Rue Picardie, corner Frans Verdonckstraat A great quantity of scaffold poles support the concrete galleries of two housing blocks under renovation. The handles and security pins that stick out of every pole, more or less on eye level, have been fanatically wrapped in paper and tape, creating a strange scenery.more…
Anti parking pilon 2
Jubelfeestlaan, corner Boulevard Leopold II Spotted: An improvised way to reserve parking space for inhabitants: Tie a pilon with a rope to a lamppost, stretch the rope over a parking place to signify that you have reserved it.more…
Metro Porte de Hal / Hallepoort Temporary solution to prevent further damage of splintered glass. The stickers read: Dear clients, Damage of the installations by vandalism. MIVB / STIB will do everything in its power to execute the necessary repairs as soon as possible. Our apologies for the involuntary derangements.more…
bricked gate goal
Rue Bonehill, Sint-Jans Molenbeek St. Jean, Photo by: Murielle Dasnoy (Suède36 architects)more…
Covered up
In the past, Brussels basements were used for storing coals that served as fuel to heat the house. The coals were dumped from the street through a hole into the basements. Now that houses are heated by other means, these coal chutes have become redundant. Often they are right underneath the front door. Without question, […]more…
Visverkopersstraat, crossing rue Dansaert A shop for rent, bilingually advertised. The grammatic bastard construction d’ activiteit is an excellent Brussels contraption of French and Dutch words, perfectly understandable, and much shorter than the correct Dutch ‘van de activiteit’more…
Glorieusement gesneuveld
Between Square de l’Aviation and Boulevard Poincarelaan, statue for the fallen Fun fair worker. This statue commemorates the travelling fun fair workers who died for Belgium in 1914-18 and 1940-45. It holds a masque in its right hand and a sword in its left. Since a few weeks the sword is broken. Likely reason: someone […]more…
Pijl Left Right
Puzzling correction by the Brussels public transportation company STIB / MIVB on Metro Rogier, Line 2, direction Simonis. An arrow is added to the information board already displaying an arrow. If that one was corrected, why not replace it entirely? Or does this mean that the metro which runs in the direction of Simonis (as […]more…
Street – Straat
Froissart straat / Schuman plein Found on: http://www.loughrigg.org/belgium/ In the absence of a proper street name sign, somebody put up this substitute! This is where Rue Froissart leaves the Schuman roundabout, in the heart of the EU district in Brussels – both the European Commission and the Council of the European Union (Council of Ministers) […]more…
Sliding doors
Gare du nord / Noordstation, south entrance on bus platform. Some technical defect causes these doors to open and close endlessly.more…
Hors Service
Metro Ribaucourt The new anti cellulite revolution has arrived! l’Oreal’s Perfect Slim solution. Somebody must have had something against the billboard and smashed the glass. The transportation company STIB MIVB reacted by swiftly pasting a sticker on the smashed glass. Not on top of the hole though, but just above it, right over the depicted […]more…
Plastic cover
Place Simonis, in front of Metro station A plastic cover waiting to be replaced by a more solid solution. See its history of deterioration in previous posts:more…
Neighbour numbers
Rue Washington Straat Two neighbouring houses with similarly DIY adjusted house numbers. Number 59 is drawn slender and solidly with upright tendencies, whereas number 63 is voluptuous and round, keeping in paste with the intentions of the original design. The imitation copper 6 has been neatly integrated in the permanent marker lay-out.more…
Orange hook
Financial Tower, Kruidtuin / site former RAC CAE Many examples of reparations done with tape can be found in this category, most of them are small scale DIY temporary solutions. These two construction workers use tape on a larger scale: on the 20th floor (or there about) of the Financietoren / Tour de Finance they […]more…
Déchets upside down
The photo was taken by Tineke van Engeland at Metro station Ceria-Coovi, Brussels, in November 2006. Among many other excellent pictures they can be found on her website: Fototineke.bemore…
Klink, poigné
Ladies room, Bozar / Palais des Beaux Arts, Bruxelles Bilingual alteration on a note pasted inside the women’s toilets of the Paleis voor Schone Kunsten, explaining how this doorknob works in dutch and french. To close the door Push the button in the middle To open the door Turn button handle to the right If […]more…
Zelfbouwbus
Rue du Rempart des Moines, corner Dansaert straat Rows of connecting holes, made in the metal plated door using a power drill, constitute this home made letter box. See earlier letter box related entries: Brievendoos Pas de boite aux lettresmore…
No entry
Rue du Chantier, Vandernootstraat, Rue Bodeghem Three examples of a common sight; twisted and turned city signs infusing new vibes to traffic instruction. See for remote, mostly american, examples of disrupted signage the SIGN category of the This is broken blog. The blog aims to make businesses more aware of their customer experience, and how […]more…
