View from a Rhino House: Belgian waffles

In Brussels a tour operator is offering “sick notes” for families booking vacations that fall in term-time, allowing them to take their children on holiday before the end of the school term, in a humorous campaign that has drawn sharp words from the Belgian education authorities.

“We are handing out free sick notes for the last week of June as we believe families should be able to go on holiday for the lowest possible price,” tour operator Neckermann said in a campaign launched at the weekend.

Vacations at popular destinations are much cheaper ahead of the official start of Belgian summer school holidays on 1st July.

A spokesman for the travel group said yesterday it was clear the campaign was not meant seriously & the company would not provide genuine sick notes. (Just the usual, poorly faked versions, beloved & provided by students & cheapskate parents everywhere?)

Never slow to be outraged the authorities managed to generate an instant angry response, with the Flemish education ministry looking at its legal options to force an end the campaign.

“This is in conflict with the agreements (I suspect these “agreements” only exist in the heads of bureaucrats) we have made with the travel sector. They can’t just entice families to keep their children away from school,” a ministry spokeswoman said.

A Neckermann spokesman said the group had run similar campaigns in the past.

“We trust that parents know what is wrong & what is right for their children,” he said.

So the company is clearly populated by the same naive fools as the education ministry. You have to love the Belgians.

I’m just relieved you decided to take Politics, rather than Latin this year. The hotel prices in Rome are unbelievable…..”

View from a Rhino House: Ass-ing about

In Brussels the Belgian police have demanded that Lola, a theatrical donkey, be removed from the balcony of a cultural centre the city, after neighbors complained about her loud braying.

Lola is hanging-out on a first-floor balcony while she performs in a play at the Arab Cultural Centre, located in the same building. Staff had laid out straw and a bucket of water so she could get some fresh air when not performing.

Police have ordered Lola’s keeper to move her inside after receiving complaints about the donkey making too much noise.

Lola was still outside on Friday, and the (extremely pissed)-off) Director of the cultural center was angrily berating her neighbors for interfering.

“I say to the neighbors, well done! Why does it matter to you?” Hawa Djabili shouted at passersby. Asked why the donkey was still outside, she replied Lola “needed to breathe.” (So nothing to do with the rugs then…..)

The Brussels police said they planned to return with animal welfare officers to remove Lola if the centre did not comply with the order to keep the donkey indoors.

The animal is appearing in a play called “The Palestinian” at the Arab Cultural Center that runs until this evening.

…. and they say “the law is an ass,” In Belgium it’s all just so much bigger then they could have dreamed.

“Christ she’s noisy. I bet the neighbors didn’t get a wink of sleep all night. These theatrical types, eh?”

View from a Rhino House: a boaring day (almost)….

In Belgium this week an attempt to cull a fast-growing population of wild boar in northern forests met with distinctly unimpressive results after an organized cull by 200 hunters managed to kill 1 animal.

The hunt was organized on Monday, by local officials, near the town of Postel, where several road accidents have been attributed to wild boar attacking cars.

Hunters from the (not exactly a) cull say they spotted groups of up to 60 animals but, apart from the one they killed, all the others slipped away across the Dutch border.

“One group also contained too many young animals & we decided not to shoot at that group,” said Dirk Bogaert, a spokesman for the Flemish Agency of Nature & Forestry.

The animal shot would be divided among the hunters, the agency said in a statement.

Sounds like Belgian hunters have been taking lessons from fishermen in stories about the “one(s) that got away.” But at least they should all get a sausage each as a small momento of the day; a very very small sausage….

Missed me….

View from a Rhino House: this is sad; it will make you think, not smile

In Belgium, identical twin brothers who were born deaf, had become blind & were unable to bear not being able to communicate freely with each other, had their wish to die granted by a Court in Brussels. Doctors gave the 45-year-old twins lethal injections after they had had a cup of coffee together & said goodbye to each other, a spokesman at the UZ hospital in Brussels, said yesterday.

“It’s not just because they were deaf & blind that they were granted the right to euthanasia. It is that they could not bear being unable to hear or see the other,” he said.

To be granted legal assisted euthanasia in Belgium a patient must be an adult, capable of making a judgment, & the wish to die must be voluntary, overwhelming & repeated. The patient must also be suffering persistent & unbearable mental or physical pain beyond medical help.

In addition, the condition must be serious, incurable & have been brought on by illness or injury.

“Unbearable suffering can be mental as well as physical,” the hospital spokesman said. “The brothers were inseparable. They lived together & shared the same job.”

He said the brothers died on 14th December & that their family had supported their wish to die.

Belgium legalized euthanasia ten years ago & the number of legal assisted deaths has risen every year. In 2011, 1,133 people were granted the right to die, of whom over 86% were 60 years old or more; 72% of the total number were suffering from cancer.

The Netherlands & Luxembourg have both decriminalized euthanasia, but apart from Belgium only Switzerland allows assisted suicide, & then only if the person concerned takes an active role.

Every part of this story is sad, except perhaps for the twins who are no longer suffering.

RIP