410PM Pretty sure I’m the only customer in the Dome and have been for quite a long time. Mystifies me a bit—it’s a lovely place to hang out in

410PM Pretty sure I’m the only customer in the Dome, and have been for quite a long time. Mystifies me a bit—it’s a lovely place to hang out in, and chill, drink, smoke, chat, whatever. If it called itself a Caffe Nero or Starbucks or Costa it would probably be packed all the time. Berenice again I’m Proud—Brussels 2001. Ur. Joe Dassin again; I really need to put more songs on my phone but I’m very selective, and there are very few songs that mean a lot to me at any particular time. 414 and my train leaves 556; surely time for one more? OK 415 I’m going for my 6th. So well done, I’ve avoided Le Coin, AND Brussels Grill (as well as Cine Paris and Fifth), and the shoe shops as well. So finally we are here! Adieu Bruxelles! Adieu mes jeunes filles! Bonjour tristesse! Bonjour darkness my old friend! 

 

350PM I start my fifth—final—Stella in the Dome. Oh but now the maitre d’ is killing me; replaced the empty peanut bowl with little slices of sausage with dabs of mustard! Gorgeous!

350PM I start my fifth—final—Stella in the Dome. Oh but now the maitre d’ is killing me; replaced the empty peanut bowl with little slices of sausage with dabs of mustard! Gorgeous! Oh and now he’s given me chunks of cheddar cheese with pepper on top! You are killing me, monsieur! But it certainly precludes the need for Brussels Grill! I have to force myself not to finish these all in one go even before I’ve started my beer, otherwise he will just bring more and as my mother always tells me, cheese is the most fattening thing you can eat. So no, let me slow down on the cheese and stick to the beer. Mavi Phoenix Longtime again, tempting me back to Vienna in the New Year. Like a Pill again. My ur-song. Kylie Can’t Get You Out of my Head (Brussels, circa 2001 or 1999? Even more of an ur-song, if so).

323. I wonder if I will be treated to a sexy barmaid here at the Dome or does the lunchtime boss go all the way in these cost-cutting days?

323. I wonder if I will be treated to a sexy barmaid here at the Dome, or does the lunchtime boss go all the way in these cost-cutting days? Would be lovely to see Aisha again as a final treat before I go home. Still a source of many erections/fantasies for me, even when back home in London. Rohff Qui est l’exemple (Brussels c.2003. FIRST Golden Age! Proper old school).

In the Café du Dome

So 216PM and reluctantly back in the Café du Dome. I would much rather have stayed in my room

So 216PM and reluctantly back in the Café du Dome. I would much rather have stayed in my room, but to pay for the whole night would have cost 79 euros! So now I try to kill time in the Dome, then perhaps Brussels Grill. Feel no desire for another Cine Paris or Fifth. Brussels has suddenly turned bitterly cold; feels more like snow than rain. Still, it is a pleasure to be sitting here in the Dome, listening to Berenice’s I’m Proud on my earphones, glass of Stella in my hands. Now Alcazar Crying at the Discotheque. Maitre Gims Bella. Memories of this holiday? Discovering Le Coin girls for the first time “came to life” for me and therefore that I really, really look forward to staying once more at my OLD favourite hotel, the Ibis Gare du Midi. That discovery will make it more likely I will return to Brussels sooner than I would otherwise have done. Junior Senior Move Your Feet.

Nice to be back in my Dome window seat; even a little splattering of rain out there to reward me as if to tell me “Yes NOW you are back in the right process”

Nice to be back in my Dome window seat; even a little splattering of rain out there to reward me, as if to tell me “Yes, NOW you are back in the right process”. One’s erotic fetish is a process—a checklist of activities that lead one closer and closer inexorably to orgasm; and I’ve disrupted that for a long time now by drinking in the Max lounge just staring out the window; I made this mistake in the Dorint Vienna as well. I should always drink IN MY ROOM, with porn on my computer and music on the TV (having first established there are no sexy barmaids in the hotel bar, of course). To keep myself permanently on that priapic edge. Permanently on the verge of orgasm. So then when you do go out you feel as high as a kite and it makes everything you do feel so much more exciting.

