Stand Up for Europe Brussels: European Conventions; The Path to Democracy November 24th 2017
The joy of having over 60 new Facebook friends
After the conference in Munich I was well liked and
gained over 60 new Facebook friends which was a
delight, because I’d been hovering at just over 20 for
about 10 years. For this reason and because I had
received another invitation to a Stand Up event, this
time in Brussels. I decided to make the journey to
Europe again in December 2017, Yes, just weeks after
Munich I was back on the Flixbus. This time it only cost
38 Euros to get there. I thought we might be going out
that evening so I didn’t book a hotel I just thought I’d
crash out on the first bus home in the morning. This
time I had to go on a real budget.
Controversy with Hélène
After deciding to stay up all night I realised that we
probably weren’t got to go to a club that night in
Brussels as well like we did in Munich so, rather
controversially I asked to stay in Hélène’s kitchen and
she said I could sleep there instead and I got a bit hot
under the collar and felt rather embarrassed. She gave
me mixed messages saying I was welcome to sleep
there but she was having an early night, because she
had lectures the next day which didn’t help. ‘An early
night’, just made the situation worse, but this early
night wasn’t supposed to happen until 11pm when she
was flying in from Malta where she’d been to a
graduation. What was even more confusing was her
over use of smileys in her message about sleeping round
hers. It was the smiley that was all too easy to take the
wrong way. She chose a cheeky rueful little smiley I
didn’t know what to think of.
The Piada Bar
After arriving in Brussels at 4:15 having been traveling
since 9:30 in the morning I arrived in the nastiest part of
Brussels which is the area around the North Station. It is
actually the most obvious red-light district of Brussels
but it’s not a very nice one. I entered the station which
is full to the brim of homeless asylum seekers that tout
you for capital and beg you as you go passed particularly
aggressively there.
As I found out later on the
foreigner’s office is just around the corner from there
and they need to be there on a Monday at 9am to get
seen so they all congregate and sleep in there and it’s
scary at night. I had to go into the station because the
police had corned part of the road of due to some kind
of incident. I decided to get out of there fast and I had no
clue where to go but an address. I tried to ask in the
exchange office and they looked puzzled. They tried to
explain but my broken French didn’t help. Thankfully,
someone showed me the way to a nicer area of Brussels
where I’d at least be safer. They said it’s easier to walk
to Rogier underground station and once I got over the
other side of the street from Gard du Nord it’s a lot
safer but never go in the other direction she said.
I got to Rogier and popped into a hotel who let me log
on and we found the address which we marked on a
map at the reception and he let me use their loo.
Apparently, it was in the European Quarter where the
European Parliament is. To get there I found out from
the ticket man that I had to change at Arts-
Loix and then get the other line to Schuman. When I got
out there (as my Ipad required WiFi and is not cellular) I
had to ask the way again. We found the street, I just didn’t
go far enough down it. I started wandering around
aimlessly and got into a bar and had a Leffe, but was running
a bit late. By then Hélène had responded and said I was
welcome to stay but she wants an early night and
didn’t seem that keen but it could have been I was just nervous
I thought it best to arrange to stay elsewhere if
someone else would have me.
I eventually found the Piada bar in the European
Quarter and they had set up a marquee in the back
garden with heaters for the meeting which was a small
introductory meeting for new members to the Brussels
set and a social. I changed my top in the loo and
freshened up a bit as I’d been travelling all day on the
bus and had not had an opportunity to change having
also just yomped across the city. Pietro and Anita
Bernacchia the translator were there along with a
British member of the EU parliament who was busy
gaining French citizenship and a couple of other MEPs.
The Meeting
The meeting itself was chaired by Pietro, it was very
difficult to hear what people were discussing though
because the rain was hammering down on the plastic
roof the whole time, we just decided to set up a hashtag
for our campaigning which was hashtag europespring,
this seemed like more of a big deal to some of the older
top brass than to the internet savvy generation. It
seemed like quite a big new deal to me but it was just a
simple act to a serial blogger like me. I think it was
Michael the French presidential candidate that came up
with the suggestions at the end.
Piadas all Round
It wouldn’t have been named the Piada Bar if it wasn’t
about the aforementioned Italian speciality. What is a
Piada? I didn’t know either, but it is an Italian Taco with
whatever you like and can afford in it. They were only
eaten in one small area of Italy in Emilia-Romagna.
I think initially but they’ve expanded the tradition all
over Europe. They seem to be popular. My one cost
about 14 euros with 5 further Euros being spent on
mineral water. I think it was salami, mozzarella,
mushrooms and rocket I had in mine. We had a couple
of lovely photos in there of us all eating Piadas.
The People
I met Bàlint for the first time the Hungarian manager of
the organisation and found out that he was actually
Hélène’s girlfriend and let it out of the bag what she’d
suggested. We agreed that I would stay at Alessandro’s
(the new head of Brussels operations instead). He had
plenty of room and plenty of time and energy to go on
somewhere else for a while and meet some more
people.
Drinks with Alessandro & Staying Round His
Alessandro and a couple of mates of his agreed to look
after me for the night. We headed on a bus out of the
European Quarter and into the quarter known as Louise
and passed the Palace which Alessandro mentioned was
like the Buckingham Palace indeed even modelled on it
just a little bit larger. He was a little sceptical about me
at first but I did strike up a friendship with him. He’s a
really nice guy. He and his mates went with me to a
small bar called Jupiter where we had a few beers and
Alessandro wanted to stay longer but they were booked
out and I was blocking the entire bar with my huge
rucksack. So we headed off back to Alessandro’s house
in a different part of Louise. We went up some of the
streets like Avenue Suisse that I encountered on my
second trip to Brussels as well.
When we got almost there his friend who lived nearby
parted form him and he took me up to his flat on the
top floor had a shower and he wished me goodnight and
I slept in his kitchen on the sofa bed. As a gift for him
putting me up, I gave him a £90 copy of my book My
Little Book of Berlin and left it for him when I left for the
bus at 6 am. He let me have a few glasses of mineral
water because it’s quite dry and hot in his flat, quite
stuffy. Alessandro studied history and archaeology and
now works as a teacher. Alessandro lives in three other
people in a shared accommodation and the kitchen is
their sizeable communal space and it was a really lovely
one with skylights in the roof and Alessandro loves it
and has a lot of parties there for Stand Up people.
Making it back home
Leaving Alessandro’s at 6 I headed off back down a few
of the narrow streets and found my way to avenue
Louise and the station Louise and from there I paid out
my last few Euros on a sandwich and orange juice which
turned out to be the only thing I could afford to eat all
day. I then headed back to Rogier and got on the bus to
London. We got behind at Coquelles again with the
usual faffing around described above, but we arrived
back in London more or less on time. I nearly died of
diabetes when the driver couldn’t sell me a coke at
Coquelles. I had to wait another three hours until we
got to London. I checked the bank balance and I had five
pounds I was able to spend in Pret on some lunch and
five pound coins in my pocket I got to Liverpool street
with. I then had to call through to mum yet again
because I had not got enough to get home and wait in
the waiting room for hours in Liverpool street having
rung mum and her having gone ballistic about having to
pay for me to get home from Liverpool Street as the
police suggested was the only solution possible. I got
home because I was able to pick up the ticket form the
office.
