“I present to you Skip, the family’s first dog”

I adopted a dog, a “Schipperke”

On Tuesday in Wanze, René Pantoufle, the bichon that readers had offered him to fill his loneliness, died. What a terrible feeling, exactly the week I adopted the very first dog of my life.

Skip is not the kind of dog you turn around. Around him were Cavaliers King Charles, Labradors and Shiba Inus 1000 times more attractive, but who knows why, my wife and son only had eyes for him. Like me.

Schipperke is not known. While apologizing for not having bought my dog ​​from her, I call Wivine and her Pieni Susi kennel in Saint-Servais. “We are only about ten breeders in Belgium. Today the Schipperke is considered a herding dog. They are the oldest breed in Belgium, the first to be registered with the Société Royale St Hubert, but it is true that they are not very trendy. You know, generally the color black is scary and Schipperke are black”.

There is no danger. We don’t have a barge, but I like the boat and the tranquility of river cruises in Belgium. A boatman’s dog, not at all trendy, it was just what we needed.

Of course life has changed in 7 days… Before reading all the dailies and waking my son, I had to add 15 minutes of play time with the dog. There is poop all over the living room and despite my best efforts, Skip still doesn’t understand the need to hold back and get out. I wanted him to sleep in his cage, but seeing him alone breaks my heart. Sometimes I have to leave the house to him and I don’t like that.

Last night as I wrote these few lines I was sitting on the couch, Skip snuggled up against me seemed so calm. However, Wivne warned me “They are lively and stubborn dogs, you must definitely socialize them with other dogs, but know that they are very attached to their master and they love children”.

Let’s be honest, since last Saturday at 18.00 we have added a restriction and a financial burden. There will be vacations, illnesses, vets, problems… In short, the kind of things you can do without, especially when you’ve got the baby years behind you. But to be honest, I don’t care. For the past 7 days my son has been laughing heartily at Skip’s stupidity. That laugh I swear to you is worth all the sacrifices in the world.

24 hours in Belgian Las Vegas

This week I tested the new concept for Casino de Namur. With the inauguration of a 4-star hotel, the casino now presents itself as a resort. It inevitably makes you think of Las Vegas and the hotel-casinos you never leave.

In Las Vegas, when you enter a casino, you never get out. Everything is thought out to “lose” you and make you play. Whether it’s to find the reception, the restaurant or the swimming pool, you always have to go through the gaming room and its slot machines. Fortunately, Namur is not Las Vegas.

When I step into the lobby of the “Circus Casino Resort”, things are clear. To the left the counter for the games room, to the right the hotel check-in and in front of me the complex’s bistronomic restaurant. As in Las Vegas, we understand that the offer is complete, but here nothing prevents you from enjoying one, the other or all three activities at the same time.

The casino, which had no hotel worthy of the name, has just built a 4-star Mercure. Everything smells new. I was offered a suite with a breathtaking view of the Meuse. Oddity or originality, all the suites share the same terrace, which is huge. With the sun it should be great. Unfortunately, I chose the worst weekend in January. Last Friday there was a snowstorm…

After a visit to the hotel’s thermal baths, I head into the casino. I’m not a gambler, but I like the glam-chic atmosphere around the tables. I don’t know about it, but the casino offers beginner initiation tables where the croupier teaches you the rules of the game.. I was determined not to “lose anything” so I enrolled in a blackjack lesson. A good time that does not cost a franc, as the lesson takes place with virtual tokens.

For the rest, I drank, I talked a lot, I watched players, I was in the jacuzzi, and I got naked by my window. As they say, what happens in Namur-Vegas… stays in Namur-Vegas.

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