I have given up with the Airport security check

In the past years the airport security system has developed a lot, but not necessarily always to smart direction. At some level I have given up with them. Let’s take as an example the toilet bag: You are requested to put all liquids in a transparent plastic bag and separately take it through the machine. I never do it. I have shaving gel, after shave, toothpaste & lotion in my toilet bag which I keep in the bag. Only once in about 50 flights within Europe I have been asked to show what I have there, and even then the concern was if shaving cream metal can was one of the non-approved sprays…

Then the belt-problem; I hate to take my belt off and then put it back when there’s a queue behind and no space to keep your stuff. I keep it on unless they separately ask me to take it off and in most cases the metal detector beeps and I’m searched. But then again it beeps too often even without the belt… I don’t either get why one day one pair of shoes I have cause an alert in BRU, but next week same pair doesn’t.

One funny thing happened last week – sexism I’d say. I went through security in Stockholm, machine beeped and then this security man went through my body grabbing all over. Behind me comes a woman, machine beeps and the same man searches her but with a small metal detector only. I know rules say a man can’t search a woman but question is why wasn’t the metal detector enough to search me?

Then the laptops; nowadays they demand you to take the laptop out from the bag and put it separately just like the liquids. They even open the cover to see if there is something in between, leaving of course finger prints all over the screen. But not at all airports. In Sofia, Bulgaria I didn’t need to take it out at all.

I think I’ll leave the stupid arrangements for pre and after metal detector for next time. Then I have something positive to say about Belgium!

Swimming in Brussels

The other day I went again swimming with the kids. Instead of going to a pool 5 minutes from the house, we drove ~20 minutes to Overijse pool. There are 2 reasons for it; Overijse pool has got slides the kids love and most important, there you do not need to use a swim cap.

In Brussels local regulation requires you to use a swim cap. Yep, it’s a rule and we have tested it once and were thrown out from the pool… I’ve been told it is targeted to avoid head lice, which seems to be a problem now and then (at school they have sometimes checks but luckily it has not concerned our family so far).
This is all good, but if you think of another hygiene aspect we have again something to wonder. The thing is that the shower areas are mixed and people need to shower with their swim suits on. And some do not shower at all before going to the pool. Back in Finland – the country of Sauna – in public pools we have separate dressing and shower rooms with sauna for men and women, and rules say for hygiene reasons you must shower without swim suit before going to the pool.

I’m not a pro on this area, but common sense says that while all ages from toddlers to grannies use the pools without proper washing, a law about shower cap usage is not much of a help.

Another strange thing happened perhaps 2 years ago when we went to a local water park. After some slides and swim we felt like going to the sauna to warm up and relax. All fine but the staff didn’t allow children less than 15 years to the sauna! Yes we tried to explain these sauna-ignorant people that our kids have been in sauna since they were about 6 months old but “we have our rules” was the answer. No sauna for us.
Good thing is that the gym we go to in Brussels is part of a Swedish chain, and even if Swedes are a bit behind in Sauna culture, the gym sauna is built by a Finn who lives in Sweden. With a joy we enjoy it now and then together with the kids and have never faced a situation that someone would have thrown too much water...

Our previous gym was a Turkish style with multiple saunas; two “Scandinavian” with lower (70°C) and higher temperature (85°C), steam sauna and even an infra red one (don’t bother to try; it’s like sitting in a microwave oven). That one was a joint sauna so we were there with our swim suits on, even though in Finland families normally go to sauna naked.

Then one time in comes this man with a bath robe, takes it off and bare naked goes for shower and sauna – right in front of me, my wife, son and daughter! I know it’s a bit more common in Germany but please, save at least the kids from this…

Who loves to fly?

I don’t know about rest of you but since I am somewhat European Union standard size (195 cm / 6.4 ft, >100 kg / 220 pounds), I would like to meet the guys who have designed the airplane toilets. I realize it’s impossible to design something that would fit all people and have effective use of space (to maximize passenger capacity), but I hate them. The seat is below my knee level, I need to bend my head heavily while entering and always hit myself in some corner.

When you have done your best to leave a tidy seat behind, you face the British water tab syndrome: separate button for hot and cold water: to get proper warmth you would need both hands to push both at the same time. If you manage to do it, it doesn’t help since water comes only as long as you push it. That means you wash one hand at the time with hot or cold water, using another to press the button. Either it is stupid engineering or a smart way to save water – at the risk of dirty hands.

What about bus toilets then?
I think it is quite safe to go into a toilet in a bus; there is no risk of being thrown up & down in bumps and curves since there is simply no space left to move. I just need to ask someone to push the door behind me so it closes. But the place stays cleaner since over-weight people have no chance to go in.

Then the seats on planes;
When flying within Europe, no matter what airline or whether you fly business, economy, eco+, b-flex, cattle-class or what ever you have nowadays, you can not be sure to have decent leg space. Once I flew with Iberia to Madrid at economy having leg space to dance. On the way back, again Iberia & economy, I squeezed myself to the back of the seat and still my knees were pushing the seat in front of me. Just guess how I feel about cross-continent flights in economy when sleeping in the planes is not my thing.