149 Having a third Stella here in the Dome

149 Having a third Stella here in the Dome; I find I am already becoming increasingly excited at the thought my return to Fifth Avenue is growing ever closer. This is why I travel. The beer goes down so much easier in the Rue D’Aerschot, and in Fifth Avenue, as I know I am right next to the half-naked floozies. How the proximity of a whore excites the blood of a man. A whole bar of them & whole road of them, even more so. So 205 already and still half my beer to finish here in the Dome. I am not behind yesterday at all, all of a sudden. Plus vite, monsieur, otherwise all the windows will be empty!

I’ve stopped off in Dome for old time’s sake hoping to see Aisha

I’ve stopped off in Dome for old time’s sake hoping to see Aisha, but no luck, but also because the McDonald’s I had at 11 has sobered me up somewhat and I need to start to feel a little drunk again before pushing on to Rue d’Aerschot. 1248 only. Mind you, better to get to Rue d’Aerschot and then in & out of Fifth Avenue a bit sooner today, if I want to have a nap and get out to Empire tonight.

Back in Brussels

206pm. Dome. Wow proper raining now. Lashing down ferociously

206pm. Dome. Wow proper raining now. Lashing down ferociously. I just missed it. My first Stella in the Dome on this visit. I have to say I really don’t think I like Stella. It has too much of a creamy texture & taste compared to the more clear watery Jupiler or Maes. Every time I walk past the shell of the old Cine ABC I feel terribly sad. How wonderful those old 1970s porn films were—“hairy porn” as I call it. What a difference from porn today where men & women do not seem to have a single hair anywhere on their bodies. And the hourly stripper of course. Think I’m coming down with a bit of a cold. Not surprising, after walking around for so long in the rain yesterday. Oh, I just saw a van passing, in the colours of “Patisserie Transylvania”. Fantastic. No I really don’t like the Stella. I would leave now but I’ll stay for one more just to see if —– comes in at 3. Christ I felt so randy when I returned to Fifth Avenue last night, but now I feel nothing. My usual lethargy & inertia.

I know in the old days I always used to get to Fifth Avenue late

I know in the old days I always used to get to Fifth Avenue late, after 4, because I spent some hours in Café du Dome; but taking a break from the Café du Dome it has meant I have got to Fifth Avenue too early. I should perhaps try to reinstate the Café du Dome into my routine. One more in the hotel before I go though. No.5. Hope the Cine Paris finally has some new films to sober me up again. No. 6.

Struggling on my first beer of the day

Struggling on my first beer of the day. My head still hurting from yesterday’s drinking. So all of a sudden this is what would have been the last day of my 3 day stay—how fast it goes. Glad now that I did add on an extra 3 days, so that gives me Saturday, Sunday and Monday here as well. Just raining now. To Dome for some of their lovely crusty bread & butter. Struggling with the Stella here as well; but an unexpected treat! My —– is on the lunchtime shift! Despite the foul (lovely) non-stop rainy weather, the Dome is busier than I have ever known it, which is good to see. I always said if —— worked the lunchtime shift I would have asked her out by now, but she always usually comes in just as I am leaving; well, we will see if I am tempted to flirt with her today. Me flirting is a painful sight, and I do not recommend it, even to myself.

Well, so here I am in Brussels, 937pm. Brussels under security lockdown

Well, so here I am in Brussels, 937pm. Brussels under security lockdown. And yet Cine Paris is open and showing a couple of good films to me and 1 other discerning customer. The girls are still in the Rue des Commerçants, including my Beatrice. Fifth Avenue is still open, including Ina in a stunning floral body suit. Her appeal does not diminish, it just grows. She is like a flower that is just starting to bloom, and she just keeps on blooming. I must admit, when I arrived at Gare du Nord and decided to step off the train there (and therefore stay) I felt scared. And coming out the station, passing the soldiers with massive machine guns, I felt scared. And walking down the road from Gare du Nord to my Max Hotel, I felt scared. Every bar and café and restaurant was closed along the whole length of the road, but then, incredibly, Brussels Grill was open, the first place I saw open. And even incredibly the Café du Dome was open! Bravo for them. What if gunmen walk in and start shooting you? Nothing you can do. But you have to go on don’t you. And bravo to them. And then you have a couple of cans of beer and you start to relax. And then you see Cine Paris is open and you relax more. And then you see the street girls in the Rue des Commerçants, and you relax more. And then, amazing, even Fifth Avenue is open as normal. Less girls than normal, it is true, but Ina is there, and you relax even more. This is how courage breeds courage.

