These shoes are made for walking.

Like mentioned in many posts I am a baglady and so I do own more bags then shoes. But I do have some dream pairs and one is owning a pair of TOD's. Every time when I see an ad of those Italian crafted shoes I get a very warm feeling. I have in some offical TOD's stores but every time when I see the pricetag I get it too warm. Even when there is airconditioning I run as fast as I can back into the streets. Needless to say that I have done this over and over and never ran out with a bag with the cool TOD's logo on it!

Still, secretly I hope to own a pair one day because they look very stylisch, are Italian, handcrafted and timeless. I do like shoes that are timeless because I happen to get attached to them so much that I just don't seem to be able say goodbye to most of my shoes unless I can't walk on them anymore!

But buying shoes is for me not that much fun. First of all because of my shoe size. I have got giant feet. Shoe salespersons have told me over and over that with my kind of feet that I need to be fast. They are always so kind to point out that when they order the new collection that the smallest sizes and biggest are gone first. I never get to deal with the problem of too many shoes to choose from. Nope! 'Uhm, in your size we might have one more pair in the back!'

So when P wanted to go into a shoe store I dragged myself in. Once I was inside I saw the typical light brown-orange boxes and wanted to take off as fast as I could. But then P said he was going to look for a pair and I was stuck in there with an overactive A who was pulling faces to clients and putting his tongue against one of the spotless mirrors!!

'I am not your mother' and 'I am going to ignore this!' flew a few times through my mind. While trying to think straight I started to look around. 'Better make the best out of this visit!', I then went on thinking. 'Hey, what are the chances that they have got a size 41!' A was already crashing on one of the sofas. P fitting some cool sandals. 'What a shame, they are too smale!', I then said. And heading for the exit.

-'What do you think about these?', P said.
-'They are women's!', I said.
-'I know, so try them on!', P said.
-'They won't fit! You will see!', was my response.
-'You never know! So try them!', was P his best punchline.

Imagine me sitting in a too hot shop surrounded by all very stylish people, salespeople who had just an Italian haircut and have season tickets for the suntan studio. I am sitting there sweating away and A is still showing body parts he is not supposed to be showing! But what could I do when two men are looking at my feet and want to see if the shoe fits? I felt a bit like Cinderella right there! So I slipped on the first shoe and......


....Instant shoe love it is as good as ...!!! Right there I had this amazing feeling on my feet that I was after. There are not TOD's but HOGAN shoes. But that is already one shoe closer to the real thing. Best ending of the shoe sale was that P got his credit card out to pay!! These shoes are made for walking and I am going to enjoy every step on these great ones!!! THANK YOU P and a big kiss to Dorino Della Valle who about 90 years ago started to make shoes in his basement!!!!!!

A cup of dreams!!

In order to calm down I am drinking tons of coffee and having tons of cookies to go along with the filled up cups! They are still not seeming to kick in and guess that this is calling for desperate measures: at trip to the Golden Arches.
To keep up the good mood I looked up some articles about the Nespresso coffee and came across this nice column wrote by Yoep van t' Hek! A rather notorious Dutch stand up comedian.

Read and perhaps even smile a few times.

Sorry for the ones who still have not taken a course Dutch! But this one I just can't translate! Although chances are that you understand the title!

"Koffieporno

Je koopt een koffiezetapparaat, een yuppendingetje, waar overigens wel lekkere koffie uit komt. Bij het apparaat krijg je standaard een aantal tinnetjes, die vrij snel op zijn. Bijbestellen kan of via het internet of je moet naar speciale Nespressowinkels.

Die zitten niet in Vogelaarwijken. In Amsterdam is er een in de PC Hooft. In die winkel staan superslanke jonge dames en heren in het zwart. Ze glimlachen je de zaak in en uit. Ik vrees dat veel mensen zich hierdoor vereerd voelen, maar aan mij is het niet besteed. Komt waarschijnlijk omdat ik zelf in het theater werk. Ik weet zeker dat ze het regelmatig uitproesten als je als klant de winkel hebt verlaten. Komt nog bij dat de PC mijn straat niet is. Te veel domme Burberrymutsen en vooral veel te veel maffiosi. Heb er altijd een unheimisch gevoel.

