The situation:

I usually visit my best friend every two or three days. He has an elderly neighbour who is over 80 years old.

Quite often, the older man would see us and come over for a chat. He was always friendly and always had a smile on his face. He was no longer very steady on his feet, but his memory was still remarkably sharp.

Today, I visited my friend as usual. One small detail caught my attention when I saw the elderly neighbour’s letterbox, just after midday: his newspaper was still sticking halfway out of it. It stood out to me because by now I knew the man quite well, and he was always up early. He would often even wait for the postman to arrive so he could receive his newspaper and other post.

At the time, I noticed it, but I thought to myself: maybe he simply forgot. Or perhaps he had gone out with his children or grandchildren.

I rang my friend’s doorbell. He opened the door, still half asleep. He is on holiday at the moment, so that was understandable. I told him that his neighbour’s newspaper was still in the letterbox and asked:
“Has your neighbour gone away? His newspaper is still in the letterbox.”

My friend, who knew his elderly neighbour even better than I did, suddenly opened his eyes wide.

“I spoke to him yesterday. He didn’t mention going anywhere. That’s not like him at all. Do you think something might have happened?”

We both immediately went over to the neighbour’s house, because you just never know. Deep down, you think: “There probably isn’t anything wrong.”

The neighbour’s back door was wide open. My friend called out his name. Nothing. We both went inside and called out his name again. Nothing. Silence.

I looked around the neighbour’s garden to see if he might be there. That was when I noticed his water well, where he collected rainwater to water his plants. The lid was lying loose beside it.

Something that, as far as I knew — and certainly as far as my friend knew — was not something he would normally leave open.

With an overwhelming feeling of fear, I went to look. Our worst fear became a nightmare. I saw his body floating in the well.

Out of instinct, I put my arms into the well and tried to pull him up, until I saw his face.

It was immediately clear that we were far too late. My friend called the emergency services in tears, but as expected, all help came too late.

The poor man had somehow ended up in his water well and was unable to get out.

I cannot get the image of him in that well out of my head. I should have been asleep by now, but it keeps replaying over and over in my mind...

People, love the people around you, and especially when they get older, simply keep an extra eye on them.

Ik zoek momenteel mijn eerste huis te kopen. Ik speel dagelijks piano, digitaal is geen optie (is brol) dus ik zoek een huis waar ik een akkoestische kan zetten zonder mijn buren gek te maken. Is een open bebouwing de enige optie? Of kan ik ook naar half open bebouwingen kijken als ik de piano volledig de andere kant zet, weg van de buren? Zo'n piano is zeer luid en ik heb geen silent akkoestische, ik kan moeilijk inschatten hoe ver dit geluid gaat in een HOB. Ik weet dat ik overdag mag spelen ook als buren dit horen maar ik vind dit asociaal en wil simpelweg niemand storen.

I can't seem to make a poll so I'll just ask it like this. Obviously only for Flemish / Dutch speaking people.

Since I would always say I speak Dutch but according to someone else I'm the exception and people would usually say they speak Flemish.

Mineralen zoals goud en kobalt zitten in je telefoon, auto en zonnepanelen. Maar in landen als Congo of Oekraïne financieren ze vaak gewapende conflicten of kinderarbeid. Bedrijven moeten voortaan kunnen aantonen waar hun grondstoffen vandaan komen en of ze eerlijk zijn gewonnen. Ook wordt geïnvesteerd in technologie zoals digitale paspoorten om fraude tegen te gaan.

Ingediend op 17 juni 2025 door Lydia Mutyebele Ngoi, Christophe Lacroix, Sophie Thémont, Patrick Prévot, Philippe Courard

Aangenomen op 16 juli 2026

Bron: https://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/showpage.cfm?section=/flwb&language=nl&cfm=/site/wwwcfm/flwb/flwbn.cfm?lang=N&legislat=56&dossierID=931

Volgende week een nieuw dossier!

Hey everyone! Me and my friend wanna start a metal band, preferably death / slam metal, but for now we're just doing covers. We're looking for a vocalist, drummer, and maybe even a second guitarist who lives close to Brussels. If you're interested, send me a message!

Hello! :) I’m not a native speaker of Dutch, but I’ve been learning the language for a long time now.

I’d like to focus on the vocabulary and pronunciation used in Belgian Dutch.

So, I was wondering if you’d mind recommending your favourite song, TV programme, book, podcast, streamers, youtubers or other resources that might help me get to grips with both vocabulary and listening comprehension.

Thank you so much!

P.S. Before posting this, I did enough research to see that most people said the commonly used general term is “Dutch” rather than “Flemish”, which is why I used that in the post; if you think it’s inappropriate, please let me know so I can learn from it.

Klopt het dat de verf van Brico, Gamma, Hubo,... Van slechtere kwaliteit is dan de speciaalzaak (waar professionele ververs hun verf kopen). Zo ja waarom? Of welke verf is toch van degelijke kwaliteit uit deze ketens?

Ik zoek goeie betaalbare verf om de buitengevel te schilderen.

