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Analysis

The unique challenge of a Belgian junction

Belgium is one of the last places where the priorité à droite rule still applies to traffic (more from Marko and Expatica) – i.e. when on any road you should give priority to traffic joining from the right. If you’re on a major thoroughfare and there’s a piddling side-road to […]

Analysis, United Kingdom

Eurostar grandeur

My Eurostar leans into a curve as the twinkling lights of Calais disappear into the distance, accelerating into northern France. With the dark of an autumn evening outside the window only the dull reverberations of the air on the carriage walls convey the impression of speed. Yet only forty-five minutes […]

Analysis

Good Dutch design, so I’m set for stylish cycling

It’s been a long search (see this post for all the links), but I reckon I have now managed to find the best cycle pannier bag anywhere in Europe – the Basil Preston office bag, aubergine. I don’t think the picture here really does it justice. Basil is a Dutch […]

Analysis

Airport signs: the serious and the frivolous

It’s a serious issue: what rights do airline passengers get when their flights have been delayed? The EU has agreed tough rules to oblige airlines to pay, and in Brussels airport there are signs (shown on the right here) that explain those rights. Low cost carriers have not really been […]

Analysis

Streetcar plays cleverly on gender stereotypes

From this month’s Streetcar newsletter: Not since Mrs Dewbury’s husband ran off with the milkman had news travelled so fast on Chalton Street. Read it, and then read it again. It was accompanied by the cartoon shown. ‘Mrs’ and ‘milkman’ in the same sentence… But it’s more subtle than that. […]