Het bestellen van de koffie kan ook via internet. Dan moet je naar de website. Daar schiet je doorlopend in de lach om het taalgebruik. Het komt er op neer dat een slokje koffie een beleving is, een regelrecht orgasme. De website spreekt over Grand Crus. Ze hebben het over de aanblik, de geur, de smaak en de tastzin. Er zit een opgewonden copywriter achter, een zwakzinnige met te veel coke in zijn neus. Dat lees je het beste in het stukje over de Nespressoclub, waar je na aanschaf van zo’n machine of een stuk of wat tinnetjes automatisch lid van bent.

Voorbeeld? De Club brengt mensen samen die allen dezelfde passie koesteren voor een uitzonderlijke koffie. In deze uitwisselingsruimte tussen kenners, omgeven door onze koffiespecialisten, beleeft u intens alle geneugten van het ontdekken en het proeven.We hebben het hier over een doodgewoon bakkie troost. Aanstellerij is prima, maar je kunt ook echt totaal de weg kwijt zijn.

Het is een concept, bedacht door hele handige marketingcowboys, die weten hoe ze van iets doodgewoons iets zogenaamd bijzonders moeten maken. Hoe geef je de mens, die door de alles verdovende welvaart volledig gevoelloos is geworden, nog een kick? Dan ga je heel raar en aanstellerig doen over iets doodgewoons als koffie.

De kleuren van de tinnetjes geven de sterkte van het bakkie aan. Zwart is heel sterk en dat loopt terug tot lichtgeel. Onlangs ging ik naar de Nespressowinkel en omdat ik het liefst zo kort mogelijk in dat etablissement verblijf, bestelde ik heel veel koffie tegelijk. Zeshonderd kopjes om precies te zijn. Drie smaken, dus drie dozen van elk tweehonderd. Ik wees de blauwe, de gele en de grijze aan. Binnen de kortste keren stond de bestelling op de toonbank. Vlak voor het afrekenen sprak de dienstdoende George Clooney: „Meneer weet zeker dat hij de Roma wil?” En hij wees op de doos met grijze tinnetjes.

„Ja”, sprak ik zo kort en bot mogelijk, terwijl ik dacht: waar bemoei je je mee? Hierna herhaalde hij de vraag nog twee keer op irritante toon. Toen ik hem vroeg waar hij zich zorgen over maakte, antwoordde hij blikkend op een computerscherm: „Omdat u de Roma nog nooit gehad heeft!”

Wat blijkt? Big Brother is watching us. Zelden heb ik zo snel afgerekend. Helemaal nerveus kwam ik thuis en siste tegen mijn vrouw: „Die engerds houden bij welke koffie wij slurpen”, waarop zij vertelde dat ze ook precies weten welk apparaat je hebt en wanneer het ontkalkt moet worden. Ik kreeg de meest gruwelijke visioenen. Twee dagen later werd ik gebeld door een meisje van de Nespressoclub, die een ingestudeerd riedeltje afstak. Of ik me nog veilig voelde bij de club? En of ik*.? Ik liet haar niet uitpraten. Lang geleden dat ik iemand zo hard door de telefoon heb toegeschreeuwd of ze krankzinnig was. Oprotten, wegwezen en me nooit meer lastigvallen was mijn dwingende advies.

Je mag toch hopen dat de huidige economische malaise met harde hand een eind maakt aan dit soort debiele aanstellerij, aan deze totaal doorgeslagen koffieporno. Nauwlettend volg ik de beurzen en daar ik veel koffie drink, kan de AEX me niet diep genoeg zakken."

