Whilst I was in the office today I was busily getting on with some work when I heard someone say ‘there is a teddy bear walking past the building’. I thought this was a rather odd thing to say and carried on working. Then someone started to laugh and I looked up to see several people standing and staring out of the windows behind me. I turned round to see what they were looking at. I couldn’t see anything so I stood up for a better look. Just at that moment a life sized teddy bear appeared in front of the nearest window and waved at me!!
The bear then proceeded past the window and in through the main entrance to our building. A few minutes later he walked into the office accompanied by a human carrying a bucket to collect money for the charity ‘Help for Heroes’. It was only after the arrival of the bear that we received an email advising us to expect his presence in the building.
Tags: Charity, Defence Matters, Help for Heroes, Life, Work
It is my turn at Vision & Verb today. I share a brief overview of my recent holiday in Mechelen. If you have been following my journey you will probably know most of it already 
But non the less I invite you to join me there…
Tags: Belgium, Malines, Mechelen, Vision & Verb, Weekend away
Building work by the Keldermans family of architects on this imposing Mechelen monument began in 1452. Times and circumstances changed and as a result the tower was never completed. But this did not prevent the 97-metre tower becoming the symbol of Mechelen and a UNESCO world heritage site. The city’s most important documents used to be kept in this fortified tower, which was also the belfry. The bells in the tower served to tell the townspeople the time and to sound the alarm in the event of danger. The tower also made a good vantage point; from here you could see the enemy arriving from a long way off.*
The carillon bells in the tower were a delight to hear whenever we were in the vicinity of the Cathedral.
The carillon plays tunes every quarter of an hour. Unique to Mechelen is the strike between each quarter, every seven-and-a-half-minutes. That is the ‘Mechels halfke’ – ‘The Mechelen Half’. The oldest extant bells date from the seventeenth century. In 1981 the tower was restored and a new carillon fitted. Every week several carillon concerts are held and every five years the carillon school organizes the Queen Fabiola international carillon competition.*
*From Hotelmagazine 2014-2015 Welcome in Mechelen
Tags: Belgium, Malines, Mechelen, St Rumbold's, St Rumbold’s Cathedral, Weekend away
This painting depicting Christ on the cross was painted by Anthony Van Dyck in 1630. It decorated the main altar of the former Friar Minors’ church before the French revolution.
Tags: Belgium, Christ on the Cross, Cross, Malines, Mechelen, St Rumbold’s Cathedral, Weekend away
To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment.
Jane Austen
Tags: Bench, Cherie's Place Thought, Daffodils, Flowers, Hodnet Hall, Hodnet Hall Gardens, Rest a while with me
