Fueling a frame of mind

Prices for normal, everyday things like groceries and personal care items in Belgium have challenged me since Day One. The price seems almost the same, but it's in euros. You have to do the math. Long ago I finally quit converting everything in my head to US dollars.

I don't see Americans weaning off petrol any time soon and opting for the bus, bike or on foot. I often wonder, if with some infrastructure, could the obesity epidemic be solved? I know it's not that simple, but just a thought.

Actually most people here have a car too, but they are definitely fuel-efficient models. As I've said before, it is very rare to see an SUV and even more rare to see a pick-up truck. Besides, it's not possible to park them in these king-sized bed spaces anyway!

Gas in the States is $4 per gallon, but you've got a long way to go to get here . . .

*source EEP. Graph by IBTimes

This isn't premium. It's regular.

Belgische film

You've probably heard of Jean Claude van Damme. I've never seen any of his movies, but I have heard of him. I think he's the only Belgian who has become famous in American movies.

That is, until now, perhaps. You've probably not heard of this guy, but I think he might become the second Belgian to become famous in American movies.

His name is Matthias Schoenaerts and he's from Antwerp, Belgium. He's made the local news here of late due to the foreign film he starred in last year. It has been nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film category.

I haven't seen the film yet despite it being shown at our local theater. Up until now I hadn't even thought about it since it is entirely in Dutch. I know some Dutch, but I doubt it's enough to follow an entire movie of it.

The film is based on the true story of a cattle farmer from the town of Borgloon - just down the road from us - the illegal hormone trade and a murder. Growth hormones to grow bigger, fatter cows is illegal here. Although it is legal in some countries, including the United States, it is not legal in Belgium. Apparently in the midst of the mad cow disease outbreak in the 1970's, the EU banned it. It does make for quick growth and quicker profit and therefore tempts some to break the law.

I'm not sure why this cow needs to be bigger. As you can see they are already huge!

Oh, the title of the movie is Rundskop or "Bullhead" in English and it was written and directed by Michael Roskam.

So, perhaps it will be the winner in its category. I hope to see it and try to make sense of it.

Below is the International trailer (meaning it has English subtitles). The version at our theater won't have those handy English subtitles - our subtitles will be in French. Of course!

It's a Beast

So this is my 666th blog post. I couldn't help but notice this on my "blog dashboard" which keeps a running total. I think the only significant thing about that is my last one was my 665th and my next one will be my 667th.

Most of us associate 666 as the number of the beast. The beast. There is debate as to whether the original text read 666 or 616, but either way, for the record, my 616th blog post was some time back in November.

So the first beast comes out of the abyss, the second out of the earth. This second one tells everybody to worship the first one, but I think they're both bad news. I'm not sure which one is 666. I think it's number 2. Maybe there's math involved and I'm not good at math.

Anyway, they are eventually thrown into the lake of fire and some might think it wise to avoid tattoos of this number on, say, your forehead or your right hand or maybe it's the other way around - get a tattoo? I can never remember.

It seems there's a number to prophecy everything from eternal damnation to lottery winners.

Question: Is it possible to do this with almost any number?

Lucky 7, Friday the 13th. Revelation's 144,000 heavenly souls. Twelve (12) is perfection in government. And 10 is divine order.

Turns out 144,000 is also the square root of the perfect 12 times the cube of the divine 10. And 20 is obviously a double divine 10.

The Roman numerals added together equal 666. Jews believe 3 is the number of perfect completion. Christians believe 8 is the number of Christ and of salvation. It is also the first cubic number (2x2x2).

And 9 - the number after 8.

40 years. Moses wandered the wilderness and the exact age when I needed reading glasses.

Two if by sea, 3 Dog Night, the 4 seasons, 5 pillars of Islam, 6 vestal virgins, 7 wonders of the world, magic 8 ball, 9 to 5, the 10 commandments, the 11th hour, 12 days of Christmas. I know, A Whiter Shade of Pale says 16.

I assume you can still reach Jenny at 867-5309 and one . . . one is the loneliest number, but two . . . two can be as sad as one.

I could go on, but I won't.

Answer: I think you can. Here's why . . .

When I googled "666 images" there was one of a barcode - you know, those things you scan at the grocery store. So I clicked on it and it took me to a blog. Now I've got a lot of free time, but I'm pretty sure even with all my free time I couldn't come up with this barcode theory.