Youp van ’t Hek

And yes, we have one of these machines and we do buy the coffee in one of the described shops! But up till now none of the ladies or gentlemen in black have ever asked us outrageous questions about our shopping habits or they have still not called us to check out if we are happy to be part of the Nespresso experience! Chances are few that George Clooney will walk in when I am sipping a cup but hey, dreaming away is still better then an empty cup!! You are always welcome to join the club at our place!!!

Disruptive volcano - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Iceland's disruptive volcano - The Big Picture - Boston.com

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Very nice to look at!! Thanks Boston.com!!

Stuck in a volcano!!!

Don't get me wrong but I love the power of nature. The fact that mother nature still can make the earth tremble, rivers flood, oceans turn in to a tsunami, make snow turn into major avalanche and that it can make volcanoes erupt! It keeps me aware the fact that the globe on which we have the pleasure to walk around on, still has the last word! A and I even watch those awesome nature documentaries in which they praise out the power of the universe! Most of the time I sit there with my mouth wide open and do I feel rather humble.

And as long the less nice phenomenas don't take part in my backyard but thousands of miles apart of my living room I don't really leave some sleep over them. Till Eyjafjallajökull is having a blast! Now I really think that nature can cause some chaos that effects my personal schedule.

Tuesday I am suppose to leave for Italy to meet up with colleagues for a three day conference about autism. The way things look now there won't be any planes going up in air till Tuesday and let that be the exact day that we are suppose to board a plane.

Positive thinking won't help in this case because the volcano on Iceland is the only who can change things! I feel so sorry with tons of people who were about to come or leave for a trip. In my worst nightmare there will not even be a French Open or that the South Africans will have to cancel the biggest party of all, the world championship football! Needless to say that tons of business people won't be able to cut the deal because of dust in the sky!

Iceland causes some painful numbers: 66.000 passengers without a plane to board and kids that had to give interviews for national television:
One little boy said very cheerful:'I get to sleep in the airport' but an other kid pointed at one of the camp beds (donated by the Red Cross in full action)and said:'This bed does not look comfortable!' Guess twice the gender of the kid who said that!

John Cleese was so desperate to leave Oslo that he got a cab and was willingly to pay 3.800 euro for a ride to Brussels to get on the Eurostar! Best Twitter line that was picked up:"Dear Island. We said: send cash, not ash!!!" Or somebody said that his hamster was walking over the keyboard and 'Eyjafjallajökull' came out a major spelling error!

I am not that optimistic about the dust cloud. Because in the past it seemed to have taken quite some time when it seemed that the mouth-breathing volcano had enough play time and fell back asleep. One of blog friends N stated in one of her posts that we should not worry about this but walk on the sunny side of life! Uhm, I was depicting myself with a big 'gelato' sitting on the beach after some meetings in the company of educational soul mates! The best I can think to turn this into something as sunny, is having to settle for home made lasagna and as dessert some ice cream out of the freezer. Most fitting selection is a frozen lollipop in the shape of the space rocket!!

P.S.: To tease my pupils I am going to make them write 2O times the name of this very inspiring volcano!! The mean teacher is back!!!!

P.S.2: In case you don't know any German to understand the cartoon:'How to we get rid of the sensational tourists?' 'We could offer scenic flights!'

Fabian,The Lonely Cyclist

It may surprise many but I do like to watch cycling competition! Not that the summer stands for the Tour de France but still. As a teenager I did witness Fignon loosing in one of the most dramatic ways his Tour against Greg Lemond. And because my dad loved watching the classics as well I did knew in no time certain bike vocabulary that makes the difference when I end up in all male company.

The day I left for the States as an exchange student I arrived at the exact moment as Eddy Merckx at Brussels airport. He was carrying bikes and was perhaps heading for Texas to hand over that personalised bike to his friend Lance! Eddy was during that year an opening line! I remember that many Americans knew something about Belgium once I announced he was Belgian!!

A few years ago P got an invitation to follow 'De Ronde van Vlaanderen' in a rather exciting way and I was allowed to go along! I still remember that morning in Brugges quite vividly. At the tourbus of Lance Armstrong there were tons of people standing to catch a glimpse of Sheryl Crowe!!