Café du Dome open in midst of Brussels Lockdown

1pm I am in the Dome

1pm I am in the Dome. I discovered in the Empire last night that my phone was 1 hour ahead. A bread & butter (and beer) breakfast. I really fancy an Irish Breakfast (English breakfast served by an Irish waitress, essentially) in O’Reilly’s but cannot be bothered to walk so far. All I can think about is food, and that is going to ruin my whole day unless I deal with it now, so for the first time ever I am going to try the Café du Dome steak.

No man is an island. Well I’m as close to it as I’ve ever met

No man is an island. Well I’m as close to it as I’ve ever met. There may be other people like me but by definition I am not likely to bump into them. I still have the dream, that a hundred years from now, sensitive young men will be coming to drink in the Dorint Hotel in Vienna, because it is where their favourite writer ——– used to drink; and in the Café du Dome in Brussels, and the Berlin Plaza in Berlin. They will be eating Alt Wiener Zwiebel Rostbraten in the Café Westend like their hero did. Will there still BE a Dorint Hotel in 100 years, still a Café Westend, a Berlin Plaza, a Café du Dome? Would be fascinating to know. I want to live forever, I really do. I think The Makropolos Case is one of the most affecting operas I have ever seen. I want to be Emilia Marty. I do have a conception of myself as a great person, which, I notice, the rest of the world curiously and bizarrely fails to share.

Butter from the Cafe du Dome

I do wonder if I die whether I will die in Brussels, Berlin, Vienna or Munich?

I do wonder if I die, whether I will die in Brussels, Berlin, Vienna or Munich? There must be quite a good chance of it. In Brussels, you look out the window and you see girls who are sensationally beautiful, but just as a matter of course. And 70% of them I would say are of North African origin/parentage. There are so many casually beautiful busty girls here in Brussels, and I just don’t see them in Berlin, Vienna or Munich. To be brutal, 5th Avenue has so many f–kable girls, but the most f–kable of them all is this black girl in the Dome. Getting dark now, almost 5pm. By the sound of it I am the last customer. Wouldn’t be surprised if they close up soon after I leave. It is bizarre to me how empty the Dome bar always is; it is a lovely quiet place to have a drink. In London at this time on a Thursday night, EVERY bar will be packed out. Here in Brussels, I am the only person left in the bar.

I don’t think I have ever seen such beautiful buttocks as I see here in Brussels

I don’t think I have ever seen such beautiful buttocks as I see here in Brussels. Not in Berlin, not in Munich, not in Vienna. Here in Brussels the women have the best bottoms in Europe. Such, such, such a noticeable difference. Jesus Christ, the black girl at Dome is even more fantastically Rubenesquely voluptuous than I remember. Bloody hell, if I met her in 5th Avenue, what I would do with her. Right now, just being served by her, and that eye contact, is keeping me from 5th Avenue. Lotta & Sophia indeed. Lotta & Sophia indeed. Proof the centre of gravity has moved from Vienna to Brussels (it has moved several times over the years). Only from 2006-2013 has my centre of gravity been London, and that is because of my wife. I need to leave soon, or there will be no point going to 5th Avenue at all; but oh, black barmaid makes me want to stay. Oh if only I had the bravura to get talking to black girl, and ask her out for a drink. Obviously ‘drink’ in these circumstances being the ultimate euphemism. Ah—dickhead, 4pm, already my first day almost nearly gone. Ready for bed soon. Shame the black girl doesn’t start till 4, it seems. If she started at lunchtime, I think I would already have asked her out by now.

