30/11/2006

The end of an Era

Today marked the official ending of the first three months in Utrecht with the departure of Emma and Laura for the green pastures of England. They've been almost constant companions, and it's not overstating things to say that the past three months have been tremendous fun and it's going to be very strange without them both being around. Things already seem a little quiet and less lively on the corridor.

It was good last night to have a corridor drink in the local Irish pub to say 'goodbye', and I think I speak for everyone on the corridor when I say that a return visit is not only anticipated, but positively demanded. So here's to our Nothern lasses;


Unfortunately I no longer have any excuse to spend my time baking/chatting/watching Friends and hence might actually have to get some work done.

29/11/2006

You know it's Christmas when...

If I thought it felt like Christmas after Sinterklaas arrived in Utrecht, then I was wrong. For having had what was in effect a Christmas dinner, and having spent two days in Maastricht and Valkenburg visiting several Christmas markets I feel that only now can I say it really feels like Christmas.

On Sunday, Emma and I embarked on the task of cooking a Sunday/Christmas roast. I've never done it before, so stuffing the chicken was a faintly interesting experience and I now have tremendous respect for what Mum does each Sunday! Thankfully the chickens juices ran clear, the Yorkshire pudding's rose, the mash was creamy and the vegetables tender. So that was a success with the only thing missing being Christmas crackers and their party hats.

On Monday we caught the train to Maastricht in the far south east of Holland, sandwiched between Belgium and Germany. I've been before, but only briefly late in the evening on my way back from Luxembourg, so it was good to see it in the daylight:


It really is a nice place, but like a lot of places I've been to, there's nothing really to see or do beyond seeing the city itself. But it's a pretty city with lots of old and quaint passages such that you don't notice they're filled with big name stores. But still, we went for the Christmas market, and it wasn't quite what we were expecting:


It was more of a fair with stalls, but it had an ice-skating rink which provided too good an opportunity to miss, so I donned a pair of skates for the first time in two years and slithered around the rink. Fortunately we had two hours for it all to come back to us and by the end we were more of less skating. But why is that these places are always full of four year old children who can skate perfectly as if they were born doing it? I'm sure I never skated like that when I was younger. Still, we had fun finding time to form a conga line and for me to have an unplanned attempt at doing the splits:



I'm proud to say that the only time I almost fell over was in fact nothing to do with me, rather one of the aforementioned children being slightly less perfect than he thought. The star of the evening award though has to go to Emma who found a stall selling waffles covered in Caramac! It's a long way back to Maastricht, but I think that might just be worth the trip! We stayed in a really nice B&B right in the centre with complimentary DVDs, so I corrected the fact that Laura, Emma, and Rachel had never seen Four Weddings and Funeral.

On Tuesday we made the short train ride to Valkenburg and here things were slightly different. Valkenburg's markets are actually underground in cave networks and are hence quite famous:


The amount of English people there should not therefore have come as a surprise, but still, it did. Among the priceless tidbits of conversation I picked up were "I've got stitches in me teeth" said to a sweet stall owner, "My hands are all sticky" said to God-knows who, and the rather abrupt "Fish?" said to a bemused restaurant owner. Ah, makes me proud to be English. We spent most of the afternoon exploring the labyrinth of passages and stalls, but shamefully I only bought three things, and all for myself. My excuse being that I've still a month until Christmas, and a trips to Paris and Cologne in which to buy things, so I didn't want to splurge just yet.

So a really fun two days, and it's only a week until the Dutch celebrate Christmas, and under a month until the English do. It was a really good way to spend some time with Emma and Laura before they leave for England tomorrow as well. It's been a fantastic three months and their potential room-replacements have an awful lot to live up to.


Still, we didn't feel as if we could leave it at that, today, Javi, Amadeo, Rita and myself decided to make a farewell lunch for the two of them. With Javi and Amadeo on savoury and Rita and I on sweet we ended up with quite a menu consisting of:

Spanish Tortilla, Roquefort Pasta, Pastel de Carne (Meet Cake), Vanilla Cupcakes, Chocolate Mousse, Meringues and a Cheesecake



Everything went down very well indeed and it was nice to have a good turn out for the sending off. We're going out for pancakes this evening as well, but after such a big lunch, I think everyone will be reaching for the children's menu!

25/11/2006

Back to Brussels - Part 2

I have a feeling that this triology might be rather like Back to the Future. The first will be good, the second less so, and the third the best. Still, trends are there to be bucked, so here's my attempt.