By the way, have you noticed what American baseball cap producers have figured out? Since they have in US quite many over-sized XXXXL people and smart lawyers, they changed the inside text of baseball caps from “One size fits all” into “One size fits most”.

With airplanes my favorite is still the catering.
Unless you regularly use certain airlines and same routes, the fact is that you can not any more know what catering to expect and if you need to reserve money for it or not. And if you fly to Scandinavia, which currency should you have… Sometimes you get a warm meal with all drinks included, next airline could offer food, soft drinks, wine & beer but charge for liquors, another offers you a dry bread and charges for all drinks etc.

This week I had a typical example of bad planning; the stewardess gives me a breakfast box with the drinks I prefer, offering also a warmed bread roll. What do I find from the box then? With a small fruit salad there is a dry cheese bread to accompany the one I just got from the lady. I must say I’m a bit concerned about the limited options I have if I decide to go for carbon hydrate free diet. I might need to for self-catering and pack a snack box like the kids do for the school.

With Love from the World – Rakkaudella maailmalta

Brussels, Belgium 11 November 2008, 08 AM Local time

Good morning – Hyvää huomenta!

I guess the idea for this has been cooking for a while but recent happenings – not least the death of my father who was writing a blog first when he was living in Spain and recently from Thailand – might have been the trigger for me to write. This morning I couldn´t sleep and started to think about things. For some reason it made sense to start writing. Earlier I was planning to write in Finnish about the peculiarities of living in Belgium, but since we are fortunate to have also English speaking friends in Belgium and around the world I decided to go for English.

Ei huolta, aion kirjoittaa jotain myos Suomeksi silloin tallöin, varsinkin jos on jotain sanottavaa englannin kielisesta yleisösta… Nyt vain tuntuu etta englanti sopii paremmin. Anopille voin erikseen kertoa miten hän saa helposti kohtuullisen hyvän käännöksen (kylla, hänellä on laptop ahkerasti käytössä!).

OK, what´s up – why should anyone be interested in reading any of the stuff I´m writing?
This is a bit like in BBC´s dance show Strictly Come Dancing (alkuperäinen ohjelma Suomessa esitetystä “Tanssii Tähtien Kanssa”); a political correspondent is still in the game even though he has got two left feet, but if the audience votes him to continue – he continues. A bit the same here; if you are not interested, do something else. If you like to read this, I hope I am able to raise some thoughts or feelings. Life would be boring otherwise…

Warning: My English is not perfect and my facts might not always be right. I reserve the right to say things that you might not agree with, but then again you have the same right. I try not to insult anyone, but if you feel bad about something please let me know. People say one shouldn´t argue about matters of taste, but a characteristic colleague of mine has well pointed that you should: you get the best arguments from matters of taste since nobody is right ;o) All and all, I´m open for feedback, corrections and suggestions.

Here are some examples that have bothered me along the recent years and I might write about – with an opinion (oh yeah, once I thought I was wrong but I was mistaken…);

Dog poo on the sidewalks of “EU Capital” – Shouting garbage men at 0630 am – Belgium traffic & parking habits – Belgium customer service, or the non-existence of it etc of Belgium – Places worth visit etc.

There are also many stories to tell, like about one book which includes something about Sweden, Prague, Bulgaria and Emil, a dumb night clerk in a Sofia hotel… Or what surprises can happen on a business trip from Stockholm to Ljusdal. Or why you should have a back-up suit with you.
Blogs have a habit to become quite personal, so it is possible you also get some understanding what´s going on with our family. But let´s start with something timely for today – I guess in English it´s called Armistice Day.

Once upon a time at least French and Germans were arguing and had a big battle where also Belgium was involved (World War 1). This was around the same time that Finland had just become independent from Russia (1917) and had its own “civil war” since the reds wanted Finland still to be buddies with Russia. Anyway, while living in Finland we had no idea about the Armistice Day which celebrates the ending the WW1 and seems to be big thing and worth a holiday for Belgium and France. Well, a French man from our gym admitted that particularly the French are good at taking holidays, but that´s a story of itself… What I found interesting in last night´s BBC documentary was that after invading France in World War 2 Hitler made the French to sign an agreement in a very same railway carriage as where the French and Germans signed the agreement at the end of WW1 (war ended on 11 November 1918 at 11 am). I just wonder how he came up with the idea to use the same carriage…

Well, even if it is a national holiday, the garbage men came. How do I know this? The habit in this fairly trashy city is that garbage bags are put once or twice a week on the street and collected by the garbage trucks, and we are lucky to have our pick-up time at 0630 every Tuesday and Friday. Yes I know I should sleep at that time but they collect the stuff right below our bedroom window and these guys don´t seem to be able to COLLECT THE GARBAGE WITHOUT SHOUTING! Soon it is Christmas again and they will put in your mailbox a note with a picture, saying “We are your garbage men, please be aware of fake ones”. Why? Some days later they ring your doorbell and ask for extra money, a “gift” for their service. Taxman should be interested in that extra income, but then again Belgium national sport is Con-the-Taxman. You can guess twice if we have given them anything… Let´s talk about our house caretaker later.

After a storm it´s fresh, sunny morning and breakfast is ready.