Monoclinic

England always get "easy" groups because, as a consistent qualifier for the major tournaments they are normally a number one seed, thereby avoiding all the other number one seeds. The rest of the Union countries, who fail to qualify most of the time (or always, in the case of Wales), are typically seeded two or worse, thereby always drawing a one seed. Having said that, it was especially tough on the Jocks having the two recent World Cup finalists in their EC 2008 qualifying group. But remember, the seedings are made by UEFA, the same geniuses who have Greece (14th in FIFA rankings), Switzerland (41st) and Austria (88th!) as number one seeds at the European Championships next summer. I think you'll find that partly to do with the fact Greece are reigning European champions. And what a glorious result that was. With la Suisse and Austria hosting, I think that sort of explains the genii of UEFA. Could be wrong.

I think the former skipper of the British Lions was on Cowboy Ronnie's super fun list. Looks like he has spoilt our fun by dying at least 6 weeks prematurely

I wonder if, before the involuntary dismount he managed to yank his chain? Or if he had trouble removing the bra, (bra n. the rubber strip placed inside the rim to protect the tube from the nipples.) Nothing like a bit of pointless friday afternoon titillation.

I dunno, how many times have you thought you could do better than the current manager of your team There's certainly Saints fans that wish they could make the decisions reserved for our ever changing manager and board. Talking of which, Burley almost making two years in the job means he is long over due for his P45.

Is this the bit where I say living for any length of time in Pompey could drive anyone to murder? No, I thought not. Still, despite the Soton-Pompey reversal of fortunes, they're still scum (in a nice way).

Bon anniversaire TH!

I didn't know there were two Dom Mintoffs. Is it like the quest to climb the two peaks of Kilimanjaro? I'm not sure why but everytime I see his name I think of Dom Joli.

I don't know how long this will last before ebay pulls it, however one Belgian president is up for sale.

Took me awhile - my angelic mind was looking for a blatant spelling error (on the bus)

I thought Italy hasn't had a functioning government since they slung Il Duce up like a straw man and changed sides in the war. Again. Within the last hour it's got worse. I won't bore you with details I can't quite fathom myself but everyone seems to be intently listening to the radio/internet this afternoon whilst us foreigners carry on regardless. For those that might care and speak a little French... Someone has told me they seriosuly think today is the beginning of the end of his oountry...exciting times eh?

For Belgian harmony, let's not forget the poetry of Wallonie... There was a strange man from Bastogne, Who had discontent with his groin, Each time he would fiddle, The poor man would dribble...

For those who hate facebook

Mono also had something nice to say about Ghent, so maybe one has to be there a bit longer to experience all its wonderfulness. I once dated a woman who lived near Ghent and during one visit there was so little to do we went to the movies all three nights I was in town. In fact, the only thing I remember fondly about the weekend was that her Dad not only liked Melrose Place, but that his favourite character was the scheming Michael. The thing that's good about Ghent is it is a more realistic Flemish town. By that I mean less inundated with little old ladies on a SAGA coach trip buying lace. Something that chocolate box Brugge has in spades and there is nothing more annoying than tourists. PS - Sorry to break up the flow of the limerick, hopefully some kind mod will move it.

