Alastair, Since more than 15 years I visit Britain some 2-3 times a year....and I do fancy a beer from time to time...
I don't know If you've ever been in Belgium. But really, our beer is GOOD ! We have some 120 breweries that produce more than 500 kinds of beer. Chances are that a significant number of British beers are in the hands of AB InBev, that is a worldwide leading beer company with belgian roots. But on the other hand : the Angus beef that I love to eat in your country is really unique.... Best regards from this side of the channel, Luc D. From: Alastair Burr Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2011 8:28 PM To: RBASE-L Mailing List Subject: [RBASE-L] - Re: OT - geography lesson “We brew the best beer in the world, we have the best chocolates...” Maybe the chocolates but the beer is only second best <g> – at least from here in the UK!! Regards, Alastair. From: Luc Delcoigne Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2011 7:09 PM To: RBASE-L Mailing List Subject: [RBASE-L] - Re: OT - geography lesson Hello all, YES, Belgium is still ONE country. Yes, we've had some trouble...since 1830, the year of our independence from the Netherlands...and it goes on and on since then..... BUT, in the end, we all love each other and somehow, sometime there always is a solution that comes up for our little very sympathic country (we have only 10.6 million inhabitants). If there are some problems now, it is because we have way too much political parties and everybody wants his part of the cake. (And there is only 10% of the population that really wants us to split....and those are making the most noise....without any results so far.... You could compare us in some ways to the province of Quebec in Canada. In the end, all goes well. Yes, we haven't got a federal government since more than 245 days....and I LOVE IT...... but each community has its government that keeps going on... Finally, serious people can get to do serious business. Some of the great things of our country that has been run over by virtually everybody in the last 600 years or so (the French, the Spanish, the French again, the Dutch, the Germans (twice)....: Most of us can speak three or four languages....and we have some marvelous dutch and french dialects.... We brew the best beer in the world, we have the best chocolates... We even invented the "French" fries.....and the belgian waffles.... Jacques Brel was a belgian...we have Toots Thielemans, the best bluesharp player in the world (you must know him, he's a great jazz star in the US). How sweet can it be in our little heaven on Earth.... Luc Delcoigne, MD Flanders Belgium Europe Earth PS : Germany is also ONE country. There is no West or East Germany anymore (since 1989)......And the capital of Germany isn't Bonn anymore but Berlin.... From: Bill Downall Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2011 6:32 PM To: RBASE-L Mailing List Subject: [RBASE-L] - Re: OT - geography lesson AARP Magazine recently had a world map / quiz of countries that have come into existence since we learned about them with our grade school globes and atlases. There were about 200. Pick the numbered country outline on the map for each country name. I don't have a high level of confidence in the ability of Americans to score well on such a test. (Even if there weren't 200 new ones in 50 years.) Bill On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 12:05 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: A long long time ago I had an RBase client who was a salesman for Rand McNally, selling things like maps and globes to schools. I can only imagine how out of date these items can get!
