Slowly but surely the thick layer of snow that has covered Brussels the past week is yielding to warmer temperatures, so I’m afraid we’ll have to stick to dreamin’ this year. The image shown above is from last Saturday and as usual I couldn’t choose so here’s another one, and here, here and here too. While I love the heat of the tropics, there is a certain magic in the frosty brilliance of a snow-covered forest in bleak wintry sunlight. Anyway, merry Christmas to all of you!

After shooting all those politicians in Paris, forgive me for thinking there wouldn’t be any left for the rest of the world; hence the surprise. These here would be trust-busting European Commissioner and, according to Forbes, one of the most influential women in the World: Neelie Kroes, and Dutch state secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport: Jet Bussemaker. They met with me today in Brussels so I could upgrade my handshaking network and now I’m up to date again.

The first snow of the season arrived today around noon and it arrived in vast quantities. Especially the forest, where the falling flakes drown out all sound except the occasional happy twittering of a bird that hasn’t yet discovered it’s bad news for her, becomes a place of magic. One almost feels as if one’s the first to ever walk underneath its lofty canopy, trodding through centimeters of a snowy white blanket where no tracks yet exist, while mere minutes later the evidence of one’s own existence has vanished under a fresh layer. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…