Oh, Those Summer Nights

It's hot. And I mean really hot. Despite clouding over and drizzling fairly often, the mercury has been pushing thirty all week - even at night. This has given the Bruxellois one more excuse to crowd onto the pavements and live de goed leven. And who am I to argue with the locals?

I couldn't conceive of sitting in a library on a day as sunny as today, so I hit the streets for some food and beer. After a quick stop at my landlord's office to confirm I'd paid the latest rent instalment - an event which never fails to sadden both me and my bank manager - I headed to AUB.SVP, an industrial-chic restaurant in the lobby of an old cinema just round the corner from my flat. It's the kind of place that would be infested with hipsters anywhere else, but thankfully they don't seem to exist in Belgium. (I like this place more each day). I had chicken cooked two ways on spring vegetables in a kind of brothy gravy, with a big wedge of home-made lemon and thyme bread on the side. It was incredible. Brussels' restaurant scene is impressive, and I'm told that those in the know consider the scran here to be superior to Paris. Take that, Michelin!

After dark I headed to the Beursschouwberg, a Flemish cultural venue just off the main drag. As well as concerts and shows, they also have a roof terrace which hosts free events during summer evenings. Tonight they were showing a movie - Heißer Sommer - which they were projecting onto the wall of the next building. People clustered on the terrace in deck chairs, or simply sat on the ground, legs crossed and beer in hand. It was all rather lovely.

The same, however, could not be said for Heißer Sommer. It was essentially an East German answer to Grease, a painfully twee and right-on musical about strapping Aryan chaps chasing after girls during a summer beach holiday. The plot consisted solely of virginal jolly japes in the GDR countryside; a kind of Marxist-Leninist Enid Blyton story which Cliff Richard might've starred in had he been born on the wrong side of Checkpoint Charlie. (Indeed, the film essentially was "Summer Holiday.")

At least the view was good.