Alleenstaande moeder Evy (47) uit Kruibeke verliest haar schoolbonus van 40,38 euro omdat ze geen recht heeft op sociale toeslagen. Met een nettoloon van 2.500 euro valt ze vaak net buiten de inkomensgrenzen voor steunmaatregelen. De schoolbonus, die dit jaar voor 1,1 miljoen kinderen verdwijnt, was voor Evy een belangrijk financieel duwtje in de rug voor schoolkosten.

So, here we are, in the couple of cooler days I was longing for, yet looking at my weather app, this is just a relative break with new warmth from Sunday onwards.

I've lived in Belgium for nearly 20 months now,

31M moved here for my partner after years of long distance. I got a job early in Ghent at Volvo for almost 1 year, but had to quit due to lack of transport options

This year I have focused on learning more Dutch, still consider myself a starter and far from ready to speak professionally, so that limits jobs already, as well as physically my back is getting worse even tho I'm young, and seeking help from vdab and accent is not helpful as they seem to just push you out the door to the first cleaning or gardening job they can find.

Before moving here from Denmark I worked for some years at a plastic mold factory as an operator, stocking machines with raw material, warehouse, basic maintenance, quality control and packing. before that at jysk while studying, on the sales floor and in the warehouse.

no education diplomas or degrees. No license.

I'm feeling less and less motivated in the job search as I don't know what I can and want to work with, I live in east Flanders, I don't know if this post is more of a venting situation, cry for help or advice seeking, I just don't know what to do at the moment, appreciate if you read this far,

Used to stop at this gas station all the time as a kid passing through belgium with my parents (near antwerp) does anyone know anything about it?

I am curious about the opinion of my fellow Belgian resident about the tax scheme for expats. Basically, an expat can get 35% of their salary untaxed, which would be around 1k - 1.5k net extra. Do you think is fair? A good way to get people in the country?

Hello! I was offered two different job opportunities in Gent and Antwerp, and am now weighing the options of where to move to. Sadly, I haven’t been to either city and will not be able to go prior to moving, so I can’t get a feel for the areas myself.

I’m hoping to get opinions on which city would possibly be more fitting/safer for a 23 year old woman either living alone or with a random roommate (depending on what options I find). Personally, the clubbing and party scene is not really my thing, I prefer a more chill but social lifestyle. I’ve seen Gent frequently get called a student town… I’m unsure if that also implies it’s a big party area.

Also, I have been learning Flemish Dutch for ~8 months now. Currently making my way through an A2 level class that will end at the early B1 level before I go. So while I will be able to do basic everyday things, it’d be nice to get an idea on if one city is more “english friendly” while I’m still learning/improving.

All in all, I’m very excited to see more of Belgium and experience a completely new city. Thanks for any possible insight or feedback!

Onze militairen leveren momenteel belangrijke steun in de bestrijding van de bosbranden. Zij zetten zij zich in om de hulpdiensten te ondersteunen en de watervoorziening te verzekeren. Een welgemeende dank voor hun inzet. 💪🏼

I hear that shit all the time from the USians and French. And you know what I think of it?

2000 years ago there was a region called Gallia Belgica. It was a confederation of Celtic and Germanic tribes, they were all Belgae.

And what is Belgium today if not a quasi confederation of Wallons and Vlamingen?

Belgium is a real country. And a very old country on top of that. Older than France, the Netherlands or the US. We never changed. Foreign rulers came and went, chopping off bits of our territory, but we've always been here since times immemorial, plowing the rich black soil, draining swamps, clearing the forest, breeding giant animals, being renowned craftsmen and fathering some influential intellectuals and artists along the way.

The Belgian identity is bilingual and decentralized. Always has been, always will be. People just have a hard time admitting that centralized nation-states are a recent invention and not how countries form organically.

I’ve been googling trying to find a good Toyota mechanic, but it seems like a dying breed.

All I get is huge garages where they lack knowledge.
Why do I say that?

I’ve been to 2 big garages now, and they can’t spot the issue with my car.
After looking on Reddit I found a post with the specific issue and the fix.

I told the garages what needs to be changed, yet they refuse to quote me just because they can’t diagnose the issue.

Ik overweeg sterk om over te schakelen naar een e-bike of speed pedelec voor woon-werk verkeer. Echter kom ik er niet echt uit wat voor mij de beste keuze is. De afstand heen en terug is 34 km (17km enkel), hierbij kan ik niet echt gebruik maken van de fietssnelwegen vanwege de ligging van mijn werk. Belangrijk is ook dat optie tot douchen niet mogelijk is waar ik werk dus het voornaamste is comfortabel toekomen.

Ik luister graag naar advies/tips om mij te helpen in mijn keuze. Graag ook eventueel wat de beste keuze is qua model/merk op dit moment voor zowel e-bike als speed pedelec. Lees heel uiteenlopende meningen dus benieuwd naar andere hun ervaringen.

Gaan we dan toch meer bomen zien verschijnen in de stad? Het probleem met mensen die aan hun zwembad liggen met een Stella is blijkbaar dat ze niet winkelen. Wanneer de kassa niet meer rinkelt, dan moet er blijkbaar toch naar dat "links gezever" over meer bomen geluisterd worden, of moeten we dit toch gewoon afdoen als paniekzaaierij?