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9781906042226

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'Fun. I am Irish and live in Brussels and I bought this book to try to get an idea of what to expect from the Belgians. It has helped explain where they are coming from, their home life and their interests/obsessions. Of course, it is impossible to generalise about a group of such people of such diverse origins, history and culture, but it highlights the many likeable characteristics of the Belgians and their country.' -- Reviewer from Ireland 'A humorous look at the qualities and manners of the Belgians, covering everything from what they eat to how they drive. I lived in Belgium for 6 months and to the extent that you can successfully sum up an entire culture in 90 pages, it seems to hit the mark pretty closely. A cute little book and a very quick read.' -- Reader from Minneapolis, USA 'Hilarious... stereotypes and enough real facts for conversational knowledge. And yes, the cobblestones do look scrubbed in front of most Belgian houses.' -- Review from 'A customer'

Hilarious... stereotypes and enough real facts for conversational knowledge. And yes, the cobblestones do look scrubbed in front of most Belgian houses. -- Review from 'A customer' A humorous look at the qualities and manners of the Belgians, covering everything from what they eat to how they drive. I lived in Belgium for 6 months and to the extent that you can successfully sum up an entire culture in 90 pages, it seems to hit the mark pretty closely. A cute little book and a very quick read. -- Reader from Minneapolis, USA Fun. I am Irish and live in Brussels and I bought this book to try to get an idea of what to expect from the Belgians. It has helped explain where they are coming from, their home life and their interests/obsessions. Of course, it is impossible to generalise about a group of such people of such diverse origins, history and culture, but it highlights the many likeable characteristics of the Belgians and their country. -- Reviewer from Ireland

Author Information

Like many of his generation, as a youth Antony Mason had almost no contact with Belgium, apart from hitch-hiking through it on the way to somewhere else. On one occasion he was picked up by a friendly Belgian driver who invited him and his travelling companion home for a meal, a very generous act but also alarming since the Belgian drove at top speed along the motorway and insisted on turning around to address long pieces of conversation to the back seat. This reinforced certain prejudices about Belgian driving, which - along with other prejudices and stereotypes about Belgium - the author has been monitoring closely ever since and, one by one, shedding. This task has been greatly assisted by fate. In 1975, on the French island of Martinique, he met a beautiful Walloon. He didn't really know what that was at the time, and it didn't seem to matter. She later became his wife. They now live in London with their Anglo-Belgian son, but make frequent visits to Belgium - to Wallonia, Brussels and Flanders - with ever-increasing pleasure. Antony Mason is the author of some 50 books on travel, exploration, history, antiques, architecture, house plants, espionage, volleyball... In 1995 Cadogan Books published his Cadogan City Guide to Brussels, with Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp, the product of three years' work which tested the forbearance of his Belgian family to just short of destruction. He feared that this book would prove to be the last straw. But like true Belgians, they have displayed admirable tolerance - and total bemusement with the whole enterprise.

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