Staring into the mirror, some reflections from the raven's nest

[Corvus Corax]

So, for those who didn't know, my country is in a bit of a mess at the moment. Normally I'd post such a thing in the deep thoughts section, but I didn't feel like this one belonged there due to a certain degree of personal involvement and the fact that I rarely make use of this here reflections thread made me think it best to post it here. (Does that scentense make sense? nm).

So, what's the problem: more than 150 days after the elections we still don't have a federal government, which is a record. In a "normal" situation the king appoints first an informer and then a "formateur" to make a government out of the parties in the parliament. This formateur is usualy the next prime minister as well. We always have a coalition of at least four parties. Two big flemish parties and their walloon counterparts. So for instance in the last government there were VLD (flemish liberals) MR (walloon liberals) SPa (flemish socialists) and PS (walloon socialists). During the forming of such a coalition, a government agreement is made wherein certain goals are declared for that governemtn on which everybody can agree. These goals are the programs of the different parties.

The cause of the problem in this particular government forming is as per usual a conflict between the walloon and flemish communities (or at least their political leaders). More specific the splitting of the voting district Brussels-Halle-Volvoorde. At the moment, voters in the flemish cities of Halle and Vilvoorde can vote on walloon parties as well (something I think is part of a federal state, but hey, who asked me) because they are part of the "special case" of Brussels.

This topic is part of the flemish party cartel CD&V-NVA's program for government for which they were elected (they didn't get my vote, btw). This party therefor has to make the split a part of the government agreement, something the walloon parties are very strongly against.

So, since the elections Yves Leterme, the formateur of CD&V-NVA apointed by the king, has been trying to form some kind of an agreement with the walloon parties on this particualr matter. The parties had found agreements on social and economic matters, but on these matter between communities the walloon politicians wouldn't give an inch.

This situation was in a deadlock untill yesterday, when for the first time in the history of Belgium, the flemish political parties in parliament made use of their numerical superiority over the walloons and voted a law to split B-H-V. The reason why they never did that before was not to harm the trust between the flemish and walloons. The walloon politicians have reacted by calling in an emergency procedure stalling the law for 60 days, something they can do 4 times. Now there is talk of an emergency government that will take care of everything but the problems concerning the communities, a bit like the former government still taking care of running afairs at the moment.

The country hasn't been so close to breaking up in a long time, maybe never as close as now. Personally I think the whole stress between the communities is created by politicians (and enlarged by the media) to gain power. Granted, there may be a money flow from Flanders to the Walloon region, but there will always be a part of the country that has more prosperaty than the rest, there will always be money flows, that's part of being a country. If you drive the thought that there shouldn't be money flows through, you shouldn't pay taxes, since you pay more than you receive... Idiots.

So, personally, I hope the country will not split up. Hardly anyone knows where to situate Belgium on a world map, let alone Flanders or Wallonia. What would happen with the German speaking community? What would happen with the army? And even though I think the chances very slim, with a break up there is always a chance a civil war may break out (although I doubt anybody has time to bother with that).

Show me a politician and I'll show you manipulation at work.

-CC, Flemish and therefor Belgian.

[Corvus Corax]

My four weeks of vacation are over, I already spent one week at work last week (in Belgium, thankfully). I didn't go anywhere this year. It's a bit weird that it felt like breaking a habit of going abroad each year. Then again, before I started my international travels, I hardly went anywhere up untill my 22nd year. The fact that I've already had 26 trips to Slovakia behind me meant I wasn't all that excited about the idea of getting on a plane.

In the mean time some things changed.

Kelly, a girl I know quite well needed an official address because a dorm doesn't count as one. So, long story short, I'm no longer living alone. Albeit she's mostly at her dorm or studying and I'm mostly at work.

Relationshipwise it's nothing, but that doesn't mean I won't use it to my advantage.

Now, before you start having all these bad ideas about me, I should explain:

In a bit of an Aes Sedai kind of way I've told the people at work that I'm living together with her. This lead those people to believe that she is my girlfriend. Something that will help me to stay home more . Because I already told Kelly: "The people at work are going to be under the impression you're one nagging bitch" .

Anyway, tomorrow I should get my evaluation from the past year. Something I should have had last week, but I'm not complaining. Sloakia will be the main issue and normally my raise and bonus should be discussed as well. Less than 10% would be an insult, imho, but we'll see.

Anyway, my trips to Slovakia will start again tomorrow.... I really need to win the lottery or something.