Over the three days I was in Brussels I attended presentations by the Parliament, Commission and Council of the EU, and one by the Dutch Embassy as well. I can't pretend to know that much about the functioning of the EU but I'd always been rather sceptical about the whole thing.

All of the people we spoke to were interesting and most were good at speaking, which was a good start, but even when they professed to speaking off the record, or wanted to give off the impression that they were being controversial, I couldn't help but feeling they weren't. 'Revelations' about the EU Constitution, the French being stubborn and the English selfish are hardly earth shattering but they were dressed up that way. The fact that two people in different institutions told the same joke just further suggested they were towing the same time. Still, the presentations weren't just full of the usual brochure material and for the most part our questions were answered.

I heard some worrying things though. The first relates to the way the Council works. For instance, Austria has no coastline, so it offers its votes on maritime policy to countries with coastlines in return for their support in matters of importance to Austria. This was sold to us as negotiation, but it strikes me as being little better than bartering, and that can hardly be a suitable way to run a union of 25 states. Secondly, it was openly admitted that getting Switzerland to join the EU would be a 'good catch' as the EU 'needs a rich state'. No mention of the benefits to Switzerland from membership. Thirdly, I cannot for the life of me comprehend the need of the EU Parliament to move to Strasbourg once every month 'all expenses paid'. The main chamber in Brussels is used for a total of six days a year. Apparently this set up is mandated by a treaty, but to me its symptomatic of the public perception of waste and inefficiency at the EU level. By all means have the Parliament in Strasbourg, or Brussels or even Warsaw, but don't move it around. Fourthly the Commission seemed proud to have over 60 buildings to its name. 60 buildings for 25 Commissioners. Right. Fifthly, did you know that Morocco enquired about the possibility of joining? I didn't because the EU didn't want to publicise the fact. The fact that an African nation wanted to join the European Union is something that should be debated in public, but by burying it the EU prevented this. For a Union that constantly talks about how it needs to communicate with the public, this seems inexcusable and smacks of hypocrisy. Sixthly, the attitude towards the Constitution was worrying. Most people seemed to think the biggest problem was calling it a constitution instead of a treaty. Of course, the 'no' votes in France and the Netherlands were more of a protest against everything instead of the contents of the constitution in particular, but to take the approach that the name was the biggest problem seems slightly patronising.

We heard something interesting about the future of Belgium at the Dutch Embassy. Although it was just an opinion, I hadn't realised quite how federal Belgium was - it has 6 different governments, and then different hierarchies within these governments. It all stems from the fact that there are three official languages and that people strongly associate with their region over the country. There are serious political moves to make Belgium confederal, rather like Switzerland, but crucially there's no strong bond between the different people, rather unlike Switzerland. It was suggested that this could well lead to Belgium breaking up into four different countries as aside from federal regions, namely; the French speaking, the Flemish speaking, the German speaking, and Brussels. If this happened, then it's likely that Brussels could become the capital of the EU outside of a member country, in the much same way as Washington DC isn't in a state in the USA. I know how feasible the whole thing is, but I thought the whole possibility was interesting and could herald quite a big change for the identity of the EU if it gets its own official capital city. Perhaps it'll give me a reason to go back to Brussels in 20 or 30 years.

If Brussels were to become the designated capital of the EU then it might solve another problem, namely the apparent ambivalence of the EU to the situation in Brussels itself. It was striking how well developed the EU quarter is compared to the rest of the city. There were an appalling number of homeless people for a place where so much money is washing around ,and too many places just had a feeling of being completely run down. One person admitted how the EU had pushed up prices, but then remarked that they had expenses, including rent, paid for. So I guess that means it's not a problem that needs addressing. Part of this can be attributed to the fact that at the moment, Brussels is Belgium's problem, with the EU just being a resident guest. If Brussels became the EU's responsibility then perhaps this would change and it might actually take more care of its surroundings.

I don't know. That's all very sceptical, but I came away with one overwhelming positive about the EU. Th EU was the reason I was there. Not only was I visiting it, but I'm only on an Erasmus scheme because it's administered and run by the EU itself. That's what I think the EU excels at, namely bringing different European countries and peoples together. I met some great people, and I'm constantly meeting great people. I was surprised by how many people wrapped themselves in the EU flag to be photographed over their national flags. There is a sense of belonging on the Continent that just doesn't exist in the UK, and I don't know why that is. Living here I feel as if I belong to Europe, just not to the European Union. To me, geography, culture and friendship provide a greater bond than economics and politics. The EU may help facilitate the former, but I don't think it exclusively provides it.

