Brussels Points on a Thursday

Just a few things I have discovered about Brussels/Belgium since I moved here.

• There is no hot water in public toilets (or in the lavatories at my workplace either for that matter).  A bit of a contrast to e.g. the UK where there's usually only hot water and often too hot water (e.g. Heathrow).
• Similarly, there is only cold water in the guest loo in people's home usually as well, including in our flat (luckily we have hot water coming out of the taps in the bathroom ha ha).
• What's up with all the dog poo in the street??  Have you heard of those little bags?  Or show your dog to a bush at least where it can be hidden.
• The police often close of streets for no apparent reason??  I think they just need something to do and/or assert their power.
• At work, the men (who are from a range of European, and mostly continental, countries, so this is not particularly or only Belgian) are all very gentlemanny and want to open doors and let you lead the way, but that's all wasted on a Swede of course.  I don't see the point of having to squeeze by someone from the back of the lift or through a door, just because the man should hold the door to the woman.  It makes more sense for whoever is closest to the exit of the lift to go first and that whoever is closest to the door, man or woman, opens it and holds it for the other.
• Belgian houses are made of brick, brick and brick.  In different shapes and colours.  I like it!  Very little maintenance for house owners and it's easy to vary the design of the houses.
• Speaking of house design, almost every house is different from the next one, even if they are townhouses in a row and share a wall.  Well, except that they are all made of brick.
• Very few parents (seen a handful since we got here) use (or even buy) a carrycot for their pram and instead only use the carseat.  It can't be that "dangerous" as some Swedish parents seem to think (not me, though I do think babies sleep better in a carrycot), as then the majority of European children would have crooked backs.
• Why do some metro stations play such loud music?  I don't mind some background music but in some stations it's like small concert.  Aren't commuters already stressed enough (not even lous classical music is relaxing in my view)?
• I'm often surprised at how many young, well-educated people (e.g. doctors and teachers) don't speak English.  Okay, I know the Belgian complexities with language, the French v. the Dutch speaking, etc., but still.
• More people seem to smoke here, and also many young people.
• Our neighbours are friendly and polite and not only says hi/bye (which our neighbours in Sweden also do, yes, I promise), but also wish you a good day.  This is also the case at work.  There is a lot of bonne journée, bonne soirée and bon appétit (at lunch time they assume you're going out for lunch).  I will start wishing my neighbours god kväll when we've moved back to Sweden, even if it's not a neighbour I see that often.
• Belgian (and many other European) supermarkets have not "discovered" the brilliant idea of dividing the checkout band, which means the next customer have to wait until the other person has paid and packed their stuff, before the cashier can start scanning the products.  And sometimes the band is so short so they the cashier has to take pauses in the scanning to allow the customer to pack.  We shouldn't stress, I know, but I rather spend 10 minutes less in the supermarket and 10 minutes more with my children on a given evening.  (I'll deal with customer service and efficiency some other time...).