So I'm just back from three days in Brussels.
Things are different there, but somehow a bit the same. It's that end-of-regime time, the run up to the European Parliament elections and the change of Commission, that funny sort of time where there's deals to be made but also a sense of winding down, waiting for the changes at the top. I recognise it - it was just like that in 2004 when I was there.
But I wasn't there to work, this time.
We were there for my friend's wedding, and it was fabulous. We saw some people we knew when we were living there, and made some new friends that we'll go to visit.
But the question was there, hanging in the air: "when are you coming back to Brussels?"
We went for a walk around the area we used to live - 1000, city centre. My husband described it as "edgy". I felt less safe than when we lived there - there was more grafitti, more boarded up shops, even more blatant adult emporia. But then one of our guests got mugged on our doorstep when we lived there so it was hardly leave-your-doors-open time even five years ago. But close to the best places to go out and a 10-15 minute commute to work in the mornings.
And we realised that we've grown up.
Really it should've been obvious. We've got married, had a baby, we're looking at moving out the city suburbs to the provinces. We're too tired to club til the wee hours, our toddler stops the lie-ins til noon.
So we also had a little look at the bits of Brussels we might live in if ever we were able to go back. Terveuren. Auderghem. Outskirts of Brussels with nice little villagey centres or close to the decent schools. No more 10-15 minute commute, even if we moved back.
At the moment there's no real possibility of getting back there.
The best way's as a civil servant, but my husband's now in the private sector with no obvious Belgian route.
And I'm working part-time - and that's impossible to sell to a new employer in this market, let alone one overseas.
It wouldn't be ideal for our parents who want to see their grandson regularly, and would decrease the support they could give me if we have another child.
And yet, and yet.
Something's calling.
Will we someday manage to move back to Brussels?
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