After a nice breakfast we saw the cyclists take off and got in a car. Imagine two cars with excellent drivers who know the whole way by heart because they were professionals themselves and 7 men and one woman (me!!) trying to keep up with them. The only sound in the car that mattered was the competition radio. It took me a few minutes to feel at ease amongst some amateur cyclists. Especially when the driver asked very seriously to make a prediction who had the best leggs and was going to win that day.

Most passengers started to analyse everything, compared previous results and called then out their favourite! 'And what do you think?', P then asked me. I felt so stupid at that moment because all I had to go for where a few articles I had been reading in order to prepare myself a bit not to look to goofy amongst those fanatics. 'Uhm, Tom Boonen, will win today!', I then said. The car went silent and I then stared out of the window thinking that I made a complete idiot of myself right there.

Well, turned out that day I was right!!! I witnessed that day Tom winning in a very nice way and a week later he won the hell of Paris-Roubaix as well! Perhaps that year I started to get the hang of keeping up with the whole biking world. When there will be a broadcasted ride on and the men will sit down and the women dissapear I stay!

Believe it or not I can go wild when something happens or when I do consider the way things go out there not as expected. Yesterday I saw the swiss super cyclist winning his Paris-Roubaix in a rather extra ordinary way.

I am reading the online newspapers for the moment and I do totally agree with many out there that Cancellare deserved to win yesterday. This Swiss athlete is blessed with the best leggs, condition, material and team spirit! Even the biggest loser of all, Tom admitted he was not able to beat this guy! The fact that the walser crush just took of at the moment that he was graving for a bite and a sip was his good right! 'I would probably have done the same thing!, Tom admitted.

Still, yesterday, about 30km before the finish I started to yawn and then decided that my book 'Talking About Jane Austen In Baghdad' was far more interesting then watching the cyclists crossing the white line. The only silver lining is that the guy is Swiss and because of present family connection I was able to feel a bit happy. But then I bet that my sis will had to put up with many more insults then me.

Bet that in Bern, the birthplace of the Spartacus on bike, the streets will be buzzing with this news. Perhaps they will even gather around one of the colorfull city fountains to celebrate and sing out their joy. I would consider the one her depicted for sure the most fitting one for that party! Cancellera is for sure the giant ready to digest many more victories! But forgive me, Fabian, I just seem not to get the hang of watching solo rides! Sorry!!!

P.S.: Fabian his wife, Stefanie, happens to be a hairdresser. But I wonder if she will cut her husband's hair because after winning so many you would start believing that those wonderful healthy looking hair are his secret powerbooster!. Fabian Cancellera, the Samson on a bike!! Uhm that would look nice as a headline, don't you think so?

Easter dreams: part II

I ATE TONS OF CHOCOLATE!!!! And now I am suffering of a chocolate indigestion! I kept my promise not to eat any easter eggs till Easter!! But now a few hours later I feel like I am going to explode any minute! No PM-egg to be found in this house. P told me very openly that he does not have time to do that kind of shopping! Still, the Easter bunny and the easter bells did there very best. The kitchen smells like chocolate heaven!!

On Friday A came home with his personal Easter basket and his first chocolate egg of the season! Next on was egg hunting with his cousins D&A! Three kids running wild in a wet back yard searching for sweets under supervision. My brother fooled them a few times by hiding some stuff twice!

My sis L brought some extra goodies from across the Swiss Alps and brought along her newest asset: K! He got the whole S-treatment with fierce table discussions, tons of food and very loud kids who took possesion of the living room by force and leaving a trail of toys all over the house! I tried to convince him that not every time there is so much going on!! Chances are few that he believes me but at least I tried!

Today we had the Easter bunny over in her own house!! A just got out of bath and when he discoverd the trail of eggs on the staircase he became very cautious! 'Mum, he might still be in the house! We better be careful!' He then run through the searching for the animal and ignored all the goodies! We made him collect all the chocolate that he found on his way.

