A Sign from Above

Yesterday was the kind of day (with regard to weather) that makes you feel lucky to be alive. It was that perfect temperature, warm in the sun with a stiff cool breeze, and not a cloud to be seen. I decided to go for a walk in the royal park, bring a book, get some ice cream, make an outing out of it.

After a nice walk, I got an ice cream cone and sat down at the perfect empty table, partially in the sun, partially in the shade. I was concentrating on not letting the dripping ice cream get all over me and thinking to myself: "Today, I really like Brussels." No sooner had I finished that thought in my head... *SPLAT* A bird shit (or shat?) on my table, the splatter narrowly missing my purse. And I mean a big shit. That thing rocked the table!

I laughed, a little stunned, wondering if I should move (but where to? All of the other tables were taken) or if I should worry about getting a special delivery on my head or even in my purse. Is bird poop like lightening? Will it strike the same place twice?

I tried to maintain my calm, ice cream-in-the-park attitude, but all I could think about was what would I do if a bird pooped on my head, like, would I laugh or cry? Would I take the metro home or walk? And so, the mood was effectively ruined and I decided to head home.

So what do you think, was it a sign?

Hit and Run

On Tuesday, Miguel and I decided to take a walk in the royal park after work. We made it about halfway around the perimeter, when we heard “SCREEEEEECH, CRASH!!!! SCREEEEEECH, VRROOOOM” After the first screech, we turned to look, and saw this navy blue sports car, complete with spoiler take a turn WAY too fast, slam into a parked convertible Mini (knocking the back bumper clean off), and then tear away.

Being that hit-and-runs disgust me (how inconsiderate can you be, I mean honestly), I wanted to do something about it. We stood looking around for quite a while, talked to a couple other witnesses (there were loads, it was a nice, bright day and there were a lot of people in the park, as well as leaving work) and continued on our way. I wanted to call the police, and Miguel was saying he didn’t have the vocab in French. We were still walking and talking about it, when we saw some federal police right across the street, and talking to one of our fellow-witnesses, no less. We decided we had to go over and share what we saw, and it turned out the guy knew some English. The guard from next door came over as we described the car, and started ranting (in perfect English) about how this happens a lot, and people are so inconsiderate, etc. After Miguel gave the officer his ID, we said goodbye to the guard (who left us with the remark that more people should be like us, haha) and continued on our walk.

So there you have it, there’s always something going on!