Not Your Average Sunday...

On February 11, we enjoyed going to the Prospect of Whitby for a Sunday roast.

Joining us was Gerlof, who Jimmy worked with in the Dutch Ministiry of Defense and who was now living in Brussels. After we had nearly finished our meals, Ashlynn and Ciaran finally arrived from Glasgow, so we stuck around so they could eat. 

The skies were dramatic. After everyone was done eating, we headed back to our flat so Ashlynn and Ciaran could drop off their luggage. 

There was still about two hours before Gerlof had to leave to catch his Eurostar back to Brussels, so we decided to take a long walk as a group. Ironically, as we entered the lift, we did the math to check if we could all fit, but apparently the weight limit was inaccurate (this photo was taken two days later, but could have been taken over six months later as it still hasn’t been updated). According to our calculations, we had around 90 kilos (200 pounds) to spare.

We hit the G button for Ground Floor and the elevator acted like normal until we were nearly down when it came to a screeching halt. As you can see, it wasn’t a big space, especially for seven people to be stuck together for TWO HOURS! As soon as it stopped, we pushed the alarm button, which called our Concierge. He said he’d call the lift service folks and that we shouldn’t force the doors. Apparently the engineer had a tough time crossing the city because of the Chinese New Year’s Parade, but that sounded suspicious since that event doesn’t shut down the whole city. 

We tried our best to keep a positive attitude. I joked that Brett should propose to Veronica, but that actually he couldn’t because there was no space for him to kneel. And Jimmy suggested that we sing Taylor Swift songs to keep Veronica happy. Yes, we’re smiling in these photos, but it wasn’t all laughs. 

Our stress levels increased as we neared two hours stuck. We told the Concierge it was time to call the fire department, who ironically arrived at the same time as the engineer. We were thrilled when the door finally opened! We had to hop out as we ended up between the 1st and 2nd floors. Luckily we were all still laughing and weren’t traumatized. Sadly, someone on the board of the building mistook our attempts at staying calm with dancing the whole time thus causing the breakdown in the first place, which was entirely untrue. What a great way to meet our neighbors! The lift then was broken down for the next two days, making our neighbors love us even more.