As it currently stands I can't deny that the EU does good and I think for it to fail now would cause much greater hardship than could ever be justified and I don't think the UK pulling out would solve anything. What it needs is reform. Either it downsizes in size and role, or it democratises itself and becomes more transparent. I have trouble explaining how the EU works. Until it has an easily recognisable legislature and executive, modelled on the systems in member states that can be understood by the people, the EU is forever going to be seen as remote and aloof. Only when the institutions become truly open and people are fully involved by the direct election of executive members and the President, will I feel justified in defending it.

High in Utrecht

Getting high in Utrecht is exceedingly easy, and I'm not referring to the large number of Coffieshops. Instead I'm referring to climbing up 112 meters in 465 steps to the top of Utrecht's Dom Tower:


Shamefully we only got around to climbing said tower today, but although my thighs are now seeking a pay rise, it was worth it. Apparently it's the tallest church spire in the Netherlands, and before the world had skyscrapers, it was the tallest building in the Netherlands. The stairs started out rather gently, but soon became rather less generous as they got steeper, narrower and tighter, but I guess it wouldn't have felt like such an achievement if they had been a lift.

Unfortunately it wasn't great weather wise. The rain held off but it was exceedingly windy at the top and the cloud meant we couldn't see Amsterdam like you can on a clear day. It's strange seeing Utrecht from 112 meters up and it made me realise how little of it I've actually seen these past three months. Here's a selection of photos of the view from the top:





On the way back home we cam across the following scene, it's far from unusual, but I guess it's a good way to keep your bike relatively thief-proof!

24/11/2006

Back to Brussels - Part 1

Two blog entries in one day, right after each other? Who says I don't spoil you?

I spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday feeling faintly uncomfortable visiting Brussels wearing a suit on a trip organised by the student association URIOS, whereupon we visited various institutions related to the European Union. This is despite the fact that in my previous entry on my trip to Brussels a weekend ago I said something along the lines of: "I won't be going back in a hurry". Well, I take some of that back.

I don't know why, but Brussels appealed more this time than it has before. Perhaps it's because we had an itinerary that kept us busy, or perhaps it's because we travelled quite far from the touristy centre. But whatever, I now don't dislike Brussels as much I once did. I still think that that Grand Place looks garish by day, but by night, I fully admit that it's pretty stunning:



There were 30 of us in total and it was nice that exchange students were, for a change, in the minority, so I got to meet and talk to some really great Dutch students as well as getting to know other people better. I'll save my observations on the EU and the people and places we went for Part 2 (so people can skip that boring bit), but suffice to say, I came away slightly more contented about the work of the EU than I was when I went in - I'm now the owner of a EU flag lapel brooch - but I still have major reservations about the European Project.

The trip itself was fun and it was good to travel with a group of people instead of individually. There's a street in Brussels where all of the tourist restaurants are located, and knowing we had a group of 30 people gave us quite a bargaining chip, so we had a great time playing the different restaurants off against each other trying to get the best bargain. We settled on a 20% discount in the end, and the following evening we got free drinks, so if you're going to Brussels, and plan to eat, group together, it'll pay off! There's also a bar that listed in the Guiness Book of Records as having the most types of beer available, with a massive 2400+ varieties! Suffice to say, no-one managed them all, but judging by the numerous hangovers, I think some tried!

We stayed in two different hostels and both were decent enough. We were slightly perturbed by the fact that upon asking a police officer for directions to the second one we were told that it was in a 'dangerous neighbourhood' and that 'women shouldn't walk around alone'. Luckily it turned out to be fine and we had no problems, but we all felt a little conspicuous as a group of 30 suited people.

So, a really fun trip. Unfortunately I continually forgot my came lra so I have only the two above photos to show. A lot of the time though was spent lining up photos of the group, so hopefully I'll have access to them in the near future (discreet hint to Sophie). Some of the EU buildings were pretty amazing as well. Hopefully they'll appear, along with more, in Part 3.

Definitely Den Haag

Today, I along with Emma, Laura and Rachel finally got around to visiting Den Haag, or as it's known in English, The Hague. It's in a strange position as it's home to the Dutch Government, Parliament and Royal House, but it's not the capital as that falls to Amsterdam, so I was curious as to what we'd fine. We had a small problem on the way with my Dutch translation skills only telling me that we were on a splitting train after said train had split and hence found ourselves instead heading to Rotterdam. But still, we regrouped and made it to Den Haag.