Okay, so I'm just going to have to add my piece now, am I not? When I first arrived here all I seemed to do was curse and swear and say "but it's not like that in England", then I swiftly realised you just have to go with the flow. (Ignore anything I may have posted in room 101 to the contrary, it must have been a bad day) No matter where you go in this world you will stumble across strange bureaucracy and different systems - vive la difference as they say! Believe me there will be a lot of things I shall hate about the UK when my time here is up. Now that my departure is in sight I can't help but feel sad about all the lovely people I shall be leaving behind. In conjunction with this thread I've been thinking about my 10 best bits of Belgium so here goes, in no particular order: 1. Fête de Wallonie and its Peket. 2. The Ardennes, beats The New Forest hands down - I live just on the outskirts but since I no longer have my car here I've been missing this for quite some time... La Roche, Bouillon, Rochefort... 3. Girly Beer - Kreik and Framboise are great substitutes for Cider. 4. Any excuse for a parade, from the sublime to the ridiculous, stilt walkers, water jousting, 2 hour pageants, Carnival week... 5. The ability to still exist without the need of a government. ( 148 days and counting since the General election) 6. The Flemish towns of Leuven, Bruges and Ghent with their gables and towers 7. Canals that don't contain shopping trolleys, wellies, plastic bags... 8. A health care system that works (okay so the level of taxation accounts for this but number 8 makes up for this) 9. Not being ripped off everytime you set foot on a train, in a supermarket, in a restaurant 10. Being able to wake up and say to yourself what shall I do today? Oh I know lets pop to Germany/Holland/France/Luxembourg... I agree that the Manniken pis is a lot smaller than you'd expect and generally best avoided as there's usually some drunken stag party lurking around the corner or someone trying to flog you novelty shaped chocolates but never say they don't have a sense of humour. Jeanneke pis

I had to stop when I reached cuirass owing to an incontrollable and highly immature fit of the giggles.

Godot, as far as heavenly whore house fantasies go 'talking in general' I see you are only speaking for Halibut pedophiles. Hugh Hefner has a gigantic luxurious home, the finest menu and most of all beautiful women surrounding him at every waking moment. How can you not call that 'what could be' heaven on earth (or just heaven?) I'm not hearing you man. Every guy who uses his imagination is jealous of Hefner at some limit. I think he has bought his best girls cars for example, but I don't think he pays them straight up cash in exchange for 'come live with me' The women want to live with him. They devote themselves to him, and because of this we won't see him as a Deathlist candidate until 2017. But money can't buy you love.

Catholic holidays. Thanks to Toussaint I have the day off. As I have no dead relatives buried in Belgium I have no obligations to visit a cemetry in the freezing cold and/or rain and can just enjoy the day thinking of all you people back home working your butts off. Ahhhh lovely.

Visit the Death Museum

I've just found out that Andrée De Jongh is resisting death no more. Here's an obit. Does the obit qualify for my WDP team? Or do I have to look elsewhere. Edit - I can't believe I have actually posted a death! I can't believe that this death has slipped passed some of the eagle-eyed "let's post anybody who has died with an obit famous or not" posters either. Either that or the search function is like the Belgian government, "en panne".

Could this be why Windsor hasn't been on DL for a while?

Good one AtJ. The camel toe images are eye-watering stuff. Lots of squid beak there. Okay, so it is a tenious connection but seeing as it was in this thread that I learnt of the expression Camel toe (thanks ATJ et al.) I thought I'd post this little chanson here... Camel Toe Song

Bugger! You deceived me into listening to Genesis. I'm off to clean my ears out with soap and water.

People who turn the heating up way too high. I share an office with two chinese girls and they have put the radiator on full blast. I have brought a temperature sensor in here and it appears to have stabilised at 28.3 °C, ffs! That's some carbon footprint I am reluctantly contributing to. The best of it is whilst I'm here in short sleeves they still have their lab coats on. Je ne comprends pas!!! The reason I don't understand is because one has expressed how pathetic our snow is because least you forget, certain parts, if not the majority of China, can get really cold in winter so it isn't as if they don't support the cold. I think this seasons phenomenal reduction of the arctic circle can be attributed to ca. a 50 m³ airspace near the Ardennes ;-)

I wonder how he managed to keep his helicopter pilot's license during all that time. The dad of one of my flight instructors had a slight blip show up on his ECG and he had to retire his license. One hears this chap has been knocking off her Maj. (no, not Madonna) for some years. HM being the authority of this green and plesant land, exercising the law through whatever corrupt group of politicians we choose, probably saw fit to bend the law in return for a few favours. Nudge nudge... Godot, be a darling and lend me the internet law book when you've finished, thanks!