MUSTARD SOUP IS NOT IN THERE?!! How on earth is mustard soup not in there? Mustard soup is the best thing to have come out of Dutch cuisine (okay, I know that's not much to shout about...) But I think I will make myself some Mustard soup. Cheers!

Well I cycle in Antwerp every single day. Things are improving....But then there is the Turnhoutsebaan...

Yes, the Dutch have something called Rijkswaterstaat ("Realm State of Water"). This is a massive government organ that is responsible for the water management of the country. As a large part of it is below sea level, and the Dutch have been able to keep their feet dry for over 50 years, it's apparent that…

Well I moved to Belgium out of free will and I never regretted it for a second- but fair is fair. The roads and the fools on them are terrible. This is simply a fact.

It needs to be said that the situation in the French speaking part of Belgium (Walloon) is far more serious than in Flanders (the Dutch speaking part). At least in Flanders progress is being made towards safer roads for cyclists. As for such a law existing in the Walloon region, I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise…

As an imported Belgian here, you are absolutely right. The roads here are murder. The reasons for the high number of deaths are complicated. First, the roads are just bad. Poorly maintained, poorly thought out intersections, lack of separate bicycle paths, poor co-operation between various organs responsible for road…

But the real question here is...Did the turnip look like a "thingie"?

Aww, apologies my beloved Scottish friends- I should have noticed the accent!

Morticia Addams would approve.

I just can't stop smiling. Bless you English Travel Ladies!

There's an interesting thing I would like to mention here- I'm from the Netherlands, which has a population that lives long. But when you look at births, there is something funny going on: the percentage of newborns dying is among the highest in Europe. It is dropping though, a sign that things are changing.

This looks...Bad. And somehow similar to what happened to poor Maria de Villota, the Marussia test driver who ultimately died from her injuries. Let's hope this is not as serious, and Jules makes a full recovery...

Well at least he walked the walk...And a very good walk at that. Please don't ever change Niki.

I was lucky enough to see a group of bosozoku in their natural habitat earlier this year when I visited Kyoto. It was at the city hall- on the square in front of it there was a sort of competition going between local fanfares and marching bands, and they did a fabulous performance of mostly movie soundtrack music.

Agreed. Don't buy a new car. Buy one with a little bit of experience- You will be able to drive a car of a higher spec for the same money.

I may sound like a total sourpuss here, but whatever happened to "don't spend money you haven't got"? Seems to work fine for me...

but a bamboo mat is a perfectly good substitute for tofu. Just needs to cook a little longer, but it will taste pretty much the same ;)

The only experience of this type I've had in the very early days of Amazon. I ordered the 12 cd audiobook of "Lord of the Rings". Instead they sent me an audiobook named "How to make friends and influence people". I still think Amazon tried to save me from my nerdy ways...Didn't work, obviously.

Oh and one more thing- the hamburger chain Quick did a black burger once, and I tried it. It was France/Belgium only.

I dunno about this. Maybe I should ingest some more of Fidel Castro's anus before I make up my mind about this.