I had a feeling that I'd like it, and I did. Parts of it seemed a lot more developed than Amsterdam, there seems to be more money splashing around, but it didn't seem to stop the city from retaining some old charm. The shopping districts were much like any other city, but away from this there was some great architecture, especially the Parliament building which avoided the all-out grandeur of Westminster, but still felt suitably austere:


We bought a walking tour from the Tourist Information Office that took us to all sorts of places which I doubt can be considered 'essential viewing' but at least we got off the beaten track. We also got lost on the way back to the train station, managing to end up at the wrong train station, but it did give us an excuse to sample not one, but two, Dutch oliebollen. They're like doughnuts, but better. They aren't as sweet, the outside is faintly crunchy, they can have raisins in, and they're cheap. So that was a good find. On our meanders around the back streets we also came across the following rather picture-perfect scene:


Den Haag is host to the Escher art gallery, famous for all of the graphical, bind bending works involving staircases going everywhere, but nowhere etc. I hadn't realised how many pieces he'd done, so it was great to see them all under one roof, and it gave us occasion to have this photo (of a photo) taken:


I shall leave you all to work out how it works, and yes, it did hurt hoisting my leg up that high onto the sill.

23/11/2006

Back to Brussels: An Epic Adventure Story

Well, that might be overstating things a little, but I've just got back from a three-day trip to Brussels visiting various European institutions and meeting various European people. I've decided that my report of said trip needs to be broken up into segments, so I'm intending that the instalments will be:

Part 1: General Trip Information
Part 2: EU Observations
Part 3: Photos and bits I forgot from Parts 1 and 2

I'm now rather tired, and tomorrow I'm finally visiting The Hague so I don't know when these instalments will reach your screens, but I urge you to keep your news feeds peeled so as to be aware the instant they do.

18/11/2006

Christmas Cometh?

I'm told that my blog is at it's best when it's full of pictures. What that says about the content of my writing I'll not ask, but on that measure hopefully this entry should be good.

Today marked a very special day in the Netherlands, the arrival of Sinterklaas! Now, I should imagine that most of you aren't familiar with the story of Sinterklaas so if I may, I'll direct you to this Wikipedia article which explains all. Today Sinterklaas arrived throughout the Netherlands and Belgium on his boat from Spain with his hopelessly political incorrect Zwarte Pieten.

Traditionally from today until the 5th December Dutch children place little shoes by their chimneys in the hope of getting sweets from his helpers. Therefore it's not incorrect to say that Christmas has started already, five months before the day! Well, actually, it is incorrect to say that, for Christmas and Sinterklaas Eve are two separate events here with gifts being given mainly on the latter. The upshot of this state of affairs is that I'll be in the Netherlands when people give gifts here, and I'll be in the UK when people give gifts there! Result, as they say.

So today I've been out and about exploring the festivities. Things started off with Sinterklaas arriving among a flotilla of little boats on the river:



I must say that I felt quite out of place being a lone 20 year old in a crowd here most people were accompanied by a four year old child, but still, I guess I can claim to be a child at heart. After the river festivities had finished things moved onto land with a procession through the town centre with a band, dancers, clowns and lots of people in fancy dress:



Of course though all of this was just for one man, Sinterklaas, and here's the man himself:


I really wasn't expecting such a show, especially seeing how the actual day isn't for another three weeks, but it all had a really lovely atmosphere. The town centre really was buzzing. All of the children seemed to be having such a great time and it felt blissfully non-commercial throughout. The only thing that made it all slightly surreal was the fact that the Netherlands is currently engaged in the build up to a general election next week and the town was full of election workers and stalls. I wouldn't say that Christmas and politics usually mix that well, but the stalls for the different parties were all lined up next to each other in a highly convivial way. All of the children had balloons, but it was only on closer inspection that I noticed the balloons had come from the election stalls. Talk about getting them young!

14/11/2006

A Benelux Expedition

On Friday I woke up not knowing what I was going to do with my weekend. On Monday evening I was sitting on a train from Maastricht to Utrecht recovering from a frantic weekend spent exploring the Benelux countries. Who says I lack spontaneity?

