Dawn
@itsdawn
Writer turned gamekeeper. Historian of expat chaos and bad judgement in historic Bruges.
This book. I'm not okay. So good, so many devastating strands on colonialism, environment, love, grief.
Another poster protesting the loss of the weathervane of Sint-Anna's church in Bruges
The school later moved to Hoedenmakersstraat, home to several founding members of Club Brugge. The two teams played regularly on fields in Koolkerke. In 1895 the English boys won 4-0, the Journal de Bruges saying they "had the advantage of being accustomed to sport from childhood".
The school started around 1880 on Spanjaardstraat as a "crammer" for boys preparing for the British Army and Indian Civil Service. Its Christmas pantomime at the Théâtre du Jambon was a highlight of the Bruges English colony's social calendar
Club Brugge has had five players in World Cup 2026. But did you know that the club's first-ever opponents were boys from the short-lived English school of Bruges?
Interesting this, and I think we're going to see more of it – a local record store saying it's no longer allowing local events posters that use AI. "Support your locals. Bruges has many designers and artists that will gladly help with a great design".
Not enough people talk about the mosh pit bottle deposit machines at Albert Heijn supermarkets
I wrote about an English school in 19C Bruges that experienced a string of scandals before fading into oblivion, but left one enduring legacy: it was part of the founding story of Club Brugge cobblesandgables.substack.com/p/the-school...
Fantastic Jesus blood procession, Bruges. Well done! Especially for the tiny tiny donkeys
Please appreciate this Flemish row house wallpaper in Ghent where it is surrounded by Flemish row houses. (It’s being sold at the beautiful wallpaper shop, Priem).
The Bird family is known in the history of Cape Town not only because of the spectacular downfall of Colonel Bird, but perhaps chiefly for this wonderful bird-shaped pool in what's now Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
I've written about the extraordinary life of Louise Bird of Cape Town who died in Bruges on this day 147 years ago open.substack.com/pub/cobblesa...
Mathilde, queen of the Belgians visited Bruges today, and one of the official photos is somehow perfectly Belgian in its composition
A little spy (spionnetje) – the nineteenth century equivalent of a door cam – on Moerstraat. In Bruges la Morte, Rodenbach describes how the bourgeois women of Bruges track his movements through the city, watching through “ces sortes de petits miroirs qu’on appelle des espions.”
Sint-Annarei 19 is empty now (so you can peak through the windows). It used to be one of the social hubs of the English colony of Bruges, which I wrote about here open.substack.com/pub/cobblesa...
Currently reading – Margaret Atwood's Book of Lives. A Memoir of Sorts. Exactly as good and smart as I was hoping it would be, starting out the gate with an astute reflection on the impossibility of telling a story of a life.
I could be wrong but I'm guessing the guys in the Ronde van Vlaanderen entered professional cycling dreaming of the sunny Tour du France and less about the freezing rain wind, school-run bakfiets traffic mayhem of suburban Bruges
The stone carvings, woodwork and paintings are really breathtaking. And I like this detail of a black woman depicted in this medieval Flemish household (painted in the 1890s). That would be an interesting story to know more about.
A cold is trying to end me, but I dosed up on Lemsip and got to a tour of the Huis van de Visitatie this morning which is a particularly grand version of the Flemish revival step-gabled houses of the Bruges city centre.