Charming as the Belgian countryside is, a wanderer starts to fret if they are cooped up for too long in the same place. This particular walk today was perhaps one of the less interesting of many otherwise thoroughly enjoyable walks described and signposted on site by the Flemish Brabant tourist organisation.
In the D’Hoogvorst walk from the town of Meise to the north of Brussels, one can “enjoy stunning views of the capital and the balls of the Atomium”…
This was the main item of attraction of the 10-kilometre walk, according to the brief description of the walk given by our good friends of the Flemish Brabant tourist office. It has to be said, though: I have been stunned to an even greater degree in the past. In fact, a few seconds later, having recovered from being stunned, I found this tree trunk more interesting.
Maybe this Coronavirus lockdown and too much Belgian countryside, as mentioned above, is becoming a bit repetitive for me. Or maybe this particular trail is not very inspiring. So much so that I considered this intriguing notice on the back door of a garden to have been put there by the tourist office to keep the wanderer’s mind occupied.
“WARNING. STRANGE DOG.”
Why? Why put up this sign? There’s a strange dog behind the door. I suppose it’s a deterrent, so that people don’t go in. They could get a shock on seeing this strange creature. Maybe a dog with horns, or a dog that speaks Swedish. Strange, indeed.
For a good while I mused on this warning. I have been on more spectacular walks, I have already made this clear. So this wanderer’s mind also made some wandering of its own and eventually I found myself considering, among all unexpected subjects in the universe, Victoria’s secret. In the past I have allowed the fact that Victoria has a secret to be just one of those things that one takes for granted. Not today, though. What could this secret be, I wondered? And was it so important that it had to remain a secret? Was it that she’s not really so posh? Or that she’s a closet Liverpool supporter?
“Do you have a secret wish?”
Well, it would be nice if I could get the chance to walk up slowly and purposefully towards Victoria, stopping at an appropriate social distance and, in an ominous tone, utter the immortal words: “I know your secret!” That would freak her out proper.
It really is becoming quite boring now, isn’t it. Not the secret, but the lockdown. How I wish we could go back to unrestricted travel again.
The Wanderer 