Brussels

We usually fly in. This time with a prior arrangement in London. Pink Floyd at the V&A, and Fairport Convention at the Union Chapel.

V&A Floyd

Two things, watch where you’re going in the V&A in a chair, its OK the ground floor is perfectly flat. The problem is if you don’t go left or right, theres a straight drop on to another level.

Like everything else, be aware.

Floyd was good. That night, Fairport Convention were doing their 50th Anniversary gig at the Union Chapel.  The UC is an old building. They’ll probably put up a ramp at the front door, unless you know what you’re doing. Ask to come in the back door. You can use it for getting in and out.

 

The front door option it’s really steep and its the physically challenged version of  wheelying  a motorcycle in front of your friends.

If it goes wrong, its going to be spectacular.

Fairport were great. But then again, they usually are.

The next day we were of to Brussels, by Eurostar.

We could actually walk to St Pancras, I didn’t of course, so in we went, bright and airy, shops and people. we worked out where we needed to be. Got tickets and into a sector of hell.  It was bunged.

There were bodies (live ones) all over the place. Obviously the aircon was doing its job, otherwise………….there was an announcement. The crowd moved and disappeared. The place was empty. It filled up again. The crowd moved. I was put on to a lift and up to the train, pointed towards a ramp. And up I went, got a seat and enjoyed the ride. I like trains, they fed us, and gave us an extra bottle of wine, so at quite a clip we arrived in Brussels

We had been warned about the Brussels midi station in and  after the evening. I believe its not safe according to a usually unexcitable source.  We alighted at central. Perfectly simply once again scarily narrow platforms and really quite high ramps.

But I was getting used to it. Out the front door, and………..

Outside Brussels Central Station

Soldiers, right across the road from our hotel. No bother at all, foot patrols  walkin around and out of the crowds and no one paid them a blind bit of attention (They did stop a bomber a week after we left. Same railway station)

Brussels, the trains are either old or new, the new ones are like double deckers, downstairs for wheelchairs and bicycles, upstairs for everyone else.  Or the old ones, really steep high ramp and in on top of everyone else, if theres room.

If not, wait on the next train.

We’d hit Brussels in a heatwave, so we needed beer. Brussels is nice, like everywhere else they’ve either rebuilt it or are in the process of rebuilding it.

this means there’s  stuff on the way, scaffolding, holes, street furniture, kerbs that would give a high diver a nose bleed. But like everything else, keep your eyes open. And again, just because theres a sloping kerb at one end doesn’t mean theres a sloping kerb at the other.

‘TIME SPENT IN RECONNAISSANCE IS SELDOM WASTED’

New bits in Brussels are very, well, new. Smooth, flat, new,  which makes getting around very easy. People are polite, usually big city in a hurry, polite.

But in the bits where there are sights to be seen, it’s sort of  rough. If thats what your used to at home, great, If your proficient on your wheels, then you know how it works. With traffic, make sure they’ve seen and acknowledged you before you start doing anything entertaining. Don’t trust trams and watch out for bicycles and the twits who ride them.

I’m old school, I tend to think of myself as an ambassador and do my best not to reinforce stupid peoples stereotypes about us disabled