Brrrrrussels

I'm posting this entry from the Metropole Hotel in Brussels. Outside it is freezing cold. Arrived late in the afternoon and after checking in at this hotel went straight to the Grande Place where the Christmas spirit is already at its best. I've been invited here for a round table conference hosted by the Vlaams Nederlands Huis, this being the closing month of the Netherlands' EU presidency. Tomorrow the participants will be discussing the 'next step' of their (our) respective countries' membership in the EU from a cultural point of view.

I may be posting something about tomorrow's conference if I feel like it. For the time being I am glad to be here, the capital of Europe, as the shops selling EU souvenirs make it a point to announce.

Strolling across the Grande Place was almost dreamlike. It was like excavating the past memories when, as a child, I used to be mesmerized by Christmas cards depicting white Christmases from some foreign land which looked so beautiful albeit alien. Obviously these 'white' Christmas cards, were nothing but the colonial inheritance which, to this day, we have not rid ourselves of. It's odd that people living in a mediterranean island send eachother Christmas cards with reindeers, snowy hills and little cottages amidst forests. It still happens today. I wonder if Australians do the same.

It's getting quite late. I think I should have a hot bath and go to sleep.