There are some crazy people out there. That's just my personal opinion, of course. But if you're really bored . . .

Mystery of the Barcode (666 theory)

Bike Trading

This guy was on the front page of our local newspaper this week. I recognize that look. I've had it myself.

Railway Station

A dark brick building that is a central feature of most Belgian towns. Railways stations are vast bicycle dumps and places where you can swap your old rusting bike for one that has been neatly stacked behind platform one for seven years and whose owner has been searching for it in Mechelen for at least six of them.

Apparently the guy in the photo had his nice and expensive bike stolen. In his case it was not from the railway station, but from his house. Just 2 days later it was advertised for sale in the newspaper by a local bike store. Really? The price was €525.

So he and the police went down to the bike store and sure enough, there was his bike.

The owner of the store denies having anything to do with the theft and said he bought it honestly as a trade-in on a better bike. Of course, he didn't have the name or address of the new "better bike owner".

I just wonder about that. Although I scoured the newspaper ads looking for our stolen bikes when they first went missing, and this particular bike store is over an hour away from our stolen bike location, it still makes me wonder. Did that or some other store owner get €525 for each of our bikes?

I have to hand it to the lucky guy pictured above. The police did tell Ross "if you see them, let us know". We just never saw them again. Not even at the railway station.

Best to stick with the rusting bike nobody would think of trading for.

US Patent 942,699

Polyoxygenzylmethylenglycolanhydride.

Developed in 1907 by a Belgian chemist named Leo Baekeland.

It's plastic. Sort of.

Initially used mainly for radio and telephone casings and electrical insulation, it was later used for a multitude of things including toys, kitchenware and jewelry.

Named after its inventor, we call it Bakelite.

Given the inventor is Belgian, I went in search of a Bakelite souvenir. What better place to search than the Tongeren Antique Market.

I do a little research online and find out Bakelite has no distinct markings, but it is generally heavier than normal plastic and when rubbed, has the distinct odor of formaldehyde.

With this very limited information, we head to Tongeren this past Sunday morning for the Antique Market. We saw a few things like hair combs, dice, a trinket case, but still really no way to know for sure - is it or is it not Bakelite?

I was disappointed, but not to the point of giving up. There are lots of items online. It doesn't have quite the same appeal as happening upon that special "find" at a market, but in the end it's all the same I guess.

Now all I have to decide is whether I want steak knives, poker chips, corn cob skewers, or an alarm clock!

The forecast calls for

. . . oh, just pick one.

This was the weather symbol for yesterday in Hasselt and it was exactly right. The weather is pretty crazy here, I admit, but all that in one day?

Yes.

The sun shone, it was cloudy, it rained, it sleeted, it snowed all before Noon and then it did it all again in the afternoon.

How can one complain about that?!

Vermist

MISSING

I am in the habit now of reading our local newspaper. Sometimes it's an exercise in language skills and sometimes it's an exercise in frustration. I try to read as much as I can in Dutch and then I copy and paste to Google translate. There's often a bit lost in translation, but I usually get the gist of it all.

So about 3 weeks ago, I read the story of a missing 34-year old Belgian doctor who lives in a castle with his wife, who is also a doctor, and their 4 children. Sounds like a fairy tale, doesn't it? The newspaper calls him the Lord of the castle so I will too.

This is him, Lord of the Castle. His name is Stijn (like stain).

And here's his castle.

Not bad, huh.

THE FABLE

So Lord Stijn and his doctor wife, Elisabeth live with their 4 children in this castle. They bought this thing a couple of years ago for 2 million euro. Then they spent an additional 750,000 euro renovating it.

Castle = expensive to restore

Now, Dr. Elisabeth is in practice with her doctor/father. His name is Andre. Lord Stijn (stain) is a doctor too, but he is NOT in practice with wife and father-in-law Andre.

Lord Stijn = smart to stay out of the family business

The story goes that Dr. Andre wasn't so fond of his son-in-law. According to one of the Lord's childhood friends, Dr. Andre has been bad-mouthing his son-in-law all about town, even alleging incest with their youngest daughter. No evidence of this - just talk.

So, about 3 weeks ago, the wife/doctor, Elisabeth, comes home to her castle and finds a pool of blood in the hall, a spent shell casing, but no sign of the husband/doctor/lord of the castle.

