Belgians and skinned knees

Do you remember "Jeux sans frontiers"?

If you don't, it was the international version of the much loved TV show "It's a knockout". I remember those balmy Saturdays watching lots of English people dressed in funny clothes milling around whilst jammed in an obstacle while the Germans went racing past to the end. The only thing that varied the format was a group of highly uncoordinated and physically impaired people rushing hither and thither across the field of play, getting in everyones way and generally not making much in the way of progress.

Thats right, HERE COME THE BELGIANS. Whilst working last night, it occurred to me that there is a distinct similarity between this madhat game of the 1980's, and driving on European roads today.

The parallels are astonishing, as I am sure anyone who has driven on the continent will agree. The English are too polite, the Germans just want to get there first and the Belgians, well, they're just not very good are they?

After surviving this hair-raising experience and finally arriving in my half-way destination of Calais (The jewel of the north), I turned my own hand to It's a Knockout style japery and vaulted across the central reservation to collect my new vehicle. Unfortunately "vaulted" is an optimistic way of describing it. "Falling over in a heap" is perhaps a little more accurate.

As a result, I sit here now looking more like a schoolboy than ever, with plasters everywhere and a matching pair of skinned knees. You know, I'd forgotten quite how much they hurt, and also quite how stupid they look with shorts.



Handsome eh?