What color is the sky in their world? "ONLY IN BELGIUM"

PM Guy Verhofstadt, flanked by Belgium's regional Premiers on Monday launched the promotion campaign "Only in Belgium". I'm sorry to break it to these guys....but that phrase is already in use. It usually follows any number of jokes about this country.
The idea is to sell Belgium as an investment country abroad. Probably because even the Belgians are smart enough to invest somewhere else.

The campaign is necessary because the political bickering at home in recent months has damaged our reputation. (or exposed it...) Flemish Premier Kris Peeters insisted that we should leave times of complaining behind us and strive for excellence.
When people talk about Belgium we should seize the opportunity to promote our stabile and booming open economy our leaders say.
Don't you just love it when politicians have shit coming out of both sides of their mouth?

Belgium's Charleroi airport opens new terminal

Belgium's second-largest airport, Charleroi, inaugurated a new terminal Saturday, which officials hope will eventually double the number of largely budget passengers flying through.
Located in the largest city in Belgium's French-speaking Wallonia region about 45 kilometres (28 miles) south of Brussels, the newly modernised airport is expected to be partially privatised, Wallonia's transport minister said.

Built to receive up to five million, mostly foreign passengers yearly -- compared to the 2.5 million who currently use the airport -- the new 125 million-euro (185-million dollar) wing will be open to the public January 29.
Irish budget airline Ryanair made Charleroi its main base in continental Europe in 2001 and is by far the airport's leading client, transporting 85 percent of its passengers -- mostly from the Netherlands and northern France.

House prices in Belgium have doubled since 2000

Buying a residence in Belgium today costs two times what it did in 2000. Prices increases during 2008 are expected to remain limited. This is the prediction according to information by Stadim study agency.

The average price for a house in Belgium the beginning of October was €157,200. This is 50% more than four years ago (€102,000) and roughly double the average price in 2000 (€79,600).

Housing prices in 2008 are not expected to exceed 5% for houses and 2% for apartments, though in some places increases of 6-8% could be the case.

Get Alerted to Belgium drunk checks

The federal police are investigating wether or not they can do anything to companies that are sending out SMS messages (for 1.50) to where the drunk checks are located on Belgian Roadways. Having been stopped twice in the last three nights coming back from Christmas Parties, this is getting to be a pain in the ass, having to stash my drugs and all.

Not being a drinker anyway, the second night I had to blow about three times, as he must have figured it wasn't working when it kept coming up zero.

Maybe that's why I keep getting invited to the parties....they need a designated driver.......STORY

RYANAIR Calender Pictures

It went over so well so well the first time, you're back for more?

THE MONTHLY PICTURES

Thank you for your interest in the slightest chance you may see some skin.

Glad to see you guys are interested in anything that has a hint of free porn. According to web stats I average about 5-600 hits a day for readers of this blog. If you look at the last line of the previous post on the Wall Street Journal, I'm assuming you didn't bother to READ that, because it had no pictures....... Slate editor Jacob Weisberg says: It's all "pornography of one kind or another." Nothing could be more true!

Yesterday, with the post on Ryanair and the nude calender, my hits shot up to 2777, with it already at 500+ when I got up this morning. Checking my search engine stats, practically any variation of the word "nude" led new readers to the blog.

I want to thank you all for your perverted interests, come to Brussels and join the STUDS, try the Belgian beer, frites, and chocolate, you'll fit right in. We throw in the daily comedy adventures of one the most dysfunctional governments the world has ever seen....free of charge!

The girls of Ryanair

The Ryanair Calendar is now on sale onboard all Ryanair flights starting Saturday November 17th, with all proceeds benefiting charity Angels Quest, which provides respite care for children with special needs.

I have some special needs of my own, my wife calls it charity work too.

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has revealed his latest wheeze to squeeze a bit more cash out of his customers, though this time the proceeds will go to charity, rather than straight to his bottom line.

My immediate reaction was to wonder whether O’Leary was trying to encourage his cabin crew to wear clothes less regularly, in order to save ‘wear and tear’ costs. But apparently the plan is to raise money for children’s charity Angels Quest. So although it may sound like the kind of exploitative misogynist stunt that would antagonise feminists everywhere..... never mind, I'm sure it will anyway.

Unfortunately I haven’t had the chance to peruse the calendar, so I'm unable to judge whether it provides good value for money. But judging by Ryanair’s typical mark-up on a Kit-Kat, I'm guessing that it might be cheaper to head down to your local library and pick up a Maxim instead…"We are seriously considering making that the new inflight uniform," leers the Ryanair boss, who's planning to sell 15,000 copies at €5 a pop for a children's charity. O'Leary hints the airline's forthcoming charitable work may also include "a sneak preview of the Aer Lingus 2009 calendar with some granny in a swimsuit".

