Day 2757
Wednesday November 11th 2026
Brussels
Writing is difficult at the best of times but made more so by the ringing of bells so I’ve had to wait for them to stop. As I’m in room 14 of La Bourse Hotel, Brussels, I’m assuming they’re from Sint Niklaaskerk just down the road.
My sojourn to Brussels/Berlin then back to Brussels is on its third and final segment. I wanted to bring the guitar and amp and do something in one or all of the three bits but the first leg of the trip, three days in Brussels, I was accompanied by the son and heir and for the three days in Berlin I was being entertained by my lovely friends Sabine and Joachim. Well, most of the time but when I was left to my own devices, it was too bloody cold to play. Fortunately, it’s not as cold back in Brussels.
It’s a funny thing but as I’ve had company for two thirds of the trip and now that I find myself on my own (apart from the few hundred fellow travellers on the eight hour Berlin to Brussels train trip yesterday), I find it almost unbearably lonely, being in a hotel room with no prospect of an imminent meeting. Well, there’s only one cure and that’s to go out and play. The problem is it’s raining and the only spot I can think of is in the covered tunnel next to the Hilton Hotel, opposite Brussels Central station, so there I go, with a cheap umbrella I bought last night…a few minutes later and I’m there but there’s a homeless woman at the spot. Bugger…but wait, the bit next to the station entrance is protected by a canopy and that’ll do.
The thing about big train stations is there are always a few down and outs/homeless lurking about. I’m about to take the guitar out and a man comes up and starts talking french –
‘Sorry, I’m English.’
‘Ah, money for baby, for pharmacy, money for baby…for baby…pharmacy, pharmacy…’
So I took my wallet out and gave him a five euro note and he said ‘Milk, twenty euro for baby’ – well, that’s one thirsty baby, I thought! Anyway, I said ‘Look, you can have that note but I’ve got to play my guitar, OK? Guitar, I have to play the guitar’ and he went off. I’m considering that fiver protection money, now leave me alone, mate!
I set up and started up at 1:30 and the first donation was an American dollar bill, which did make me laugh. Three quarters of an hour later and I’ve made around twenty euros so I’ve covered the protection money and made some. I’ve also had a man come up – ‘You got enough strings there?’ he said. I gave him the stock reply to that one -‘Yeah, well if I break one I’ve still got eleven left.’ He then said I might want to go to Churchill’s Bar, nearby – ‘You can ask if you can play…they might let you and they might pass the hat around. Worth a try’ so I said I might do that.
I had a nice distraction around that time, when a man proceeded to urinate against a bollard ten feet in front of me. He had his back to me, which was considerate of him though a fear many innocent bystanders weren’t so lucky. In broad daylight, as well. Bloody Brussels, eh?!
I intended to do not more than an hour and a half because I knew I’d be pretty cold by then but the coinage kept rolling in and not just the coins, there were a few fivers and two tenners. The second was from a man who asked for Pink Floyd. I did the four-note riff from Shine On You Crazy Diamond and apologised for not knowing any more. He listened during the next one – La Vie En Rose and at the end I went into the 12-string intro of Wish You Were Here, which I literally did busk (mistakes and all) and that was the one that secured the coveted note-age.
And on and on I went, getting colder and colder until, at the two hour mark (half past three), I decided to jack it in. I mean, I was more than happy with the coinage and perhaps more importantly, I no longer felt lonely and completely useless, like just an old bloke walking around a tourist area. I felt like I’d done my bit. Answered my calling, if you will.
Anyway, I’d just done Everybody Wants To Rule The World with three girls dancing and clapping and one was filming me – I’d had others film me and kept thinking it would be nice to have a video of my first time playing in Brussels but I couldn’t be bothered asking anyone until these girls turned up. So at the end when they came up to donate and ask if I was on Spotify (no, of course not), I asked if they could film me doing the song again, which they did, after an aborted first attempt because I could barely do the intro due to freezing hands. In fact, I messed up the second attempt but it was a bit better and well, sod it, who cares?!
At the end, I thanked them and asked their names – Lara, Nell and Julia.
And the coinage? A staggering 95.55 euros (plus the yank dollar) for two hours and fifteen minutes. That’s £79.82. Maybe I should move here.
Oh yeah, due to confusion on my part, my Brussels stay for this leg is split between two rooms in the Bourse hotel. On my arrival from Berlin last night, I checked into room 30 on the third floor and checked out this morning, to move to room 14 on the first floor but in the rush I forgot I’d left a bag or oranges in the fridge of the first room, so I told the receptionist all this and we both went up to room 30, which had been made up but was as yet unoccupied. The receptionist opened the fridge and the oranges weren’t there and despite her making inquiries of the staff on the ground floor, no one was the wiser. The oranges weren’t in the fridge of my new room and it’s a bloody mystery. I suspect the cleaner had them. I mean, who else could it be.
Then again, weird things do happen in hotels. I mean, Jude says he saw a ghost at 7 in the morning in his room (No. 231D) at the Mozart Hotel last week. She was tall with short dark hair, makeup and a short blue skirt – like an air stewardess. He initially rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things but she was still there so he did what most people do who have just seen a ghost. He got up and went to hit her! Maybe that’s why she didn’t make a return appearance the next night.