Finally A had a last egg hunt at his grandparents together with M&A! Where I just planted myself at the table and digged into a wonderful box of delicious chocolates and then I lost myself!!

Best moment of the last few Easter inspired days was when A recited spontaneously his Easter verse he knew by heart:

'Paashaas heeft een mandje,
Komt hij op een dag,
En verstopt dan eitjes in de tuin
Die jij dan zoeken mag!
En heb jij ze dan gevonden,
Dan is het een beetje feest!
En dan weet je héél héél zeker: de paashaas is geweest!'

He was reciting this while he just got out of the bathtub and looking forward to his first encounter of the day with this intelligent animal. But I wonder how long it is going to take till we are going to be recognised in a line up of Easter bunny imitators because while he was standing in the middle of the living room with his basket full of eggs and other easter inspired sweets he said:
"Mum, how did the bunny get into the house? Not a single door was open. So how did he get in?"

There I was standing and I felt like I was caught red handed but then I was saved by the smallest window of all. 'A, there is one window that is open and that is the one of the toilet!' He then gave me a suspicious look and then shrugged his shoulders and walked on. Guess, that next year even this one won't even hold up because in order to get through that window this bunny needs to be an Olympic champion in pole vault!

P.S.: I do know that the cartoon I selected this time is not easy to explain to kids under a certain age but I thaught it was hilarious!!!

Easter dreams

My Opel Corsa is at the garage to get a brand new window shield!! Before taking it there I dropped A of at school. In his little green schoolbag he had a chocolate chickie for his very nice student teacher N!!! She was in his class for two weeks and today he came up with very splendid idea to make her a nice drawing!

The only tiny little hiccup was that he had to get himself into the car instead of being busy with crayons!! So, I had to be once more the magician and coming up with a substitute for the egg and bird picture!!! So I digged into my chocolate vault and picked out chocolate sculpture and hoped that he would give his blessing! 'Yeah, mum that she will like!' Then I attached one of the Mary Engelbreit cards to the bag, made him sign the card and we drove of!!!

For the moment I do feel like the Easterbunny and the thing is that I badly want a certain kind of egg! Normally I am very happy with the classics but this year I have my mind set on something rather extraordinary!! When I saw it, it was instant love!!! From that moment on I was so much intoxicated by that one egg that I now compare all chocolate eggs with the one that my mind is set on!!

But so far nothing has passed the test!! Because the egg my heart beat goes crazzy for is created by one of our Belgian master chocolatiers: Pierre Marcolini!!!! P loves his chocolate bars and I to send tons of them all across the world to indulge friends!! Going to one of his shops is walking into the world of chocolate science and meeting brand new creations!!

Believe it or not I do remember the first time that I tasted his chocolate and on top of that I still can state is that the best raspberry sorbet that I ever had was produced by his company!! The fact is that I never spoil myself with his goodies!! I have this thing with PM that I have with an other Belgian quality product: Delvaux. Being a baglady I am dreaming of that kind of bag that I still consider the Rolls amongst all the bags!!! But like stated by many:'A Delvaux you not just get, you need to deserve!'

I want to find it on Easter Sunday in my back yard dropped there by the Easterbunny!!! Okay, I know that he does not exist and that even A plays the game along because he is afraid that he won't get anything if he admits that he knows who gets all this chocolate! This morning he even screamed out loud when he discovered the eggs inside the decorations. Eggs whe had bought together!!!

In case you wonder what makes this egg so different of all other ones. Uhm,... it has got ears!!! It is an egg and the Easterbunny in one!!! Knowing P he will not even have time to drive to Brussels!! The only thing that gives me some hope is that we are driving next week to the seaside and guess what? There will be a Marcolini store!! Just hope one thing that the desperate look that I will then produce when we are standing there in front of the store will do the trick!!!

So you better keep your fingers crossed that the Easter bunnies were so kind not to robb all the Marcolini stores!! BECAUSE I WANT A MARCOLINI EASTEREGG FOR EASTER!!! NOW!!! PRONTO!!!!