A little bit of light rain this Thursday morning

A little bit of light rain this Thursday morning it seems, judging by the brollies, but the ground still looks dry. After Brussels Grill I tried to return to Cafe du Dome but found the doors already locked—at 706pm! The girl could be seen cashing up at the till. I turned and headed straight back to 5th Avenue. I had just come from Cine Paris where I found to my surprise I still had feeling in my nether regions so that encouraged me to return to 5th. However, about 50 yards before I got there I just turned around and came back to the hotel. My brain and eyes were so flat and tired, and my stomach was already funny. Lucky I did, because as I approached my hotel room door key in hand I suddenly felt like there was an explosive device in my bottom. I made it just in time. My instincts are never wrong.

Yes, Lotta & Sophia are legends of my life

Yes, Lotta & Sophia are legends of my life, but this morning in bed I was thinking so much about the two Café du Dome barmaids—the black one and the North African blonde; both among the sexiest barmaids I have ever met. I would love to go out with either of them, preferably both.

Wow 7PM at night the Dome is really busy

Wow, 7PM at night, the Dome is really busy. This is how it survives. Most gorgeous gorgeous sexy smile from the black girl as I approached the bar. Probably the sexiest moment of the whole trip. The kind of smile that makes you want to stay in a bar for a long time. ‘We do not have peanuts’ she said in a slow sultry way, which was strange, as she has not given me peanuts the last two days either. Honestly, she is the most fanciable girl I have met in the three days.

Yes Cine Paris has been quite poor again

Yes, Cine Paris has been quite poor again, but oh it is still a lovely place to doze in when you’ve had a drink. Yes, 5th Avenue now bores me a little but oh if you are going to drink where better to drink than in a bar filled with beautiful whores. If this time I have not desired any of them enough to sleep with them then that too is fantastic, as it saves me money for Munich & Nuremberg to come.

As soon as I take my place in the Dome

As soon as I take my place in the Dome, before even sitting down, a beautiful voluptuous brunette, black cardigan over black low-cut vest and most enormous cleavage, skin tight black trousers. Stunning. I really think Brussels has the most beautiful bouncy women in the world.

The Dome bar is SO quiet

The Dome bar is SO quiet. 5pm, I am the only customer. The mystery of the missing 70-80 euros still dominates my thinking. If I was robbed, it was a most surreptitious and skillful robbery. So I think it more likely I dropped the money somewhere, but that would mean dropping 3 or 4 20 euro notes in one go. As I am running a bit later today, maybe a chance later to check out Empire and even Guest. Other than that, there is nothing else I want to do here in Brussels, just Cine Paris, Rue des Commercants, and 5th Avenue. I am glad I came back for a second visit to Brussels, but two feels enough. I look forward to Munich & Nuremberg now.

The Cafe du Dome has run out of Stella

The Cafe du Dome has run out of Stella. This is how much I have drunk. Tomorrow it would be lovely to go to Fifth Avenue quite sober, and just drink while I am there, instead of arriving drunk, like I do.

I will come to the Dome early tomorrow

I will come to the Dome early tomorrow on my usual pilgrimage to Gare du Nord, then spend rest of the day snoozing in Cine Paris or Fifth Avenue, before getting back to Midi by 7 for the last train home. I wait for the beer goggles to really take over my eyes, then I will move on. I need to start reading Simenon. Maybe after Cine Paris and Fifth Avenue I can go back and finish the night in Cine Paris. Nothing better than to be woken up by a porn cinema manager to say ‘Monsieur, c’est fini’ and do myself up and stumble home like that. The barmaid’s breasts like two black Zeppelins. Her buttocks, even bigger. This is why I travel.