She calls 911. Not really. In Belgium, and every other EU country, it is 112. So the police are called and they come to investigate. Assuming the good doctor/lord is simply injured and missing, a helicopter with thermal imaging flies over the castle estate finding nothing.

Back to the pool of blood. Must have been bigger than a bread box because the police seemed pretty certain the lord wasn't coming back. Yeah, and there was a drag trail of blood down the castle steps that stopped somewhere in the driveway. Not a good sign.

I'd say the theory he isn't coming back is spot on, but you never know.

Police are apparently optimistic that he is still alive since there's an APB for him. "He is 34, 1 meter 76 tall, white skin with dark brown eyes, dark brown hair. At the time of his disappearance he was wearing dark brown cotton trousers, a blue shirt with brown stripes and a dark brown woolen sweater. Call 0800/30.300 with any information."

THE ABOUNDING THEORIES

1) Could the blood be from an animal?

2) Did Lord Stijn stage his own disappearance?

3) Did he move to Australia?

4) Did Dr. Andre kill or hire someone to kill his son-in-law?

Door #1: Animal blood. A definite no.

Quickly ruled out. DNA analysis proves it is, in fact, that of Lord Stijn.

Door #2: A staged disappearance. Possible, but not likely.

a. There were no doors or windows broken, so . . . still possible.

b. Lord Stijn was in serious debt. After a few days of investigation, the police finally ask, "how does a young doctor and his young doctor wife buy a castle?" Answer: By getting deep in the red. Belgian doctors are not typically rich and turns out, a look at his financials indicates that in addition to the nearly 3 million on the castle, Lord Stijn also had a 2.5 million euro loss on real estate dealings last year alone and the financial probing isn't even complete yet.

Maybe a creditor killed him.

Belgian doctor = poor real estate broker

c. Word has it that Lord Stijn "came from money". The story goes that his parents were wealthy industrialists, sold their business and each of their children got "tens of millions". Sounds like enough to buy a castle.

d. If he staged his disappearance, he didn't go far because his passport was found in the castle and he left the Audi and BMW behind. Not to mention his wife and 4 children.

Door #3: A move Down Under. Possible.

Australia? Yes, apparently the good doctor/Lord was involved in a Russian religious cult and was planning to take the whole fam damily to Australia to start a new eco-friendly life. Apparently Russian religious cult members are green and call the bush home.

The Ringing Cedars. That is the name of the alleged cult. The local newspaper interviewed an ecologist familiar with this organization and she says it's wrong to call it a "religious cult". She says it is a book. Nothing more. A book encouraging a change of life to reduce your impact on the environment. Specifically with permaculture - an efficient and healthy agricultural practice.

As far as the Ringing Cedars local records go, the Lord hasn't attended a meeting or even asked for information on permaculture. Perhaps the religious cult theory was a replacement for the incest allegation?

Desperate times.

Door #4: Murdered? By his own father-in-law? A doctor himself?

Doesn't the Belgian hippocratic oath also say "first, do no harm"? Well, no, and neither does any other version. You will not find those words in any oath. That's basically a very brief summary.

As noted before, no windows or doors were broken and Lord Stijn's wife assured the police he would never let anyone in the house he did not know or else the person would have had a key.

THE TROUBLE WITH PARADISE

There was definitely trouble in paradise. The paradise of doctors and lords and castles.

The Lord's father-in-law can barely imagine the possibility of his beloved daughter's family immigrating to Australia. He wants his daughter to continue the medical practice that he established. And those 4 grandchildren - he is afraid he will never see his grandchildren if they move to that faraway land of wallabies and opera houses.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, mate. Was the Aussie venture the last straw?

On the very day after the Lord went missing, the family was scheduled to go on a holiday - not to move to Australia forever, just a family vacation. And on that very same day, the police arrest the father-in-law, Dr. Andre along with Dr. Andre's son, Peter.

They are interrogated and held for 2 days. Incidentally, Dr. Andre owns a gun. But after some forensics, it proves not to match the spent shell casing found at the scene. Dr. Andre also has the perfect alibi. He was in his office seeing patients all day. I'm not sure what Peter's alibi was, but after 2 days they were both released due to lack of evidence.

