case of an emergency I would end having the same medical care as I would have gotten here but it did come with a pricetag that was not so funny!

Through the years I found some very strange sounding facts about health care in the U.S! Like that most people need to get private health insurances and there many out there will never be able to get from top to bottom covered. So I read once a story about a woman, once she was able to afford to pay for her dental plan, who threw a party for close friends and family!

If you take time to listen carefully to the dialogues of the patients that end up in the ER of Mc Dreamy , Gregory House or George Clooney you will for sure find out that many patients seem not to get the 'best' care. Many of them seem only have a basic insurance package and a huge number does not even have anything! Like they are gambling with their lives!

At least so it seems to us, the ignorant European, who takes it for granted, let us be a bit honest with ourselves here, to have full access to a very well developed health care system for all!! It is the most 'social' element we have build in our daily lives. Part of our pay check goes straight to that departement and many governments will come up with extra taxes to make sure that we still can afford that first class service in a hospital, at the dentist, at the pharmacist or in the ER! And yes, the more money you make to more you will seeing going that way. Also big corporations know for sure where a part of their profits will go. It is one of the major reasons why many individual entrepreneurs and less big coorperations go down the tubes that fast. They can't carry the cost of labour! Labour who needs to stay healthy in order to function.

Believe me this is something that the average American considers to much interference! In huge nation where they just think different about health care in general. The more the government will interfer with your daily lives the less free the individual will feel. In case you never took it close look at the American Constitution personal freedom is in the US someting sacred.

Trying to reform health care out there is the biggest challenge out there for an American President! Many tried and also most failed or had to settle for a compromise! O already should get a bit more credit that he wants to try to tackle this one.

And yes, even our system is not waterproof! There are moments that when I am sitting out there in the waiting room of Personal Physician of my own choice that I do realise that it thanks to me and millions of other 'social thinkers' that the kid sitting across the room with an astma, the older lady with a severe cold at the other end, the colorful Indian with a rash sitting next me and the guy in bussiness suit who stumbles in with painful wrist after playing squash get all the care they need.

I do mention this when I teach my pupils about our social security system. You can be sure that I then really want to get my message across. That there is not one system that will and can work if you not help it work, put some energy into yourself. If do have pupils who consider our system the easy ride. 'I will be taken care of when I do get in trouble!', many will tell me when I do point out that it is thanks to many of us who pay their taxes honestly and 'donate' a very huge part of their pay check to the many social related systems that we can go living healthy!!

I do hate the impression that there are people that take this system for granted and will even try to get profit out of it. Then I would love to put them on a plane to the States!!! I do to get then in a less healthy rage. IS THIS SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND????? IT ONLY WORKS IF YOU HELP IT WORK!!!!!

I don't consider our Belgian system a five star system! It is not bullet proof and it won't stand the test of time. It will need some rethinking as well. And if I had to choose I would start of trying to be a bit more open. Aldous Huxley, one of the Nobel Price winners, his book 'Island' is perhaps a very good read for the politicians who want to reform the health care system. On that 'perfect' island everybody takes care of everybody! And you can be sure that is something we do less and less!! Not that it would work in his depicted form but it would help us to rethink our systems but it would for sure mean more energy and time then having to fill out a check.

I am very grateful to my mother that she took my grandmother in when she needed more help. She did not end up in a nursery home and was able to spend many sunny days out there on the sun deck and have her coffee with her personal preference of Belgian Chocolates. I do still feel very relieved about the fact that my dad died at home and not surrounded by medical equipment and tons of tubes in his body.

Perhaps the biggest challenge that we modern human beings will have to face in times to come is where we can find the most personal care! Personal I think that O will need some extra time to get it a bit more right. And to all those out there who are afraid that a changed system will bring to much government influence! Don't panic, I am quite assured that O will never push it that far. It wouldn't work in American society!!! But then it would have been nicer to have depicted him as a Cliniclown instead of the Joker on those posters!

P.S.: If you can't read the cartoon I have picked to go along with this piece then it is perhaps time to go and see a doctor!!!!

