Most people know of Charleroi as the Brussels “Ryanair airport” (ie – an expensive 45min Ryanair-owned coach ride into town) … in fact, Charleroi is the largest Walloon and third largest Belgian city (just over 200,000 inhabitants) but struggles economically (27% of the population earn less than €10 000 a year compared to 17% nationally). The infrastructure desperately needs updating, and the mix of empty rundown buildings and flashy neon lights is pretty grim. It was once a busy mining town which goes some way to explaining all of the above and which also accounts for the hordes of second and third generation Italian families that pepper this area of the country. I headed there last Sunday with Emilie & Ari for a little shooting session… a few more on this flickr set
Daytripping in Charleroi
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Not a new shot, something from the archives snapped from the Porte de Hal.
Traipsing the streets today, shooting for a special ‘shopping in Brussels’ edition of Marie Claire. Since I don’t shop much, I was on pretty unfamiliar territory within my own city and swallowed up loads of fashion related info (you never know when that might come in handy). I did a similar shoot in Antwerp a couple of months ago and, though Antwerp is quainter and generally accepted as more ‘fashion-forward’, the shop owners and salespeople were (as a general rule) much, much friendlier in Brussels – 10 points (I’ve probably opened a big can of worms now…). Here’s one of them – Sophie, owner of 
Brussels Style
The 
I make a typo almost every time I spell September (there, I did it again) so by the time this month is done and dusted, I’ll have effectively written September (again) around 70 times. Very much looking forward to October, also known (to me) as the month of pumpkins which is a very good thing… oh, and Sandra will be as old as me when it’s over, I always look forward to that. Hanging in St Gilles today… got lucky with the blue and gold cars.
There’s really no good reason to post this ugly photo except that it’s the second time in a couple of months that I’ve come across a discarded doll on the ground… so I’m starting to see the innings of a ‘theme’ here… Besides, I had to shoot stationary today and it would be worse to post that. snore.
No car day in Brussels today – It’s quite a fantastic initiative and residents truly respect it – from 9am to 7pm no cars are allowed to circulate throughout Brussels and instead the streets are taken over by roller bladers, pedestrians, families on bikes, skateboards etc… it’s quite liberating (and feels a bit naughty) to walk down the very middle of a large street. Angie, Kate and I decided to rent a lot at the garage boot sale in Châtelain for the day – I’ve been ranting about all the useless junk lying around so thought it was worth a shot – I’m not entirely convinced though… we certainly offloaded a fair amount and made a tidy sum, but setting up at 8am on a sunday and the on and off rain showers weren’t so pleasant. More importantly, though, I ended up feeling like I was missing out on the fun by staying put all day. I left my camera at home as I didn’t want Kate or Angie getting carried away and selling it for a euro, so a ‘stock’ shot instead.
I recently read that Belgium is home to more comic artists per square meter than any other country – not a huge surprise but it’s a nice little tidbit. In my five plus years here, I’ve only met 1 though, so perhaps I’m hanging with the wrong crowd. I may try to unearth a few more and create a portrait gallery (another idea for the list). There are close to 50 building facades scattered around Brussels which have been decorated with scenes from famous Belgian comics (the 
I found another pencil – this one is somewhere close to place Fontainas in the centre… I should probably take note. I found out I don’t have any chronic lung diseases this morning, so that was good (this mostly posted for my mum’s benefit – since she is mysteriously unreachable these days!)