What started as a modest trip to Brussels in Belgium become a grand tour resembling the following:


I got a train to Brussels with a friend called Yu. On the way we had to change at Rotterdam and had about forty minutes to look around. The Beautiful South lyric 'This could be Rotterdam or anywhere...' sprung instantly to mind and we moved swiftly on to Brussels.

I've been to Brussels before, and I didn't really like it that much so I was a little bit unsure of what to expect the second time around. I still think that it feels very much like any other city with little individual character, but I did see it in a better light than last time. I think it's going through quite a period of change; there are building works everywhere, so perhaps it'll be interesting to see again in five or ten years. I don't think I'll go out of my way to go back in the meantime. We did find a lovely little bakery to have lunch in though. We all sat around a single big table and got to taste some of the best soup and bread I've had in a while:


As for Brussels itself. The chocolate museum was an undoubted highlight. The Coudenberg archaeological site was quite something as well. Everyone raves about the Grand Place, but personally I think it's quite garish. Still, there are places that are really picturesque. It's just a shame that there aren't more of them:


That evening we found a nice restaurant for dinner. I set upon a decidedly French/Belgian menu, and had my first tasting of frog's legs and mussels, topped off with a crème brulee. The mussels were really nice, the frog's legs somewhat less so. They came swimming in garlic butter which probably didn't help, but I think I'll give them a miss in future. We found a guy selling snails in the street, but unfortunately I had a hand full of waffle at the time, and I didn't think the two would go together that well! So I'll save snails until next time.

We stayed in a decent hostel on Saturday evening and met some interesting people from Hungary, Belgium and Australia. On Sunday morning we parted ways, with Yu heading to Brugges and me to Luxembourg. On the train I met an English lawyer of all people, so it was good to have someone to chat to. Luxembourg itself is stunning. I don't know why, but I've always wanted to go, perhaps just because it's so small, but it's a fantastic place. There's nothing to do there other then walk around, but that's what makes it so good. There were so few people around as well. The city itself is built in a valley, so part of the city is at the top and the other part on the valley floor, providing for some fabulous views:



I was amazed to hear that only 40% of the population are actually born in Luxembourg. I think that probably contributes to the only downside; the lack of identity. There are three official languages in Luxembourg; French, German and Luxembourgish, but there's also a lot of English. I don't know if any country can maintain a national identity when it's so small and it's people are so diverse, but it didn't stop me loving the place. I'd have liked to have stayed longer to walk around a bit more and to see what it's like in the week when I imagine it's a bit more lively, but unfortunately I had to move on. I stayed the night in Luxembourg's only hostel and shared a room with a few people all looking for work at the EU there.

On Monday morning I caught a train north, back to Belgium to the city of Liege. The train ride was stunning up through the Ardennes and I'd have liked to get off to explore each little visit that it stopped at. Even the train was quaint, and I had a compartment to myself the whole way. After Luxembourg Liege would have to have been good, and unfortunately it wasn't. In fact, it was pretty horrible. The historical centre took some finding and when I found it I was surprised to see it full of chain stores and boarded by a 1960s era shopping centre. It was all pretty miserable and I wasn't that sad to leave for Masstricht.

By the time I got there it was already dark, so I didn't stay that long, but I had time to walk around. They call Maastricht the 'Paris of the North' and from the little I saw it really did seem quite nice:


There's a famous Christmas market in the main square later this year, so hopefully I'll go back them and see a little more. By the time I left though I was severely confused about my languages. I'd started off with Dutch, then Flemish, then French, then a little German before going back to Dutch. Quite what the train station clerk thought of my attempts to communicate I'll never know, but I doubt it was favourable.

So that was my weekend. I'd have loved to have carried on travelling for a while longer. I met a Canadian on a six week trip around Europe, I asked him here he was headed next and he told me that he was just going to the strain station to see what appealed to him. I'd love to do to the same.

09/11/2006

Bus Lanes

I have finally been caught out by Utrecht's mass system of interconnected bus, cycle and car lanes. While riding back with Javi and Amadeo from doing some food shopping in Utrecht's Turkish neighbourhood we were innocently trying to fathom out the junction, when Javi started shouting something in Spanish. I turned around to see what it was and was confronted with the sight of a double-bendy bus bearing down on him. Unfortunately, the said bus lane was an underpass and was about one centimetre wider than the bus itself, so in short, it wasn't going anywhere without getting us first.