THE CHECHENS

Next day, 4 Chechens are arrested. What's a Chechen, you ask? It's a person from Chechnya - that's in Russia. I wonder if they are eco-friendly?

Anyway, there's evidence that the Chechens had a map of the castle in their car and a paper with a Belgian man's name on it.

The theory is that these Chechens were hired assassins - hired to kill Lord Stijn. But without sufficient evidence to hold them, the Chechens are released. But whose name is on the paper?

THE BELGIAN FRENCHMAN

Turns out it's Pierre. Naturally, the police come calling on Pierre. He's arrested and questioned, but again, with no real evidence, he too is released.

Ironically, Pierre is an old friend of Dr. Andre. I think a connection here would not be a stretch.

Lo and behold, a church worker comes forward and tells police on the very day Lord Stijn went missing, she observed a suspicious car near Pierre's chalet. I'm calling it a chalet because that's what the newspaper called it. In it (the suspicious car) she (the church worker) saw something covered with a sheet.

This is Pierre's chalet

With this new information, the police search Pierre's chalet and surrounding property finding nothing.

THE SNOW

Then it snowed and the search was called off.

And this snow remained for nearly 2 weeks because it was bitter cold here in Belgium!

Every few days, there is a new newspaper article with an update on the situation. I exercise my language skills and frustration, but still no sign of the missing doctor.

Then suddenly, two weeks after he went missing, a video from India surfaces with the missing Lord in it. He traded Australia for India? He definitely wouldn't need as much money, but . . . this video seems to be completely coincidental and he is probably not in India.

Finally the snow melts. A second search of the chalet is conducted. Observers report seeing a crane on the property, the medical examiner, the judicial lab team.

Alas, buried in a pit in the forest at Pierre's chalet is the body of a man.

Along with the Chechens, Dr. Andre, his son Peter, and his old friend Pierre are arrested. The Chechens are again released, but the other three are not.

Dr. Andre, his son Peter and his old friend Pierre

Australia = last straw = desperate measures?

An autopsy will be performed, but the man, shot in the chest and buried in the pit in the forest of Pierre's chalet is white with dark brown eyes and dark brown hair. He is wearing dark brown trousers, a blue shirt with brown stripes and a dark brown woolen sweater.

Some fairy tales don't have a happy ending.

Heaven help us

. . . because heaven knows we may need it.

The walls of Jericho.

Jericho is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world dating back 11,000 years and is located in the Palestinian territory, West Bank.

Here it is on a map. Right there about an hour from Jerusalem.

And where is that?

Here's a bigger map. Right there between Israel and Jordan - near Egypt.

(Egypt = country in Africa; Africa = continent)

I guess it's not all camels and sand either. There are these high-rises and there is also archaeological evidence of a wall around Jericho. True story.

I saw a teenage boy the other day wearing a black hoodie with huge white letters that read "F*¢# the American Dream".

I was taken aback at first, but after a little googling learned it is the lyrics of a song by Walls of Jericho. Not in the Biblical sense, but in the American band sense. I'm not sure I can say that was comforting, but I'd like to think the kid's intent was not anti-American.

In the German newspaper, Die Welt (The World), I read an article entitled -

The Limits of a Messy World: Rating Obama's Foreign Policy Record

The article is subtitled -

Has Nobel peace prize winner Obama's foreign-policy agenda failed? Not entirely, as the big-think naivete' of his early presidency has given way to a practical search for individual victories.

The article basically says in many ways he has failed. I thought about this and here's the thing - no doubt, hindsight is 20/20, but can we even imagine trying to resolve the serious issues in the U.S. while at the same time trying to get along with the rest of the entire world?

Even with a pretty good imagination, I can't.

I do hope someone's minding the store 'cause his would-be opponents sure keep the nation diverted with things like the contraception debate. You know . . . those serious issues. On second thought, it will be serious if there isn't any!

Speaking of diversions . . . many of us (me included) may only know that

- the former Mass. governor who makes $57,000 a day, travels with the family pet on the roof of the car

- the former House Speaker married his geometry teacher in 1962 (he age 19, she 26)

1980 - has affair, marries her (he 37, she 28)

1993 - has affair (he 50, she 27)

2000 - marries her (he 57, she 34).