While driving and listening to old self made compelation tapes this weekend I came across a good old Nick Cave song and once again marveled at it's beauty.

So here goesNick Cave & The Bad Seeds - (Are You) The One

It's weird how I get more relaxed the more energy I have.

Sorry, couldn't help putting in this classic beauty as well. Tempus Fugit. Where are the days?

[Corvus Corax]

It's been a while, I feel like posting something, but I wouldn't know where to start.

I'm one of those people who should write down trails of thought when they have them, but since I usualy have them while driving in my car, I never get the opportunity to do so. Usualy just pondering about the point of it all, really. That's where it all ends up anyway. Sometimes through realisations about the, if you'll excuse my French, "Human Nature" or just through the usual frustrations caused by work and life in general (two things that coincide a lot) .

Yes, you might have noticed I'm treading down the path of barstool philosophy again. But rest assured, it never lasts long.

I've had quite an interesting conversation with one of my slovakian operators a few weeks ago (he speaks fluent english, before you start thinking my knowledge of the slovak language extends beyond "now try it without using your teeth"). Since we were doing something pointless again, we got to the subject of believes. Or, better yet, he asked me what I believe in. And I must say my answer was: nothing.

I'm a quite logical kind of guy, we came to conclude. I think things through. Something which isn't always the best way of approaching things, I know. I don't think there's anything like an afterlife. I don't think there's a big plan or track we're on to reach a "higher state". In my way of thinking, humans aren't any better than rats, lice or bacteria. If you're alive, you're still in the race, that's how evolution works in my mind. The only thing "special" about the human race as a whole is that it adapts it's environment to it's needs instead of following the million year evolutionary course the other races still have to make. By the way: in my logic, I know there is stuff we don't, can't and probably will never understand. I just don't see how somebody waving his scepter/totem/dick around can claim to have a greater understanding than anybody else, especially scientists.

In short: we're nothing special. Yet some people, like the slovakian operator, seem(ed) to believe we're supposed to be on our way on a path of enlightenment. In my logic, there is no such path. The only track we're on is the one behind us. Before us is an open plane and anything is possible. If conditions in the future make it so that you can only survive if you have a rare lung mutation, congratulations if you got it, since you'll be one of the few (if any) to parent the offspring of the human race".

My slovakian colleague had this idea that stuff like "good and bad" exist. Something which, in my logic, is trivial. Good and bad are only concepts we experience through genes and experience. And that experience is what you can call the source of Karma. In my logic Karma exists. Not in the being reborn kind of way, but in the basic Karma of every day life. The first lessons in Karma are experienced during the todler years. I punch this kid, he punches me back, I cry, Karma is a a bitch. That about sums up Karma in it's most simple and basic form for me. So Good and Evil, in my mind, only exist as social behaviour through evolution. That's the biblical fruit of the tree of knowledge, the knowledge of the extent of your actions. You can't "sin" if you don't know the implications of your actions. Goes in line with "Blessed are the simple of mind".

So, if life is pointless and good and evil don't exist, why bother with doing stuff like "loving thy neighbour (and his wife not too much)"? Well, apart from Karma, as explained before, I look at it this way: we're all in the same situation and we might as well make it as comfortable as possible for each other. Not much unlike my brother's way of thinking. He's a conscious nihilistic hedonist who, in general, leaves people be and just enjoys life as much as possible, where I try to do the same (when I'm not thinking too much), but I sometimes, consciously, try to help people. Not because it's better for society or anything, I don't care that much about it all, but to make them feel a bit better. Paliative care for the temporarily alive. Doesn't take away the fact that I will make a little effort to screw up somebody's life if I judge this person to be a "poo poo head". I know my judgement is arbitrary, but I don't care too much about that fact.

The bottle is empty and I do have this crappy stuff called work in the morning so I'll cut it short: Enjoy life while you can, go to hospitals often to remind you of your blessings. Do looney stuff when you feel like doing them. Enjoy the simple things in life, since they're the most honest. And so on and so on....you know all this stuff, you only have to think about it regularly.

And that's why I posted this one meandering thought.

And to keep form, I'll post a link or two:

something that speaks to my primal mind and tells it it's all ok

A book I read when I was sixteen and changed my views on history

goodnight

[Corvus Corax]

So, today Hugo Claus was cremated (yes, he was dead). He was one of our biggest writers. Never really read that much of his works, but seeing his goodbye video I really liked his 15th sonnet.

