Nostalgia

A long long time ago when I was an early teen* my parents owned a satellite dish and we'd watch the Astra satellite. While the whole of Flanders was getting hooked up to the cable network to watch vtm, the very first commercial television station, we'd watch those same new-found series on Sky One. It were the days when MTV Europe showed Take That videos, had hit programs like The Real World and Beavis & Butthead, and Ray Cokes talking to Rob the cameraman. This was before all those stations became greedy and asked their viewers for money and we were restricted to watching German television where they're not allowed to scramble.
Although my love affair with Sky One and MTV Europe was short lived (five years at the most), those years coincided with me developing an identity. Eccentricity on being able to watch British television no-one else could watch, was just a small part of it. The whole experience is still lodged firmly in my mind. Especially commercials for unknown British goodies – it's probably the repetition that did it. Still, I get the warm fuzzies noticing an Argos catalogue left behind by a previous inhabitant of the flat, and I must have Müller corner yoghurt when we go to the shop. It's a bit of nostalgia creeping in. Still not buying Fairy. Not only were their adds extremely bland, I couldn't quite get their brand name. In these times it is better to stick to something that's closer to home and environmentally friendlier: Ecover.

*Really I'm talking twenty years ago.

The most beautiful tram rides in Brussels

Actually I was looking for something else on brusselnieuws, but then I found something compelling: 15 minutes of tram ride through Brussels. A camera is mounted on the front of the tram and films it trajectory, which is served to you uncut. You can ride along with ten different routes here. Just scroll down and hit "bekijk".