Every year the cozy little littoral village of De Haan time warps itself back to the early 1900’s.  Around the uniquely styled tram station the whole village dresses up in the magnificent costumes and gowns of the Belle-epoque, and as by magic horses, steam vehicles and old timers tuftuf agreeable through the street, watched by over a hundred thousand delighted tourists.

We thought it would be an ideal moment to showcase the endless possibilities of wireless technology. So we managed to get hold of some priceless 100 year old wardrobe, and used our trusted old MG as a Trojan Horse. It’s true, the MG TF from 1952 is way too young for a early 20^th century happening. But trust us (we’re consultants), nobody in that crowd sees the difference between a Ford T racer, a Bugatti 1940 and our Bluetooth enabled vehicle.

Security guards let us in without so much as the blink of an eye, and we dived deep in to the festivities. The roaring music power blasting out from our 750 watt kicker system in the back of the MG (powered by Parrot’s incredible RK8200 radio) generated a good deal of street dancing. Not to worry, we equipped our Sony Ericsson phones solely with foxtrot and charleston tunes.     

And a lot of splendidly dressed damsels and gentlemen got a fair taste of Bluetooth stereo headsets. When the future of today meets the past… it was a good event J.

Well what can I say. We had fun. We had drinks. Lots of. Fun and drinks. We circled the cars as near to the festivities as we could. And had some more. Fun. The consultant who forgot to put back the SD-card in the camera has been whipped, slapped, skinned, drowned and quartered. The rest we fixed with an industrial shot of aspirin. It’s a hard job.

Gentse Feesten

For long I’ve been successful putting it off. Ignoring friendly invitations to Facebook. Pointing out my blog, my email addys, my IM’s, my Skype. Trying to outsmart Uzma each time she came with another good reason to join. Well I gave up; I gave in to the dark side of the force… and got myself on Facebook. Sigh. O well, and I like it there J.

Well, I do have a soft spot for older cars. They are often proud relics of ancient times, appealing to my poetic soul J. When I saw this old veteran casually parked in the back of a dead ugly truck, my heart was bleeding. Here is the ancestor of 4×4, survivor of the landing @ the beaches in Normandy humiliated by a rusty lorry. Sigh. Some people have no respect.

We were invited by the Vespa club de France (thanks mister Reine!) to showcase our Bluetooth enabled fleet on the docks of Quillebeuf sur Seine on the 14^th of July.  Parrots MG TF, and both the Lotus and the LaRo Lightweight featured alongside vintage Vespas and a plethora of French classic cars.

Thousands of people took turns around our wheels, admired the stunning audio blasting out of the Parrot RK 8200 radio (we linked it up to a 1800 musical watt installation in the Lightweight J), and posed in, on or around the vehicles.

Our youngest admirer was 1, the oldest one just turned 97. We drained the batteries of our Sony Ericsson phones while streaming audio to our speakers for more than 10 hours straight.

A sunny day. Lots of demos. Sunburned. Sore feet. Aching backs. Tortured ears. Hungry. But very satisfied… we smile

Vieux Port is one of the most picturesque villages of Normandy. Its typical houses en colombage and its magnificent view on the Seine make it a romantic and quiet setting. We stopped our three cars there to give short demos on the shore. Kudos for the Activities Commission  for letting us through J.

In my eyes, the most beautiful sailing ship in Rouen is the Amerigo Vespucci, a tall ship of the Marina Militare, named after the famous  explorer Amerigo Vespucci.  She was put into service in 1928 and was used by the Italian Navy until 1943. She is used as a training ship ever since.

Well, when you give a new toy in our hands, we want to try it, test it out. So we took Felix our Bluetooth enabled LaRo Lightweight into the Normandy forests. Simple mission: go and dive it into the muddy roads till it gets stuck. Yep, that way we could check out our 24 volt 5 ton winch.

So all excited we floored the jeep into the most obscure corners of the woods de Bretonne and the steep slopes of the Seine estuary. We jumped over tree trunks. We splashed through water. We did see an abandoned Toyota buried in a muddy field. We dived into mud pools that could hide a camel. We tractored through prairies. We pushes fences. We ploughed through ditches. We ripped of branches.

