And here I am
Well, I'm in Brussels, hungover to hell after getting hammered on Belgian beer and watching last night's football with my new work colleagues (who are for the most part, damned fine chaps and chapesses - although one of the girls for some reason believed me when I told her my name was 'Boris').

The last couple of days have been a complete blur: I landed, booked into an awful hotel (a million miles from anywhere I wanted to go - complaint e-mail already zinging its way to the internet booking company who assured me it was central), struggled over to the Parliament, met my new office colleagues (who - I say again - are fantastic), found a tiny little studio flat for approximately two hundred millions Euros (evil, toy money) a minute, and signed my soul, life savings, and favourite Cornish rugby shirt away as a deposit. I've also been out drinking both nights, and consequently am tired and sluggish.

The European Parliament is a great place to work, I have to admit. Although I'd see the place shut down tomorrow by choice, if you have to work at the centre of the European behemoth, the best place to do it is in a beautifully appointed office, in a building where gourment chefs man even the staff canteen, where you can buy a cooked-to-order steak bearnaisse and frites for as little as six euros. On one level, I'm utterly appalled at the fact we're eating for cheap at the European taxpayers' expense. On the other level, I did just have a delicious bacon sandwich for only two euros.

Thank God the MEP I work for is such a renowned anti-European campaigner. It makes me feel less guilty about the fact I actually enjoy working here.

- posted by Foxy @ 15.9.04