Jaren geleden kon ik dromen
(o infantiele profetische ziel)
van de dingen die zouden komen
fataal als de uitvinding van het wiel.

Nu is de wereld sterfelijk als ik
en daarmee uit.
Alleen onzekerheid geeft mij een kick,
ik geloof geen fluit.

Dromen jaag ik naar de zolder
waar de domme kinderen wonen.
Ik lieg. Er is nog één dolle kolder

en dat is zij waarover ik bericht
in dit gelovig klinkgedicht,
de laatste van mijn demonen.

In my rotten English:

Years ago I could dream
(oh infantile profetic soul)
about the things that would come
fatal as the invention of the wheel.

Now the world is mortal as I
and that's it.
Only incertainty gives me a kick,
I don't believe shit.

I drive dreams off to the attic
where the stupid children live.
I lie. One follie remains

and that is her about whom I'm speaking
in this pious poem of sound,
the last of my demons

And hey, another post in my reflections... only one week after the former. Go me.

[Corvus Corax]

There is too much junk in the world, it's all so pointless, and this realisation irritates a lot.

The last months, or maybe even the last year, I have come to this realisation. Not that I didn't know it before, but much like an inperfection in a mirror you didin't pay attention to untill you thought about it, this too keeps taking the main stage when my thoughts begin to meander.

You might think: "but I already know that there is too much junk in the world. Junk is superfluous by defenition." and you would be correct. But what irritates me is that we have created a system that thrives on junk and needs junk to be produced en masse in order to maintain a certain degree of stability. Also the energy that it takes for this gigantic amount of crap to be produced is one of the thorns in my side these days. Maybe I'd better clarify with an example, so you might understand what I'm talking about.

First of all, look around you and try to count all the "things" you see. Little statues, pens, publicity folders... all that stuff.

Now, let's take, for example a modest key chain. Or, as Jebus would have said: "considder the key chain, for it is but a piece of crap."
Now imagine all the effort it took for that key chain to be made and sold to you or to whomever gave it to you. I'll try to help you with that.
As an industrial engineer, I've had some experience with crap like this (albeit not key chains in particular), so here are my thoughts on what has been done to get that piece of crap attached to your keys.
First of all, the material, which has been either mined in case of metals, or pumped up in case of plastics. This work usualy doesn't take place in the nicest environments. People are taking serious health risks there and in quite a lot of cases this happens in the third world where "prevention" is unheard of. Add to this some environmental hazards and we're off to the next step.
Transporting the raw materials to a forge/refinery. There it gets made into pure material, after which it is, again, transported to, hopefully, the manufacturer.
The manufacturer has special machines, designed, fabricated and optimized to produce that particular key chain. A lot of meetings took place between designers, engineers, managers, quality departments and what not before the first key chain making machine ever got made. Don't even get me started on sales and marketing departments. Once the production is running a lot of people need training and coaching, machines need maintenance and optimisation.
After a lot of blood, sweat and tears the key chain is made and transported, yet again, to a retail store near you (skipping a few steps here).

What I'm trying to make clear is the amount of effort and energy it took for that single key chain to have gotten into your hands.
People set their alarm clocks to make sure they get at the factory in time to make it.
They have to drop their kids off at the day care center.
They might have moved away from friends and family to live closer to the factory, yet still they need to stand in trafic, every morning.
Relationships, marriages and family ties might have suffered or collapsed altogether by the stresses caused by this.
People are sleeping badly, because they worry, since production has to be cheaper, they will have to find way to make the same amount in the same time with less people. Who will get fired?
All the fuel it took to transport all the material in the different stages of production.
Considder the fact that all the equipment used to process/transport the material all have an entire industry of their own behind them.
And you should be glad I'm talking about a low quality item here, or we'd be throwing away more than half of all the production due to "quality" issues at the different steps.

Trust me when I say this is only the tip of the iceberg, but we'll leave it at that.
Now, once again, look at all the little pieces of junk around you and know that behind each and every one of them is an industry. We're making crap by the truckloads.

Industry is good. I like the fact that medicines/medical equipment/farming tools/lifeguard boats/firefighting equipment/beer/housing/water treatment and such things are able to be produced in numbers that can support a community. What I don't like is the fact that our society also requires rampant production like this, or so it seems. I'd like to blame the marketing and advertising departments, but they aren't the root cause. They're just means to an end.