We had lots and lots of fun, sore bums and bruises. But we could not get the Lightweight stuck. Sigh. There will be other times!

Some of the most beautiful sailing ships in the world are gathered in Rouen this week. We are hopping in and out the crowds with our three cars, but we cannot help walking in awe amidst these queens of the sea. Miles and miles of sail, marines, and telltale odours. Boyish sailing songs. Shiny cupper. Fairy shipbells. Gorgeous ships, with mast and ropes waken the little pirates in us

Parrots 1952 MG TF is loaded with tons of high tech Bluetooth equipment. The old British car features an armada of hands free systems and radios allowing streaming music directly from the mobile phone. Youngsters proved to be very very impressed with the sound quality that boomed out of the speaker system…

The cutest ambassador for Bluetooth wireless technology on this trip is without any shadow of doubt young Leon Nolf.  He walked around with his fancy, ear-protecting Bluetooth enabled headphones (from MSA Sordin)  for days… stealing many many hearts. Le coquin… J

Luckily Stefaan was able to get the wipers going again, so moral went up. We met lots of beautiful cars on the road. A classic rally Aberdeen to Le Mans featured Jaguars, Lotus, Aston Martins, etc. But ours do not look bad either!

Rain, rain, rain… 200 klicks of pouring. Nothing but water. Ideal when you are driving three convertibles.  One of them (the one I’m driving L) thought this would be an ideal moment to shut down  the screen wipers. Can’t see. A Thing. 200 klicks to go. Who came up with this idea any way?

We did not catch a lot of sleep lately, and Stefaan from SD motors has not seen his bed for ages… but our Landrover Lightweight is ready in time for our viral trip to France.   It’s equipped with a multitude of Bluetooth enabled devices and features a sound system that would freak out many a DJ J. We decided to call this black panther like demo car “Felix”.  

On Thursday morning we leave for our Bluetooth SIG viral tour. First assignment: discover the beautiful beaches of Northern France, from Boulogne up to the well known Omaha, Utah, Sword, Juno and Gold beaches in Normandy. We will stop, show the endless hordes of tourists what Bluetooth wireless technology can do, and move on.

Apotheosis is a couple of visits to Rouen, where the most magnificent sailing ships of the planet gathered together before majestically sailing down the Seine on Monday 14^th . With a forecasted reach of over 10 million people, a hell of an event. J

Our trusted Bluetooth SIG Lotus, and Parrots 1952 MG TF will be joined by a paratrooper Landrover Lightweight. Three more days. And this is what the car looks like right now. Don’t panic.

The French government introduced fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld in an add promoting the use of fluorescent safety jackets while in trouble on the countries hazardous motorways. 75 year old Lagerfeld claims “It is yellow, it’s dead ugly, there is no way it will fit with anything in your wardrobe… but it can save your life”. Seeing the always meticulously dressed Lagerfeld in the yellow plastic thingy is a bit surprising. But heck, maybe it will finally introduce some safety into trendy? Kudos for this French dinosaur.

 I have the impression that the early days of 2008 one by one went out to buy cigarettes, never to be seen again. My nostalgic mind wondered night after night outside, watching the stellar constellations shift across the sky with the majestic speed of a 1986 modem. And finally, it is all lining up all right:  summer solstice.  The axis of our little space vessel is now most oriented toward our private star: the Sun .

Solstice, (Latin for the sun stands still) announces the beginning of my favorite season: the summer. The ancients lighted big bonfires , and simply enjoyed all kinds of warmth in celebration of a hot season. It’s summer. Enjoy it.

Finnish Bluetooth peripheral company Iqua has an extremely nice Bluetooth headset, the Smartbadge. If you spend way too much time at tradeshows, it is good to have a decent badge holder (God, do I HATE commercial lanyards!). Iqua provides one that doubles as a headset. Battery goes on forever.