Do I see a pattern here? It's been 12 years. Does this mean Rihanna (he 69, she 24) could still be our new first lady? You da one

- the Texas Rep. is, among other things, older than John McCain

- and the geographically-challenged former Penn. Senator . . . well, I'll stop there. He does such a good job digging his own hole

- and frankly, even this guy needs to lose that sweater vest. Maybe try a dickey.

So, maybe even Obama would like a do-over, but this German newspaper article tells the limits of our messy world and then it concludes with this:

Still, without a doubt, Obama’s biggest foreign policy trophy is the polishing up of the U.S. image abroad.

In Europe, the “Obamamania” may have died down, but the current president has fueled little of the anti-Americanism so prevalent under George W. Bush. Many of his words about better times have collided with reality. But to his credit, he has adjusted his tone. And even if he hasn’t managed to increase the status of the Western superpower in any significant way, he has still done well to defend U.S. interests. And in turbulent times such as these, putting up a good defense can be chalked up as success.

So, assuming one of the oafs noted above will be a candidate for taking the oath, what kind of foreign policy could we expect from Larry, Moe, Shemp or Curly?

Nyuk. Nyuk. Nyuk.

____________________________________________

If you're interested in reading the entire article.

By Ansgar Graw

DIE WELT/Worldcrunch

BERLIN – At the beginning, it was all about promises.

One day, a world without nuclear weapons – Barack Obama had barely moved into the White House when he promised that. Tensions with Russia would be taken care of with a push of the “reset” button. He would personally give new impetus to the Middle East peace talks. Obama extended a hand to the Muslim world in general, and Iran in particular. Iraq, Afghanistan, the rise of China: no challenge seemed too big for the young commander-in-chief. For every problem, there was a practical solution.

Three years after Obama took office, the talk is no longer about nuclear disarmament, but possible military strikes against Iran. Russia’s accusations against the U.S. -- that the latter is enflaming the opposition in Russia -- is reminiscent of Cold War rhetoric. The Ice Age has hit the Middle East. There have been clear setbacks in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Some are even placing the whole global context in terms of the decline of the United States as a superpower, to be supplanted by China.

Has Nobel peace prize winner Barack Obama’s foreign policy failed? There are areas where the 44th American president has very clearly failed, most notably in his Middle East policy. In his speech to the Muslim world delivered in Cairo in June 2009, Obama called on Israel to stop building settlements. But to put one side under pressure before discussions have even started contradicts every rule of diplomacy. Israel wasn’t going to show up at the table having made a one-sided concession, and the Palestinians didn’t want to be standing behind the starting position of the most powerful man in the world. The personal antipathy between Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu took care of the rest.

More reactive than proactive

Obama didn’t come through the “Arab Spring” well either. As governments fell and doubts grew as to whether a better future was in store for the region, the President gave the impression of being more reactive than proactive. It was true with Tunisia, and it’s true now with Syria.

Obama’s “leading from behind” tactic was, however, successful in Libya. Its dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, who had been a thorn in the side of U.S. presidents since Ronald Reagan, was brought down. It also has to be said that, in Egypt, Obama aligned with the revolutionaries early on.

The same success and failure along parallel tracks marks other areas of Obama’s foreign policy. Moscow’s aggressive noises toward Washington are an attempt by the Kremlin to pin internal problems on an external cause, but they are also linked to the American plan for a European missile-defense shield. Yet Obama’s “reset” tactic aimed at reframing the relationship between the U.S. and Russia has had some positive effects, such as the ratification of the new bilateral START treaty to reduce and monitor each other’s strategic nuclear weapons.

What’s more, Moscow has admitted that Washington has been moving crucial supplies for troops in Afghanistan through Russia – a significant improvement over routing them through Pakistan.

Pakistan may become the enemy

Obama has failed in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The President temporarily tripled the number of troops in the Hindu Kush region. He made George W. Bush’s Afghanistan war “his” war – which means that if the Taliban regain power in Kabul after troops leave, it will be his defeat.

Pakistan -- once a sort of wobbly U.S. ally -- shows signs of turning into a very certain enemy. Washington’s decision to forge a strategic partnership with India, its arch-enemy, can be thanked for this development.

By withdrawing troops from Iraq in December, Obama was fulfilling a promise made by his predecessor. Baghdad’s refusal of his plan to leave 3,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq, however, means that Iran is likely to soon have greater influence over the divided country than the U.S.