We're entering a period of crisis, after which the whole thing will flourish again. So much energy is being put in trivial stuff, so much is being suffered, for trivial stuff. And when my mind dreams on I ask myself: why do we still have nations? They only slow things down. Why are we all so fucking backwards? We're being fed bread and games. We're being made to work and worry about mortgages so we're content when at the end of our lives we don't have debts and have been able to leave something behind for our children. And I don't mind that. But at least put all that effort and energy in things that are usefull in the long term and not to produce junk, the by product of modernisation. I used to think the Amish were a bit weird, but these days, not considdering religious matters, I think they're on to something.

I always said: the only people who have to work are farmers and doctors, all the rest is occupational therapy. I'm not the most eloquent of men, far from it.
That's why I'd like to end this shortened (trust me, it is) rant with a quote from the most eloquent man I know, Stephen Fry:

"The only ugly things you will see when you look out of the window are things made by man."

Something light to end with

[Corvus Corax]

So, on one of my google-fu trips through the internet I came across the wikipedia article on Dr. Magnus Pyke (via Thomas Dolby). Especially the bit about the Science Myth spoke to me. Certainly when put in light of my last post in this thread of mine.

So, to keep this thread going, I'll be lazy and post that article here .

Although Pyke was known for bringing science to a lay audience, in The Science Myth (and similar writings, such as Slaves Unaware?) he was also a critic of the way in which citizens of industrialized nations have historically been lured into social conformity by the comforts and security offered by applied sciences or technology, and the associated industrial/economic propaganda and advertising. He claims that this has entailed the loss of important individual freedoms in the name of an ever-increasing gross national product or standard of living, measured monetarily, with some associated negation of independent human values, common sense and individuality, family and community, health, safety and ergonomics. In his 1962 book, he uses the Greek myth of Procrustes and his Procrustean bed as a metaphor for the way citizens are forced to conform to the one-size-fits-all rigid structure of modern industrial society. He cites associated problems such as coronary disease related to diet, psychological and social problems stemming from work-related stress and training leading to people being "...softly and persistently hammered into shape until — Pinocchio in reverse — from being a living creature... becomes for forty hours an insensate puppet..." and educational systems, which "knock out of the ingenious adolescent all of the 'nonsense' of the young, this being most of his or her eagerness and ingeniousness". He asserts that the Western work environment fails youthful expectations to an even greater extent than the schools: "(a)t school, success is judged in terms of work, whereas in industrial life this is not so..." after young people hasten to leave school for the benefit of the social significance of the work, rather than for the work itself, they find that "(w)ork seldom seems to the worker to have meaning or worth..." and "achievement is judged by the pay envelope which may have no relation to the difficulty of the work."[2]

Pyke professes that there are alternative systems to that of the Western industrialized nations which could retain many of the benefits of science and technology, allow a reasonable standard of living, but still make room for the "good life", many aspects of which were enjoyed by pre-industrial societies. He claims that just as wise nations may not wish to retain a demanding and overbearing monarchy that requires too many unjustified sacrifices, it is "up to the nations who have committed themselves to scientific technology and power to temper the rigors of efficiency and productivity..." He criticizes misplaced values of the Western system in statements such as the following:

* "The main body of the citizenry, the 'workers,' are kept segregated from the drones, the women at home, the children, the old and the idle ...the necessary doctrine of the division of labor makes this regimentation necessary. But it has the effect of setting economic effort apart and dividing the day and the week into "work" and "everything else".
* "This way of thinking has so deranged our minds that we have come to accept that only when we are actually carrying out paid industrial work are we serving our purpose on earth."
* "To minds so deformed, the things that 'retired' people do are not considered to be of value. They are empty, merely something to do."
* "The leisure pursuits of the senior executive seem to be corroded with competitiveness, superficial sociability, display, and conspicuous consumption. He must own an automobile of a certain size and make, not necessarily to travel in, but to prove that he can afford it."

Sometimes I forget that such realisations have been around for quite some time now, be it by a minority. The way I see it, little has changed. Maybe it got even worse since the system as it is gives us some small ways to rebel, yet stay in the system. Like little schoolboys we're allowed to stick our tongues out to the teacher. Where the schoolboy would have been punished before, these days they'll grant us the feeling that the teacher was upset by it, but at the end of the day we just get a pat on the head while we're back to being nice little schoolboys.

Recently I read the manifesto of the unabomber and found that it contained quite a lot of things that have been on my mind as well recently.

And this brings me to the saddest point of all. I'll try to put it in here as clear as I can, since I'm not that good at explaining my trails of thought.