I got to the bar as the barmaid was bending over to put things in the glass washer

I got to the bar as the barmaid was bending over to put things in the glass washer, and her breasts were hanging so heavy and big in that white blouse. Her black trousers were halfway down her bottom exposing the tiniest purple thong on those massive buttocks. She jumped in shock when she saw me, as the blonde one had done yesterday as I approached behind her. The Dome barmaids have now surpassed the Dorint ones in my imagination. Lotta & Sophia, alas, [Lotta] were a long time ago. The real beauties in Brussels are the North African girls. Walking down to O’Reilly’s, a North African man was being put into a police car while other officers stood talking to a tourist couple with two small children. The man had his wallet in his hand and I presume the North African had tried to steal it. In O’Reilly’s looking over to the Bourse, I was thinking Brussels will be a Muslim capital one day, as will Paris. Capitals of a Muslim caliphate that covers the whole of Europe, and the thought did not particularly bother me. It would be historically interesting. But why when they have disagreements are the Muslim people so violent and so murderous, when we Europeans settle things just by arguing and complaining? God, this barmaid’s breasts are impressive. Her behind even more so.

I drank too much in the Café du Dome I think

I drank too much in the Café du Dome I think, which meant I cannot remember much of the Ciné Paris. I didn’t stay long, walked past the beautiful street girls of the Rue des Commerçants to Fifth Avenue. A beautiful long blonde-haired Swedish-looking girl whose name I cannot remember as she predicted. The beautiful black-haired girl with the big bottom from before. A new black girl in white dress. Again I did not stay long, feeling so drunk now. Staggered back to Brussels Grill for a steak then back to the hotel to pass out. I will try to drink less today. 1206 Thursday and still no sign of this promised rain.

They’ve put on some lovely classical music here in the Dome

They’ve put on some lovely classical music here in the Dome which makes it even more pleasant to stay here. Seems like some quite extreme variation on Strauss’s Blue Danube. Ah, you even get the applause at the end; and now the announcer, speaking in some language known only to himself, so it is obviously a radio station. Bloody hell, it sounds like Schoenberg now! What joy! No, not even Schoenberg, more like Webern! They don’t want me to leave obviously. I’m sorry, I just physically cannot leave any bar when they are playing Anton Webern. This is like my fantasy in life. Now if only they had some strippers walking around rubbing their bottoms in my face, I would be in heaven. Paradise! No, I can’t leave while they are playing this. Usually, Webern does not last long. But this is quite prolonged; what bliss. It’s finished. I don’t know what it was. Now something more lush. What joy to drink in a Brussels bar with classical music playing. This is what I travel for. I’m going to sleep like a log on the Eurostar home this evening; I’ll probably piss myself in my sleep as well.

I could have easily stayed in Brussels a third night

I could have easily stayed in Brussels a third night, and gone home Saturday morning, and I regret I didn’t now. I did not enjoy the sight of myself in the Dome bathroom mirrors. I look like c–p. Three days of drinking are showing very clearly on my face. Yes, quite a lot of Arab men in Brussels but their Arab women are stunning. You see very few of the covered, veiled Muslim women like you do in London; in fact I don’t think I’ve seen a single one. I have the face of a depraved , debauched, ugly pervert; this is what I am so why shouldn’t I have this face? Yes, let me force myself to Nord. I came here for breasts so let me look for them. Better than watching Djokovic on the O’Reilly’s TV. You see so few skinny girls in Brussels; except in the strip club, and that’s because they’re not from Belgium. Friday 2:21PM and once again the Cafe du Dome is completely empty except for me. I’ve really been drinking. From the moment I wake up in the morning to the moment I go to bed at night. No wonder it shows in my face. Incredibly, I feel no sense of hangover or physical effects. No aching muscles, bad head, anything, but the face betrays me.

I have to say I see more pretty girls in Brussels than I do in any of the other places

