My Stay at Jeroen and Raph

My stay in Belgium at the house of Raph and Jeroen.

On this page you will find some pictures of the last weeks of October 2004 I spend in the house of Raph and Jeroen. By the end of August 2004 Raph and Jeroen got married. At the time of their marriage I was in the U.K. attending the International Rally of the Land Rover Series II Club. This also will be my last weeks of work at The Vision Web Belgium in Leuven. I have to end my job here in Belgium (two months notice).

Because of my return to the UK by the end of October 2004, I had to clear my apartment in Heverlee. From the second week of October 2004 I managed to get a new family in the apartment. Here in Belgium they have a very strange rental contact of a minimum of 3 years! So in real life you have to stay for at least 3 years in a house... By law you have to make a 3 month let deposit on a joined bank account. I got that apartment since March 2004 so official I had to stay till March 2007! If you break the contract within the first year you have to pay a 3 months fine, the second year a 2 months fine and the third year a 1 months fine. So be aware of this Belgium money eating scam!

Because of this situation Jeroen asked me to join them in their house for the last couple weeks of my stay in Belgium. This is better than sleeping in the Land Rover! I even got my own bedroom with toilet and bath! This is very nice after a hard days work. The house is located in the French part of Belgium. The neighbourhood is surrounded by a forest. This is an ideal Green Lane area for my Land Rover.

So this is a big happening. Mums, Dads, cats and dogs are all living together. Making food in the kitchen is a party since this is the central place of the house.

After the main course was gone dessert was well been served. A typical Dutch dessert is always a big welcome.

To end our dinner party we all got to eat some fine Ice cream.

After the dinner the table was empty and the food was gone. Time to Chill Out and relax! But the animals are also in need of some attention so work has to be done.

Computer work can be done since the house of Raph and Jeroen has a wireless WiFi ADSL connection. Work can be done to monitor and support the systems of The Vision Web Belgium. Just switch on your Laptop and of you go, only with the correct security settings. ;-)

Star Wars has a big place in the life of Jeroen. He even has 'Han Solo in Carbonate Chamber' in his house. So please don't lite the fireplace. The collection of DVD's is huge as other Star Wars gadgets through out the house.