Geoff Meade

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Fond memories of trashy Brussels

What a joy the modern era of rubbish is!

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Breaking pavement news: Pedestrian life in Brussels

Pedestrian politeness can go too far.

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All hail the Brussels 'Eurocrat'

As a new European Commission team prepares to take office, a look into the quirky lives of those who keep the Euro-machine ticking.

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Hey there, what’s up? How can I brighten your day today?

Artificial intelligence increasingly seeps into our daily lives.

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Priority from the wrong

"The question I’m confronting thanks to my newly-acquired legal obligation to vote in Belgian elections is the following: who, or what, am I voting for, or against?"

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The heart and soul of the paper-pusher

Bureaucracy can be baffling and overwhelming in the best of times.

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Windows of a world gone by

"We have Art Nouveau, the Horta period, but nothing special from the great days of stained glass.”

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Our weekend as undercover Brussels tourists

"Oh, how we giggled: my wife was convinced that from that moment the desk staff marked us out as secret lovers on a dirty weekend."

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How Snooker Luca shook up the books

"Is there a single, official list of famous Belgians?"

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Who is the real menace from across the waters?

"British comic strips may not have had the global impact of their Belgian or even American counterparts, but they still influenced a generation."

How an incorrectly labelled parking sign in Brussels cost us an arm and a leg

"Yes, she had parked beside a no parking sign, but the restriction end-date painted almost illegibly upon it had already expired. She’d even taken a photo of it."

A toast to the bar staff of Belgium

Next time you drop into your favourite drinkeria, listen out for the warm and well-meaning staff model of customer engagement, best exemplified by a cheery: “Can I get you anything else?”, or “Is everything all right for you?”

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"While my research is limited and less than scientific, I think I can conclude that some people here in Brussels see some added value in promoting their goods and services in the English language."

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The Brussels that Boris Johnson almost broke

Boris Johnson may no longer be Britain’s Prime Minister, even if his chaotic legacy lives on in London, Brussels and beyond.

Who’s afraid of Friday the 13th?

Famous triskaidephobics include Napoleon Bonaparte, Mark Twain and two US presidents, Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt – although none of them were around to be influenced by the most famous disaster linked to the number, the Apollo 13 space mission.

How my dog made me a better man

"Dog-walking should be required training for civil service diplomats. This is not to insult diplomats. It’s just that nothing tests a person’s people skills to the limit more than full immersion in the art of being pulled along a pavement by a mutt intent on publicly licking the arse of a stranger’s pet without being properly introduced."

A car, a car, my kingdom for a car

"We drivers of dirty diesels, the Brussels ‘Class of Euro 4’, have known for at least two years that at the end of 2021 our vehicles would be forcibly retired."

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Brexit and the mushy pea conundrum

"We Brits tried to fit in here, really, we did. We adopted crevette grise, buckets of moules-frites, and mayonnaise in place of ketchup."

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Becoming Belgian: A British expat's unconventional road to Belgian citizenship

"We BBBs (Brexit-British-Belgians) must own up to being motivated by practicality more than passion."

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