The hottest day of the year

I did a grand tour of Belgian traffic jams today. The first on was at Rue Belliard, where it took twenty minutes to make the 500m from Arts-Loi to the tunnel because they have narrowed the five lane road to two lanes. --AVOID Indefinitely--.  The second was on the A40 where it took forty minutes to make two kilometres on the highway - though it was not at all evident whether that was due to an accident or what. I realised it might be a long wait when I saw first aid squads giving out water (in bags labelled 'civil emergency drinking water';) to people stuck in the 33 degree heat.   I was grateful for that - as I had just finshed mine before hitting the queue.  That was a thoughtful and inclusive gesture but also perhaps symptomatic that the Belgians recognise that they don't manage their motorways very well.  There were overheated cars stranded on the hard shoulder every 200m or so. 
On the upside I helped a friend move - under a stressful timetable - and got to do my first natural water swim this year (sharing the pool with goldfish and dragonflies! :-). Hopefully the first of many.   I came home with 'van driver's tan': a reddish brown left arm and a white right one.  Can anyone lend me a right hand drive car for the weekend so I can get the balance right???

All the leaves are red and the sky is blue

Saturday 1st November. Chateau de la Hulp (70m elevation!). The Soignes Forest.

The weather forecast predicted a bright andd sunny day- so despite dancing until just before the very last metro last night and having promised a friend to help him move in the late afternoon / early evening - I get myself out to the forest south of Brussels. This place looked nice on the map and I chose it for no other reason. I wasn't disappointed.

It was almost 20 degrees - T shirt and shorts weather - just wondering and hoping that we might have another very late Indian summmer, as we did in 2012!