Places

Brussels

If I were to describe a country as a happy European medium, it would be Belgium. Brussels is the perfect place to host the European Capital for that reason. Moving to Brussels was actually unintended as I’d been looking around for places to live after the Brexit vote. I didn’t want to miss the chance to spend more time on the European mainland before the doors closed. I already knew and liked Paris, I visited Cologne and even considered Turin and Palma in Mallorca. However knowing the level of wages in the sun kissed southern countries I was determined to live in the north of Europe. I’d never been to Brussels and didn’t consider it until I met an entrepreneur through the Erasmus for Entrepreneurs program who was keen for an exchange in my field of expertise. A mutually beneficial exchange that we organised pretty quickly.

I for one am glad we did, because Brussels and Belgium aren’t places you consider living in, or even visiting when there are places like Paris and Amsterdam next door. Brussels is no longer a rich city but the place has true heritage, wonderful architecture and is full of squares to enjoy food, drinks and summer festivals. It feels so European, so French and mediterranean given that it’s an historically Dutch city in what was the southern Netherlands. Brussels is still officially a two language city of both French and Dutch. In practice French dominates and only 10 percent of residents speak Dutch which comes third behind English and Arabic as spoken languages. It’s the most wonderful cosmopolitan mixture of Europeans coming together, even if it is for the purpose of politics at its core there was nothing like Thursday drinks in Place Jourdan within steps of the European Parliament before heading to the city centre or one of the neighbourhood squares.

A view over the city from the Schaerbeek neighbourhood.

Travel and writing

Brussels is by no means a global city but it is a great place to live and work. It’s a very liveable city and best of all you can get anywhere quickly. In my work and leisure time I spent a good deal of time travelling by train to Paris, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Dusseldorf, Cologne and a little further afield by plane to the likes of Milan and Barcelona. The wages in Belgium are good though the employee taxes are astronomical, but that’s offset by very cheap housing and a capital gains tax of zero. If I could life in one place again it would probably be in Brussels or another Belgian city out of Antwerp, Mechelen and Ghent.

Because my experiences in Brussels and Belgium were so positive for the most part I did do a lot of walking, thinking and seeing which later made its way into my writing. I wrote a few shorts about it including Easy, Ice Skating, Vapour and The Hunter and the Hunted.

The gates of versailles outside of Paris.