I have to say I see more pretty girls in Brussels than I do in any of the other places, Munich, Vienna, Berlin. And definitely I see more beautiful big bottoms here. So many times in the past four years I have said I am never coming to Brussels again, Brussels is dead for me, there is no point ever coming back to Brussels; but I don’t feel that now. It is a nice place to just come and relax for a couple of days. O’Reilly’s is definitely a better place for people watching than the Dome. I try to recreate the events of yesterday. I fell asleep in the porn cinema and found myself being woken up by the manager (?) telling me, well, he was speaking in a language unfamiliar to me so I’m not sure but I presume he was telling me they were closed now and I should do myself up, “adjust my dress”, and leave. I can’t remember if my cock was out or not. I stumbled the short distance back to my hotel. I have no idea if the feral thieving North Africans were on the streets, I was so deep in a world of sleep. After a long session in the Dome earlier I had crossed over the road for another absolutely divine steak in Brussels Grill. They really are the greatest steaks I’ve ever had in my life. A stroll then around the Ijzer streets looking at the street ladies, before settling dozily in the Ciné Paris. The ABC was closed! It was closed at 4 when I arrived in the Dome over the road (all my favourite places in Brussels are so close together; this is one of the reasons I love it) but then at 4:06 I saw two men half-raising the shutters at the entrance and saw them standing there for a while. The lights around the poster frames were on, which seemed a good sign, but when I looked again at 5 it was all shut up again, and remained shut all night. It is shut again today. What is going on? Surely not another treasure gone? Before leaving London I said I will go to see how many more of my favourite places are gone this time, and it seems like it is the ABC.

The Café du Dôme

The inevitable first impression is oh god what have I come here for?

The inevitable first impression is oh god, what have I come here for? what is the point? But on first arriving in another city you are always going to feel horribly exposed and uncomfortable I think. Already so many huge voluptuous girls at Gare du Midi, and in the Boulevard Adolphe Max. The Ciné ABC was closed when I arrived in the Dome at 3:50, but its shutters opened at 4:06; that was a relief. The Café du Dôme totally deserted; I the only customer. What is the plan? ABC first I suppose, then Ciné Paris. Perhaps up to Gare du Nord to have a look, or, if it is late enough, to Empire. Early tomorrow to go look for a cardigan, then ride around and around on the buses, getting lost, but getting to know my way around Brussels by bus; eventually, hopefully, I will find myself somewhere near the museum district and I will go to the Museum of Old Masters, Magritte and Museum of the Fin-de-Siècle, perhaps the Wiertz as well. Let me get the obligatory naughty things out of the way tonight, to leave me free for more cultural things tomorrow. I know in the last couple of years I have always gone home from Brussels regretting that I had not spent more time in the ABC, and lay in it like a hot bath for hours at a time.

To turn my back on the ice and high mountains

To turn my back on the ice and high mountains, on the glaciers and the Jungfraujoch, and turn instead to white beaches, clear blue seas, steaming palmhouses. To leave behind the bar of the Berlin Plaza, the Rechthaler Hof restaurant in Munich, the Café du Dôme and Brussels Grill in Brussels? Already the doubts set in! But I love —– too much and hate leaving her behind too much. Of course I can still enjoy some small pleasures in the hothouse, sultry atmosphere of London in summer when —– is busy.

Turning on to the Boulevard du Jardin Botanique at 630AM I was hit by a cold icy headwind

Turning on to the Boulevard du Jardin Botanique at 630AM I was hit by a cold icy headwind, which reminded me of the calamitous visit to Brussels 8 years ago. Well, it started calamitously anyway, but turned into one of those incredible unbelievable trips that I used to have all the time back in those days. A pleasant second day in Brussels. After several large Stellas in the Café du Dome, I bought some boots and a cardigan for —– in the Rue de Neuwe, then went to Brussels Grill for the most beautiful steak I have ever had in my life. To follow it up by having a second one was probably a mistake, but I could not help myself. I could not finish the second steak, nor the large beer that came with it, and somehow waddled out of there, like a bomb that was about to explode. I sat dozing in the Ciné Paris for a while, then walked all the way up to Gare du Nord and back again. I checked the Guest bar but it was still dark, so finishing the night in Ciné Paris, I returned to the Hotel Max to sleep. Pitch black as we leave Brussels now this 8AM morning.