Bear with me:
Humans aren't genetically capable of dealing with groups bigger than 150 people. Everything above that amount will cause strain, tensions. The big strength of humans though, is the brainpower that lets us, in a way, evolve super fast. What I mean by this is: in order for an insect to infiltrate cold environments, a few thousand generations will have to pass before they can succesfully infiltrate the area. Humans made clothing and spread out quickly. The same principle goes for other problems and also "solved" the problem of tensions in larger groups.

Laws and social structures were created. Customs and communities changed into traditions and tribes. Those changed into judical systems and kingdoms, empires. And even within that, a constant tinkering at social systems was needed. Capitalism, socialism and communism being some of the latest. Of course, no system is perfect, nor can it achieve perfection in an ever changing world. Most changes happen through revolution though. Growing pains. And that is a serious understatement when you considder the human misery.

So, I've come to the realisation that I am part of a system that is designed to reduce your life to "birth, school, work, death". This particular system uses, amongst other things, that "work" part to control the masses. Making sure everybody needs to work a certain amount of time to live a normal life. This amount of time guaranteeing you have just enough free time left to worry about your mortgage and get some rest while you are entertained by the same system. The old bread and games principle.

Of course, if you look at the amount of CRAP that system produces with all that "work" (see post above) you realise that the work is indeed a sort of occupational therapy to keep the masses busy.

It seems to me that we're all on a bus with no destination, but the driver is afraid to stop the bus or his passengers will find out. The great strength of Hitler (yes, I know, bad example, but the first that came to mind) is that he gave his entire country the feeling that they had a direction, a purpose.

And here comes the killer. What should I do about it all?
A revolution? That'd cause great suffering, resulting in another system that'll be just as imperfect. Maybe change to a system with a clear purpose? One world government focussing the waisted "work" onto space exploration? Maybe that'd keep us entertained for another couple of millenia before we realise even spacetime itself is pointless.

Oh how I wonder why I'm such an escapist.... Have I seen the answer and did I realise that 42 is far better for my mind to live with?

And before I leave: like every good eccentric, Dr. Pyke also had some "wacky" ideas. One of them, apparently, being that excess human blood should be used to make black pudding.

That seems about long enough

[Corvus Corax]

It might be a good idea to log culinary experiments here. So here goes number one.

Chicken with leek, mushrooms and pears.

Execution:

Roughly sliced one shallot and one small container of mushrooms and started frying it in a spoon of olive oil in a non stick pan. While it was frying, cut up two leeks and started microwaving a bag of potatoes. Noticed the mushroom/shallot mixture was getting rather dry and added the liquid from the canned pears instead of the usual wine. Once the leeks were cut, added them to the frying pan, stirring often, adding pepper and a bit of cumin as seasoning. Started to pre-heat the oven at 180°C.

Prepped an oven dish with another table spoon of olive oil and placed the canned pears as a bottom. The potatoes were done and added them as well, almost completely filling the bottom.

Now I started to slice two chicken breast filets and seasoned them with chicken mix. Thickness between 1 and 2cm. Placed the slices on top of the pears and potatoes.

Fried the leeks, mushrooms and shallot to a slight caramelisation, added a dash of milk to soften the taste and to be able to mix in the caramelised bottom into the whole. Poored the whole thing over the chicken slices and placed it in the oven for 30min.

Observations:

There could have been more pears, mushrooms and leek in the mix.

The taste of the chicken mix was predominant in the chicken.


Follow up experiment:

Adding garlic rum to the chicken.
More of the mushroom-leek mix.
Less seasoning on the chicken.
More pears.
Maybe add honey for extra caramelisation.

Overall: Not too bad, wouldn't reccomend making it for guests.

[Corvus Corax]

Chicken with leek, mushrooms and pears, the remake.

Same as above with following changes:

only one chicken filet;
no mixed chicken spices, but pepper, salt and honey on the chicken;
more pears;
garlic added to the leek and mushrooms;
added more more liquid from the pears to the leek and mushrooms.
Reduced this completely. Still had about half the liquid of the big can left;
also added honey to the leek and mushrooms.

Result:
The pears left a lot of liquid in the oven dish. Might be best to let them dry on some towels before use.
The added honey didn't bring much to the leek. Might be best to marinade the chicken slices a day in a mix of honey and garlic rum.
The chicken was better without the mix, but some paprika powder could also be a good alternative to the marinade.

I wouldn't be too ashamed to have guests eat this. Then again, my tollerance for shame has increased a lot over the years.

