Beat it (spiced up remix)

Well, the lion dung and ultra-sonic waves did indeed deter the neighbourhood cats – at least for a few months. But the problem with both those solutions is that they don't last – batteries run out and monthly deliveries of lion dung get expensive. I had hoped that the shitty kitty would have learned to do its business elsewhere (ideally its owner's own garden) but in the last couple of weeks the stinky turds have returned with a vengeance.

Time for another solution, proposed by Rich. Extra hot chilli. It irritates their paws, but doesn't harm other wildlife or plants. And happily it's easily available in large quantities from our exotic corner shop.

After some discussion with the man in the corner shop, we plumped for the extra-hot chilli flakes. Powder would quickly blow away or get washed away in the rain, while the whole chillies would not have such good coverage.

We have given the garden a first generous sprinkling, and now have to wait and see...

I Can't Stand the Rain

(Ann Peebles, 1974)







In the last 24 hours thunder storms and torrential rain have swept through Brussels.


Just hang on in there little roof... You'll be fixed soon I hope.

Maxwell's Silver Hammer

(The Beatles, 1969)

While we wait for the builders to come and transform the back of the house, there have been plenty of little projects for us to be getting on with.

One is to recover the original tiles from the old kitchen, so that we can use them in the new (bigger, lighter, heated) kitchen.

Back in March, we (well, technically Vincent and Loic), carefully prised the old tiles off the floor. Luckily, these were on a bed of sand, rather than cement, which made life a bit easier.

Next step was to leave them to soak a few months in the old bathtub ...

... then gently chisel off the sandy cement still caked on the back...

... and chip off the cement on the edges (and by the way, hello and welcome to the new Black & Decker workbench).

Then give them a last scrub before piling them up.

It remains to be seen how much floor we can actually cover with these tiles. The old kitchen had a surface area of 7.4 m2, while the new one will be 16.4 m2. So in any event we will have to find more of the same, or something which matches. We also wonder whether they will even be in a fit state to re-use, especially with underfloor-heating.

Answers to these burning questions, and a trip to a Belgian reclamation yard, still to follow...

It's Oh So Quiet

It has been oh so quiet on the blogging front, but lest you think that no post means no progress, I am introducing a new feature.


Think of it as veeeery slow motion webcam, like one shot a week. At the end, as a special treat for those who are still with us when this project ever reaches completion, I'll put them together in a little film, so you can see a house renovate itself before your very eyes.


Of if you prefer, you can see it as an ever-evolving game of Spot the Difference. In the classic version there are ten subtle differences between the two otherwise identical pictures. Though I can't promise there'll be ten differences each time...


You can find it here, and also on the sidebar at the top for those who check in regularly.