Bars and restaurants all over Brussels have been busy over the past couple of days—maybe weeks—preparing for another attempt at opening the hospitality industry again. For now, only the terraces will be allowed to open, but it’s a start at least, and a very welcome one! Tomorrow, rain or shine, I’m sure the Brusseleirs will be there in great numbers, drinking draught beer from real glasses, eating food from real plates, with real cutlery…
And for this blog, this means the end of our hibernation!
Walking through Brussels, you might have seen your favourite bar staff already hard at work, stocking up on patio umbrellas, wielding folding rules and tape measures, and shifting tables and chairs… This is all necessary of course to get all required ‘social’ distances right, and keep the patrons dry in case of Belgian weather. In front of establishments not endowed with a sizeable terrace, they might even have been nailing and screwing together all kinds of terrace extensions, doing everything they can, to get the most out of the limited space not yet taken up by car traffic.
Saturday the 8th of May
But tomorrow, VE Day, Saturday the 8th of May, we’ll celebrate a little victory of our own. We’ll all be there, sitting on those freshly constructed, carefully measured terraces, to reward the efforts ant patience of everybody working in the hospitality industry, and spend a little of our time in the sun—or rain, if we have to—and spend a lot of our money, so they can once again do what they do best: make us feel welcome, while delighting us with great beers and delicious food.
Let’s be sensible though: behave, follow the rules, and let us make sure bars and restaurant can stay open permanently now!