April Fools … but no fooling

I have been in Belgium for almost two weeks and 1 April 2009 will be a date that I will remember for a long time – no kidding.  I have spent more money on that day than ever before.

At 10 AM I dropped an offer at the estate agency for an apartment I had seen on Monday.  Here is the “sales pitch”

This is the view from the living room and balcony. There is the same to the left – I can actually see the Atomium – only building left from the 1958 World Fair held in Brussels – the year I was born…  Hard to do better, right.

The apartment is located right in the neighbourhood where I was looking.  It is on the top floor of a 9-story apartment building and has been completely renovated only 4 years ago.  The living room is very large

and the kitchen is well equipped with very nice cabinets

There are three bedrooms.  One is rather small and just off the entrance and I plan to use it as my ‘den/office’ – it is not big enough for a pool table though.

The two other bedrooms are large – one will be mine, one will be a guest room.  If you are interested, let me know and I will put you on the waiting list!  There are also two bathrooms – something unusual in Belgium where older apartments often have only one bathroom for 3 bedrooms.  All the work has been done with high quality material and in a style that I really like.

The apartment has the whole width of the building so I have windows on both sides and can create a draft on the (rare) days when it is hot in Brussels.  The balcony is very nice and I can put a small table on it with four chairs.  I can also fit my barbecue grill there for when the weather is really good.

I may have to get rid of some of my furniture before I head back, but this is a very nice apartment and less than 1/4 the price of an equivalent apartment in Singapore – a bargain!

Later that afternoon, I put a deposit on a new car to be delivered end July.  I had spent a lot of time on internet looking at different car offerings and creating several carconfigurations on different sites to see what they would cost and what they offered.  I looked at the Honda Accord, the Alfa Romeo 157, the Saab 9.5, the Lexus IS300 and the IH450.  But one make and model came back again and again as the ‘winner’.  Late last week I had tried it and really liked again how it drives – so I decided to buy the BMW 320d.  Here is the “artist’s” rendition of what I bought!

Inside too – nice leather seats

and fully loaded with GPS, PDC, ABS, ETC and many other abbreviations that just ooze quality and sportiness….

So as you can see, I spent a lot of money on April Fools Day and everybody took me very seriously.

And that is not all I bought in Belgium.  I am heading home with Chocolate bars, chocolate eggs, chocolate morcels, chololate spread, speculoos (the thick kind) and speculoos spread. 

Change of address, and photos of a real hot new car coming soon!

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