The blow to Al-Qaeda is a definite plus on Obama’s foreign policy score. The taking out of Osama Bin Laden by Navy Seals in Pakistan – an operation personally approved by the President – as well as a significant increased use of drones against terrorists in the borders areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan has been a blow to the Islamist terror network.

This tactic also explains why under Obama there have been no new inmates at Guantánamo (which he had promised to close two years ago): militants today are being killed on the spot, not taken into custody.

Still, without a doubt, Obama’s biggest foreign policy trophy is the polishing up of the U.S. image abroad. He also built up U.S. presence in Japan, South Korea and Australia, making him – in his own words – the “first Pacific president.” In Myanmar (Burma) his administration pushed through some notable reforms. The result is that supposedly mighty China finds itself geopolitically isolated in its own neighborhood.

In Europe, the “Obamamania” may have died down, but the current president has fueled little of the anti-Americanism so prevalent under George W. Bush. Many of his words about better times have collided with reality. But to his credit, he has adjusted his tone. And even if he hasn’t managed to increase the status of the Western superpower in any significant way, he has still done well to defend U.S. interests. And in turbulent times such as these, putting up a good defense can be chalked up as success.

Enlightenment

Perhaps the Mayans were actually predicting a new age of enlightenment in 2012 instead of the end of the world. I think I'll go with this theory.

The Age of Enlightenment.

"A cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe, that sought to mobilize the power of reason, in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted science and intellect and opposed intolerance and abuses of church and state."

Just some of the intellectuals of the day we are all familiar with . . . Voltaire, Thomas Paine, Mozart, Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin.

The City of Light was the hub of this movement. La Ville-Lumiere.

Duly named for being the center of education and ideas at the time - enlightenment. It is also the first city to illuminate its streets with arc lamps.

Developed by Russian Pavel Yablochkov, these "electric candles" were first used to light the Grands Magasins du Louvre - not the museum, but the store.

Louvre - a framed opening in a door or wall or window with fixed or movable horizontal slats for admitting air and light.

Yes, the louver - apparently having nothing to do with the name of the museum or street lamps.

I am very excited that we will be visiting La Ville-Lumiere again this weekend!

Bob's your uncle

This past weekend we took a drive over to Everburg and joined about a hundred other people shopping at

The place was packed on a Sunday morning. I had no idea there were so many Brits in Belgium.

I was delighted to see this bakeware display. I've looked everywhere in Hasselt for a cookie sheet with no luck. Jim says I just haven't looked in the right place, but this shelf speaks for itself.

That's why they're getting €9.50 ($12.40) for a cookie sheet. Because they don't sell them anywhere else. Or loaf pans. Or muffin tins. As delicious as they are, it's a tart or a tart here and the only place I've seen homemade cookies is at Subway.

We bought one.

As you would expect there was an entire aisle of tea.

And nearly an entire aisle of shortbread cookies. Walker's, of course.

It was nice to see bagels available because thus far we've only seen them at the American Food Store. Guess there aren't enough Jews in Belgium?

Brush with greatness for sale.

I still don't get it. The royalty thing, I mean.

Apparently the British never throw anything out. They use it to make haggis.

Naturally, Jim bought a can.

In case you are not familiar with this stinkin' stuff . . . they refer to it as a type of pudding, but that alone makes it sound good. It's actually a mixture of a sheep's heart, liver, and lung minced up with onions, oatmeal and spices. Traditionally this "mixture" was encased in the animal's stomach and slow-cooked for a few hours.

Pudding?

As Jim Gaffigan would say at this point, "I'm offended on so many different levels".

As much as I love Lucky Charms, $12.40 a box seemed like a lot.

We really enjoyed our shopping trip and we'll probably go back again. I think I may need one of those muffin tins. Who knows, maybe they'll run a sale on that commemorative cookie tin.

And there you have it or as the Brits would say . . . Bob's your uncle.

"Always winter

. . . but never Christmas."

The White Witch's spell of a hundred years.

Nearly a half century before Hogsmeade and a decade before Maycomb, Alabama, there was the White Witch and . . .

I don't know about the last hundred years, but I believe it has been a record setting cold winter here in België. It has been well below freezing for days and days with no end in sight.

If it's going to be winter, there should be Christmas and if it's going to be freezing, there should be snow.

Somewhere it may be "Always cold . . . but never snowing".

Not here!