In a rather Indiana Jones 'boulder in the mine' type of way we, while frantically jabbering about the fact that there was a bus barrelling along behind us, peddled like we'd never peddled before finally being able to pull in and get out of its way. All that was missing was some suitably dramatic music supporting the 'will they, wont they' feeling.

So it appears that I got sightly over confident of the road junctions here, I've apparently not quite adapted to the whole bikes/cars/buses/pedestrians conflict and the fact that it all takes places on the right! Just wish I had a video camera - now that would have gone up on YouTube!

08/11/2006

It's over! Almost.

I've now had two exams here in Utrecht. The first one yesterday was for Comparative Constitutional and Administrative Law. It had one bad question, but the third question went some way to making up for it by asking:
Pick one case from outside your jurisdiction studied on this course that you found interesting. What happened in the case and why did you find it interesting?
Now that's a nice question if ever I heard one. I had my second exam earlier today for Principles of Good Governance, and that was slightly (read: a lot) less nice than the former. Fingers crossed that I'll have done enough to pass but I hadn't got a clue for some of the questions. Apparently if I fail I need to resit in December, but the resit would be an oral exam, which we all agreed might be worth failing for! But I guess that's not the correct attitude.

I only have one more exam now which I got on Monday and doesn't have to be in until Friday, the plan is to get it done today, but good intentions and all that springs to mind!

I thought I'd mention a little bit about exam procedure here. Forget everything you thought you knew. Firstly, there's no designated seating as you can sit where you want. You don't have any official identifying form and you're not checked off on any list. You can bring everything into the exam, bags, coats etc, no need for see through pencil cases here. You can get up to go to the toilet without telling anyone. You don't get told to start, you just do. And finally, you can leave whenever you want. I finished about 15 minutes before the end of my first exam, but didn't leave until just before the end as it felt wrong! I came round to the idea a bit more today and after finishing with 30 minutes still to go I decided to be daring and leave. So I did.

I'm now having to deal with a severe lack of motivation to do anything else. This usually doesn't matter when exams are at the end of the year, but feeling this way in November with the majority of the year still to run must be a bad sign.

06/11/2006

Postal Problems

On Friday I got a note in postbox informing me that I had a parcel that I needed to collect from the local post office. Unfortunately, I had to wait until the next working day to pick it up. That day was today, and hence, I am now the proud owner of 9 (or rather, now 8) Caramac KitKat bars!


So horray for that. What that story doesn't tell though is the sorry story of how long they've taken to come. I ordered them on the 23rd October and they were posted the following day, so it took them two weeks to arrive from the UK.

This is not a rare occurrence. I also sent a postcard to Clare back in the UK and it took two and a half weeks to arrive. A similar one to Cecily in Greece took only three days. I sent something to Lotti in Paris about two weeks ago and it still hasn't arrived, and I'm still expecting another parcel from the UK that's been in the system for over a week now. That's mad, the post actually worked when I first got here, and I can't even blame it in the Royal Mail. I believe the moral of this rant (if indeed there is one) is that postal privatisation doesn't work!

I also received my first exam today. I have until Friday to hand it in and it contains some great questions such as the significance of the Spanish King in the Dutch national anthem - if only Constitutional exams back home had questions like that! I have one more tomorrow, and then one on Wednesday. I fear that it's going to be a case of saving the worst for last.

05/11/2006

Prolonging the Blackout

I woke up this morning and was mildly perturbed when the lights didn't turn on. I was then even more intrigued when the corridor was in pitch darkness. As I hadn't woken up properly I thought that maybe I'd got up in the middle of the night, until it dawned that we were in fact in the middle of a power cut. What fun.

Only it wasn't any normal power cut. Thankfully the kitchen seemed to still be electrified, or at least the appliances were. Laura and Emma had one socket that still worked, Javi and Amadeo's room was unaffected while mine was dead in all respects. That's one highly targetted power cut. Common consensus was that a fuse had blown somewhere, but I didn't think our keys opened the fuse box, so one call to the 'Emergency Callout' number later and an electrician arrived only to need my key to open the fusebox after all!

After getting our electricity back I noticed that the BBC is reporting that the whole of western Europe is apparently suffering similar problems as a few people in Germany got a bit cold. So here's hoping that they fix that slight problem before Winter starts in earnest.

So, the moral of the story being that after 9 hours basking in the darkness we could have fixed it ourselves, a point not lost on Javi who pointed out that it was me who said our keys didn't open the fusebox. Ah, yes, he might have a point there. Time to make myself a bit inconspicuous I think.