Tomorrow I'll be eating the leftovers, but on thursday I've got a vegetarian (easily made vegan) dish planned. Will write down that recipe as well. In case I grow tired of it for a while and forget how to make it exactly.

[Corvus Corax]

So, forgot about posting the vegetarian dish. Will be for later, in the mean time another oven experiment.

Yesterday's experiment: Filled paprika (bell pepper).

Chopped up two big mushrooms into fine pieces and started frying them slowly in a tablespoon of olive oil while chopping a small onion. Then added 125g of ground meat (pig/veal) and a box of tofu ground meat replacement (might make a complete switch in future) to the frying pan, adding pepper, a touch of cumin (still my favored spice) and salt. Prepped a bag of potatoes and pre-heated the oven to 180°C. Cleaned and opened up two big red bell peppers, making sure no white pieces remained. Added two drizzles of garlic rum to the frying pan. Thinking the dish could do with some more vetgetables/cement for the mixture, I added a can of peas to the frying pan as well. Making sure everything's fried well, I added the onion and then filled the two bell peppers with the mixture, placing them in an oven dish on top of the potatoes and into the oven. Since only half of the mixture could go into the peppers, I continued frying the rest, adding some low fat yoghurt and a tablespoon of sugar.

The peppers remained in the oven for 45min, although they could have come out sooner.

Result: the bell peppers and the mix don't really compliment each other, but it's not like they are mutualy exclusive. The yoghurt/sugar half of the mixture was better than expected and better than the mix that went into the pepper. The whole oven part could be scratched from the process.
The yoghurt part was interesting and will be remembered in future experiments.

And for readers of this thread, other than myself: the garlic rum is a bottle I enherited from my father. He made it himself and is older than me. An old wine bottle, filled halfway up with cloves of garlic, then filled further with rum. A nice trick to add some zing to a sauce.

[Corvus Corax]

It's been almost a year since the last elections. Since then, no new government has been able to be made. We're still not even close and they're talking about plans for, maybe, 2012... I could rant about this for quite a bit, but I get plenty of oportunities to do that elsewhere. Here, I'll post a song, with lyrics, which dates back from the 70's, but still holds truths today. It's Walloon and contains quite a few plays of words in French, which I'll try to capture as well.

André Bialek - Le belle gigue

In advance: a gigue is a dance which is quite lively.

Ah la belle gigue, gigue
Gigue que l'on pourrait danser
Si les vieilles digues, digues
Diguedon les faisait tomber

Dans le royaume de Belgique
Y'a du temps qu'on a plus dansé
Est-ce à cause de la drache
Qu'on a les quilles toutes rouillées?

Mais la belle gigue, gigue
Gigue que l'on pourrait danser
Si les vieilles digues, digues
Diguedon les faisait tomber

Si c'est pas à cause de la drache
Qu'on a les quilles toutes rouillées
C'est qu'on n'sait plus sur quel pied
On pourrait se mettre à danser

Mais la belle gigue, gigue ....

Si on ne sait plus sur quel pied
On pourrait se mettre à danser
C'est cause aux vieilles querelles
Entre Wallons et Flamands

Mais la belle gigue, gigue ....

Entre Wallons et Flamands
Entre Flamands et Wallons
Y'a les Bourgeois les Fransquillons
Pendant qu'on se tire les deux langues
Qui nous étreignent et nous étranglent

Mais la belle gigue, gigue
Gigue qu'on leur ferra danser
Quand les vieilles digues, digues
Diguedon les fera tomber

Si c'est possible…

Ah the beautiful gigue (Oh Belgium)
Gigue we could be dancing
if one would let the old dykes fall.

In the kingdom of Belgium
it's been a long time since we danced.
Is it because of the heavy rains
that corrodes our legs?

But the beautiful gigue...

If it isn't because of the heavy rains
that we have corroded legs
then it's because we don't know anymore
with which foot to begin the dance.

But the beautiful gigue...

That we no longer know with what foot
we have to begin the dance
is because of the old quarrels
between Walloons and Flemings

But the beautiful gigue...

Between Wallons and Flemings
Between Flemings and Walloons
there are the Bourgeoisie, the Fransquillons (little french men/ Flemish people who spoke French to associate with the Bourgeoisie)
Who, while we stick our tongues/languages out to each other
have us in their clutch and choke us.

But the beautiful gigue, gigue
Gigues we'll have them dance
When we have let the old dykes (obstacles) fall.

If it's possible...