Saturday to Roddebeek and discovered that one thing has changed in the last decade. The second-hand bookshop at Woluwe St Lambert is no more! It has given way to a hairdresser’s (of all things). But the Saturday market is still on – with its home fare including, par exemple, le pain gouteux aux noix. And one positive development is that of the Ateliers de la Rue Voot – which runs courses on pottery, bike maintenance etc. On Saturday morning, you can bring your bike in and get a 3 hour course on maintenance – for 10 euros!
The next day, the same square was packed tight with its annual Flea market. I needed almost 3 hours to do the various stalls justice. Initially I thought there was nothing – but I emerged with a small marqueterie box reminding me of the exhibition which so impressed Daniela in Josselin (May 18 entry has photo); an old but superbly-crafted heavy wooden duck; a 1930s powder puff (Roma); a small 1928 book with the typeface, paper and wood engravings which I love; and, the piece de la resistance, a large Art Nouveau toilet jug for Sirnea. The book (La Rive d’Asie by an unknown for me - Claude Anet) is actually a good read – being part of a series (Le livre modern illustre) and the woodcuts by one Jacques Engelbach. Between its pages was lodged a programme from a September 1943 concert in Paris. Pity the cover had been spoiled by nondescript wrapping glued to its cover.
The picture is one of Frederic' most famous - in the Brussels Musee des Beaux Arts Royales