Such boring beermats they have here in the Café du Dome

Such boring beermats they have here in the Café du Dome. I think a beermat is a chance to make a work of art—my two Berliner Kindl beermats are something that I treasure. But so many beermats are just wasted opportunities. I am a connoisseur. The shape of the beerglass makes such a difference; so does the beermat. Sitting here at the junction of Boulevard Adolphe Max and Boulevard du Jardin Botanique I see no pretty women whatsoever. In 10 minutes at Gare du Midi I can capture a hundred beautiful specimens, like a butterfly catcher with a net. Such a shame that there are no longer any bars to drink in within Gare du Midi. Lulu was a massive disappointment. It sucked 2 hours out of my night ( I left at the first interval) and I never got the excitement back try as I might. Ciné ABC and Ciné Paris were both great. The 1970s hairy pornography of the ABC followed by the Marc Dorcel high-class erotica of the Paris. I should have stayed. Leaving Lulu, I headed straight to Gare du Nord. The window girls of the Rue d’Aerschot are the most beautiful Esmeraldas I have ever seen in my life. Every one of them is like supermodel or actress beautiful. Just the environment is so shabby and threatening! In Berlin sex is everywhere but they have no girls as beautiful as this; but the environment is much nicer. Nice art nouveau bars you can sit with the girls in first. From there back to Empire. Empire is a really mediocre strip club, with mediocre girls. Similar to Munich’s Atlantic City but the Atlantic City always has 2 or 3 real stars; not here at the Empire. And each small beer costs 10 euros! The one great and clever thing they do is not charge you to enter. This is so sensible—it makes it easy to drop in and check out what the place is like. Gascogne should adopt this method, and they might not be empty every night. So not a great first night in Brussels, but very pleasant. It is so lovely just to spend 48 hours away from home, from work, just 48 hours to eat and drink and wander around as I like. To spend 48 hours like this every month would be so precious, and I would happily work every other day of the month to pay for it. This is my ideal way of life. My priority today is try to find some boots for —–. After that I can relax in ABC and Paris, perhaps pop back to the Paradise, and perhaps finish the night (briefly) in the pointless American Guest Bar and Gascogne.

Brussels is hot and sunny. Not at all what I want to see when I come to Brussels in October

Brussels is hot and sunny. Not at all what I want to see when I come to Brussels in October. Tomorrow at least should be cool and showery so I will feel more at ease tomorrow. 5 past 3 and I am already quite drunk on Café du Dome stellas. I wonder if I will ever get to La Monnaie for Lulu at 7. My number one thought here in Brussels is I want to find a long pair of boots for—–, but I cannot think like that. I have got to think like I am single, and completely alone—only then can I have any enjoyment out of being here in Brussels alone. Being in love with someone makes such a difference. I wonder at what time I will start to see the North Africans on the streets, the Moroccans, in their black leather jackets and blue jeans? I wonder at exactly what time will a couple of them try to rob me? Oh no 15:14 and I have got hiccups! Bloody hell! Four men have just come out of the Cine ABC at the same time. Have they closed? Maybe they were just waiting for the first striptease of the day (on the hour) and she was no good. When I get back to London I am working almost every day up to the 11th November. I am happy about this—to pay for the money I am spending here in Brussels now and to pay for the trip I want to take to Berlin at the end of November. If not travelling, I want to be working. It is amazing how many sexy girls I saw at Gare du Midi in 10 minutes compared to the zero I have seen here at the Café du Dome windows in two hours.

I was thinking what has happened to Brussels last night

I was thinking what has happened to Brussels last night, it seemed quite full of life. There was at least 10 people in the Dome Café talking merrily and convivially, there was man on man action going on in the first row of the ABC, which also had at least 10 people there, there was 10 again in Empire—wow! I thought, some life. The Manhattan bar, however, was shut, and the Gascogne surprise surprise was open once more, though better if it was not. A shithole.

The Café du Dome is really busy tonight

The Café du Dome is really busy tonight, vibrant, full of laughter and merriment. I am pleased. I don’t know why I clung so long to the Ibis bar now. I should have found somewhere new years ago. Ah, I just remembered—it is Hallowe’en tonight! I just bumped into a man in a long black cape, jet black hair I think, was that some laurel wreath in his hair as well, on the way to the bar. He looks fantastic. English I think. Maybe Welsh or Irish. He has the look of a taller Dylan Thomas or Richard Burton about him. The blonde bargirl is really quite gorgeous.