Miles today: 73
Total miles: 435
Location: Antwerp, Begium.
Tonights accommodation: 23€, with breakfast AND sheets included. Whooooo!
Number of hours sleep I got last night in worlds noisiest hostel: about 3.
Number of hours sleep I got in my car parked up in a quiet street in Gent: 5
Number of pedrestrianisted local town squares I accidentally drove my car into: 1
“Point turn” it took to get car out again: About 37, Austin Powers stylee.
Number of C&A’s spotted: 1

Well a difference a day makes. I should have listened to my instinct last night and slept in the car. The only room left was a mixed dorm, but I thought I was being soft, and convinced myself I should be brave. In reality this meant me being woke up by 5 screaming shouting drunk Swiss  blokes at 2am, then 3am when another of their mates rolled in, then constantly shouting laughing and shreeking till 5am. After about the first hour there was a little lull, and when they started up again I asked them please to be quiet,and they laughed at me in Swiss and shouted what I’m assuming were insults and carried on whooping and  yelling. Felt a bit intimidated to get out bed in my jimjams and gather my things together to go and sleep in the car, so I just stayed put, buried my head under the duvet and thought nasty thoughts to stop myself crying. Must of worked because I eventually fell sleep and dreamt they were all pretty Swiss girls with long blonde hair but with big hairy manIy chests, being very sorry and apologetic.

Now I’m nowty when I’m tired at the best off times, so this morning was never going to be a good one. I got up at 7am and made sure I clanged and banged round a lot as I left the room. I did consider pissing in their shoes but by that point they were all awake and grumpy so I thought better of it. Thats one hostelI I will never go back to. Anyway, the sun was out first thing so wandered back into Bruges and had hot waffles and cherries for breakfast. There was a little horse and trap doing cart rides around town, and shop keepers washing down the pavements outside their shops, and baker’s with the doors open and smells of fresh bread wafting out. Very pleasant, but I was still in a vile mood. The must have been a concert on aswell, because there was temporary tiers of seating in the main square. Forgot to mention this last night but there was a big group of lads sitting in the seating, and they were throwing a frizbee to random passers by, who were catching it and throwing it back. Was all very friendly, and they were clapping all the passers by, and people sitting at pavement cafes were cheering too. So I stopped for a while and played frizbee with the people in the square. I bet they weren’t Swiss!

At 10am I still had nowhere booked for tonight so I phoned a few places (ok, a few countries if I’m honest) to decide where to go next. Everywhere decent was booked up so I thought I night at well just get on the road and see where I ended up. Where I ended up was actually just a space at the side of the road in the next city along, which was Gent. Was just too tired to drive safely so I parked up just before lunch, put sun shades up at all the windows, tipped the seat right back and got my big fluffy blanket out of the boot and fell sleep all cosy and warm in my little car for a good few hours. Phoned some more places (countries) and found what sounded like a safe hostel in Antwerp, the kind my trusty “boy scout” rule of thumb was happy with. Now, when you phone up these places to book I usually say in my best Queens English “Hello, do you speak English?” and they all reply back in a rather insulted tone of voice that yes they do. Well not this one. The bloke who answered said “Only til 11pm, and all day on Tuesdays”. My kind of hostel – boy scout friendly AND sense of humour! Took my ages to find it. Got with 20yrds of it twice, and then did a whole lap of the city centre thinking I was lost. Millions times better than last night and the sweaty grim Swiss noisy boy hovel. Very plain and simple but clean and modern. Think along the lines of “If Ikea did prisons” and you wouldn’t be far wrong. By some fluke I’ve we’ve ended up with a private double room and en suite for 21€ a night.  Just what I need.  Room to swing a cat, AND a sink to wash my contact lenses in!

My priority for tomorrow is finding somewhere showing the FA Cup final on a big screen. I had a vest made with WAFC on the front in blue before I left, but it’s not actually vest weather which is a shame. Tell you what, I did the right thing bringing a coat – its proper chilly at times. Don’t remembering it being so cold last time I did my roadtrip. Mind you, comparing the weather to the same 2 week period 2 years ago wouldn’t get you anywhere in Britain so I don’t know what made think it would be any different here. I had a little wander into town before for tea, and  so excited,  I got a Chinese in one of those takeaway boxes that American people on the telly have. That’s a tick in that box now. Small things eh? Was a challenge ordering the Chinese though. In the typical Brit “Everyone speaks English so why should I bother to learn their language” ignorance I’ve been getting by by just well…..talking English. But I really struggled with the chinese takeaway bloke. There was a lot hinging on him understanding the difference between “Very spicy” and “NOT very spicy” but by a bit of hand signals, bits of words, pointing and general “give us a clue” we got there in the end. Lionel Blare would be proud.(people reading this in work – good luck explaining that one to Laura!)

Back at the hostel now just sitting at the bar. Honestly, I couldn’t make it up. On my way out earlier the lobby was full of a sports team of somesort. All in their embroidered sweatshirts and baseball caps and team jackets. Looked very American but they weren’t. Now special there then.  Except for the fat midgety girl in pink pyjamas following them round everywhere. No-one else was batting an eyelid at her, sort of thing where I wanted to point and say “Hang on, have you lot not noticed her? Is there only me who can see her?”. Now its late, and I’m tired, so might well be halucinating, so I had to take a sneaky pic to prove she was really there.

That’s it for tonight. I’ve waffled a lot but I’m in chatty mood because I’m in a much better mood than yesterday and this morning. 🙂