little city, lots to see

Check out the newsletters of the restauratie integratie mechelen for fascinating articles about historical buildings and restoration plans. Or browse through the Beeldbank Mechelen for gorgeous black and white photos of the city. And keep up with all that's going on in Mechelen Blogt. All this history and culture for a city of 80,000 people. No, of course I'm not jealous.

Beeldbank photo of Toon Lauwers, tower keeper (my career predecessor!) of Sint-Romboutstoren, at the automatic carillon play. Lauwers created the homage plaque to Jef Denyn in 1931 that I just cataloged today for the KBS museum.

Beeldbank searches on beiaard and Jef Denyn turn up exciting results (at least for carillonneurs), and a search on Adegem turns up pictures of the grand gate in the city wall that used to stand at the end of my street. It's impossible to avoid history here; you have no choice but to live in it.

And yet I pay only fifteen euros more per month to live in my room with private bathroom than an old lady in Brussels who was forced to live in a cellar without electricity, warm water, and sanitation for five years. Admittedly, if she had perished, I would have put her in the running for a Darwin Award.