In need for a read?

When Nicola's announced some time ago that she was going to have to close down her bookshop I did feel let down. Yes, I did because at that moment I felt that the economic crisis also had hit my life. While the news was sinking in I was facing the fact that in a few months time I had one reason less to visit our old neighbourhood. And on top of that I was about to lose contact with the best book critic I knew! And what about the bookclub????

Suddenly I was really scared because for me the bookclub is sacred. That monthly happy occassion has, I am afraid so to admit, even caused some tension in our household. Everything has to move for the bookclub! Unless it is lethal, world threatning or a terror attack I WILL GO TO THE BOOK CLUB!!!

Through out the years that I have attending I have met some really interesting people. And yes, it is a general fact that 99% of them are/were women. Seems that men don't really have the urge to read a book and then feel like sharing their thoughts with others. I do know some exceptions but I meet these at dinner parties and they also come up with some very funny remarks about such meetings. Most of the time I then just LOL but I do then point out that Nicola is a very remarkable woman to have around in the world of books.

My dearest then sometimes diggs in and points out to the other guests that I have this severe addiction going on. That half of my monthly pay check I spend on books in all sizes, colors and categories. He then seems to think that he can go moaning about this very severe book-illness that he just can't seem to cure in the hope that he will gain some support. Have to point out that he tried to make me behave and I do assume that when we ever get married that there will be pre-nuptials and that there will be something bookrelated in there e.g. 'can only buy 1 book a month so that the peace at home won't be endangered'!

It was then also a surprise to me that after I had broken to him the news that Nicola was going to close down to hear him say:'I wouldn't worry, knowing Nicola she will come up with something new! She has got the entrepreneur spirtit that many of us out here so lack.' 'Uhm, I hope you are right!', was my reply.

Well, it seemed that he did knew Nicola a bit by now because a few months later during one of our last bookclub meetings she announced she would go digital!! Needless to say that all the build up tension in my body vanished and that there were no more nightmares going to creep into my sleep once I had closed my eyes!

As a result I am now an official member of Nicola's bookclub with full access to her very cool, user-friendly, up to date, conveniently arranged, globaly flavored and with a very nice personal twist website. Yes, you do need to pay extra to be allowed in but it is worth every single euro cent. Why, you might wonder?

Well,.... uhm just because Nicola is not just the average book reference databank. You will be able to google some other websites which promise you the same service and will happy spit out book reviews and also offer you tons of bookrelated stuff. Some even will give you nice discounts when you order books with them. But still these you can't possibly compare those with Nicola's venture.

Asking her for advice will really take you to the one read you are after. This lady has the gift to find in no time that one book that will save your life or can cheer up your less sunny days. The more you bug her the fiercer her attack will be. Nicola has just one mission and that is to make sure that books can and will make the difference in your perhaps a bit gloomy life.

You will sense for sure that Nicola knows her world and she has got a very distinctive opinion about most subjects. Still she won't preach and she does not expect of you do like or adore a book that she has a coup de coeur with. Nope, Nicola just wants share her experience with the booklovers around the globe. She manages to do this with lots of flair and a very down to earth style. And she still gets her diehard fans together for a good chat and brings along even some home made baked cookies or cakes!

The newest she is after is now the global approach!!! In case you live, in the Rainforest or Malibu beach, the Venetian Lagoon, upper Manhattan, at one of the Norwegian lakesides, the Yorkshire Dales, behind the Chinese Wall or at top of the Mount Blanc you are happy to join this global community!!! All you need to sign up for the digital book club is a computer with internet access and you are ready to meet booklovers around the globe!!!

Joining Nicola's bookclub is boarding for a new book adventure! Destination unknown but the guide is experienced!!! So start packing and be prepared for an unforgetable experience and all you need to do trust Nicola and dare to accept the unknown book she is holding out! Trust me it will for sure spice up your reading habits!! Buckle up, lay back, relax and enjoy the read!

P.S.: Getting a bit curious? Well, where are you waiting for and check out asap http://www.nicolasbookclub.com/