Ryanair Nude Calender

Okay, so the idea isn't uber-original. Back in 2006 there were some United flight attendants who posed for a sexy calendar in order to compensate their loss of pension. And a couple of years earlier even Delta stewardess Ellen Simonetti AKA QueenOfSky was fired for a *cough* racy shoot inside a Delta plane.
A Dutch newspaper says Ryanair cabin staff have posed in the nude for a 2008 calendar. It is only available for sale at the moment on flights. O'Leary never misses a chance to make another buck......although he claims proceeds will be for some kids fund

A Short Day Trip from Brussels

Abbaye de Floreffe will be bringing together over 100 French wine growers from all the regions this weekend at the 'Le salon du Vin et du Fromage de Floreffe". Master Sommelier Berger will be present at the fair.

The fair will also have numerous local cheese producers and other gastronomic fare along with up to 25 wine produces from the likes of Israel, Argentina, Moldavia.
November 2-4 at Abbaye de Floreffe 10am to 10pm.

DIRECTIONS

It's also a good time to tour the Abbey. Dating back from the 12th century (the place is 850 years old), the Abbey of Floreffe conceals many artistic, architectural and historic treasures.

Ahhhh....somebody didn't get the Message

A ten-year-old girl from Charleroi gave birth to a baby last year. The father was 13.
"The pregnancy was a big surprise to the girl and her mother," says doctor Robert Chef from Charleroi. "The child came to me with unexplained abdominal pain. She had also put on weight. Her mother had even put her on a diet for a while but that had little effect. When we examined her it turned out she was nine months pregnant. The child was carrying a full term baby."
What surprised the doctor the most was that the 10-year-old really looked her age. "Some girls look like a teenager of 15 or 16 at that age. But not this girl."
Still the delivery went smoothly. The young mother was given special treatment however. She was not admitted to the regular maternity ward lest this raise too many curious questions. She was given a bed in the childrens ward.
"The father of the baby came to visit her there as well. Many pregnancies in young girls are the result of incest. But that was not at all the case here. The father was a schoolmate of 13. A young guy as well."
Robert Chef says the parents of the girl did not respond angrily. "The grandmother immediately took charge of the baby. She said she would raise it as her own child."
Yesterday the medical weekly De Huisarts reported that 57 Belgian 10-year-olds had been prescribed a birth control pill last year. Some for medical reasons, but others for actual birth control.

Belgium Leads the Pack in Housing Price Rise

Forget the sunny climes of Spain and Portugal. The European country that experienced the biggest leap in housing prices in the last year was Belgium, according to a new report by Halifax, the U.K. banking and insurance company.
Belgium showed an 18 percent increase in prices, compared to a 15 percent for France and a 14 percent increase for Spain, the study found. (And it’s worth noting that Halifax showed a larger growth spurt for Spain than other studies.)
Over the last five years, Spain led the way with a 100 percent increase in prices, but the U.K. was not far behind with a whopping 90 percent jump, followed by France at 73 percent and Ireland at 71 percent.
Germany was the only country to show a decline in prices in the last five years.

According the report—which can be found here—Ireland boasts the highest average price in the Eurozone–£209,300 (€309,800)—followed by the Netherlands with an average of £190,900 (€282,500). The average in the U.K. was £187,100 (€276,900), compared to £150,200 (€222,300) in Spain.

Ryanair to suspend flights

Irish low-coster Ryanair has suspended the sale of tickets on flights to and from Brussels Charleroi from November, calling for a guarantee that there will be no more wildcat strikes.
In June security staff at the Belgian airport carried out a strike, forcing the airline to cancel a slew of flights. Although the airport has promised that the dispute will be resolved, Ryanair has suspended bookings to and from Charleroi from November 12 as a contingency measure.
"Ryanair is determined to ensure that its flights and passengers at Charleroi will not be cancelled again and so there must be an effective contingency plan in place to keep this international airport open and operational even if some staff wish to engage in wildcat strikes in the future," a spokesman for the carrier said.
However, Ryanair did stress that flights to and from the Belgian hub in August, September and October would go ahead.
Meanwhile, a Ryanair advertising campaign claiming that its flights from London to Brussels are faster and cheaper than Eurostar trains has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The regulator said the ads were misleading because they failed to take into account the time and money needed to travel from city centres to the airports that Ryanair flies from (London Stansted and Brussels Charleroi).
Responding, Ryanair called on the ASA to reverse the "false finding", maintaining that its flights are faster and cheaper than Eurostar. The airline sent the group a Dummies Guide to Mathematics, saying it apparently couldn't add or subtract.

Ryanair...We'll get you there when we feel like it!

Belgians left stranded

Several dozen Belgians were forced to spend Friday night at Pisa Airport after the plane that was due to take them to back Charleroi in Hainaut province was grounded by bad weather. To save ten eurocents per passenger Ryanair has initiated their new "run naked through security" procedures, as seen above.
The passengers will now have to wait until Monday evening for the next scheduled flight back to Belgium from the airport or buy a ticket with another airline to try, if they want to return to Belgium before.
The stranded passengers are unhappy at having to pay for three nights extra accommodation.
However, Ryanair is unrepentant. The company's spokesman in Belgium David Gering told VRT radio that "you should compare our flights with bus services".
"If your bus doesn’t turn up you don't expect the bus company to pay for an expensive hotel room while you wait for the next one".

Take the bus, leave the crashing to us!

The Girls of Ryanair Pictures

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