Found a viral movie featuring the Smartbadge. It is –of course- politically incorrect. J

Mixing business with pleasure has always been one of my top priorities. Life is just way to short to allow for too many dull moments. Luckily, a job as communication advisor allows for plenty of great contacts: you meet people, you see places.

Since four years now, I occasionally throw a car in to the communication mix. People just like it better when they can see or experience things. And a car is a highly visible, highly mobile, highly versatile tool that can be used on tradeshows, press events, in viral actions, or on the move.

We have the Lotus for its high coolness factor (heck this is the car that Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear bought for his wife!); we have the MG TF for its looks. What we lacked was some brute dare-develish thing with lots more space to build in stuff. Something that could go places. Road or no road. J

We thought Hummer, but gave in to the political not correctness of that monster. So when Stefaan from SD-motors found an old paratrooper Land Rover Lightweight we smiled.

It’s dirty. It’s old. It’s pure bruteness. But Stefaan will turn it in to a perfect marketing/communication vehicle. In 20 days. No pressure J.

I was one of those kids who constantly wanted to know why. And why, why. I spent hours and hours watching the sea. The stars. Wanted to know what they were, and why.  Basically, that flavor of childish curiosity pretty much turned me into to what I am today: challenging briefs, finding patterns, plotting plans. Always trying to find the why.

It was a bit startling and confronting to see that my sister’s oldest Oscar is made in the same mold. He tried out a 100 year old telescope this weekend. Discovered that it can blow up or shrink things. Now he wants to point it at the stars, like I do. But he needs to wait till it gets dark. And that is way past bedtime.

Life is unfair….

I have something with books. Since I was a little boy, I am fascinated by the stories and worlds that books are able to project. I read them, I collect them… I am pretty helpless and unhappy without them. People who like me, often offer me books… a sweet behavior that is encouragedJ.  

When I was offered Stardust by Neil Gaiman, I could not stop reading. I read it twice in three days. Here was somebody, offering me a book that I adored. That was written in a way that made me shiver, and glow, and smile. The little boy in me enjoyed the fairytale, the writer in me fell in love with the sparkling language, the rest of me simply dreamed away.

It takes big cojones to write a tale for adults that involves witches, falling stars and enchanted forests, and features talking goats, helpful unicorns and burning love. Gaiman’s prose creates me a parallel world that fits me. I parked the book on my trusted shelves, next to my all time favorite Dune by Frank Herbert. And I’ll be watching out for falling stars….

I love this fast moving way of life. I love my job. Stress, mobility, encounters, travel, deadlines… it makes a big part of my clock tick. I guess I am just not made for the slow lane.  The pedal to the metal, and then relax with family, friends and loved ones. From time to time though, I need to break away and recharge in a lonely, god forgotten place. The sea. The green woods of Normandy. Avalon. The incredible light of southern France. Wine, time and books. Not connected for a couple of days.

Good as new. But I notice that my time between charging up batteries  has decreased. A lot J. So if that is the ideal excuse for more break-aways, where do I sign?

Just sometimes, there is a man, I won’t say a hero, because, what’s a hero? Sometimes, there’s a man, well, he’s the man for his time and place. He fits right in there.

Robert Gernaey was such a man. This Belgian priest called Normandy his home since 1953, and cared about the wellbeing of 16 happy little villages. He made a pulverizing impression on all he met, including me.

For more than 20 years he was a soulmate. He was wise beyond believe, painfully honest, tolerant, open-minded, and kind. I’ll miss his grumpiness, the sparkle of his eyes, his razor-sharp logic. I’ll miss the long conversations on life, the universe, everything. I’ll miss the friendly dueling between my atheist logic, and his solid faith.

Robert passed away yesterday.

To live in the hearts of those you love, is not to die.

I do love viral marketing. Visual messages on the web can be great fun. To make, or to watch. Very often, viral actions make me smile, or grin. But just sometimes they are way way over. See what I mean? 

A two minute tongue-in-cheek tutorial on viral movies. It sounds easy, no? 

Now I’ve been known to be reasonably creative as to how you can throw a car into a consumer communication mix J. Ok, you can do press relations, invest in a nice booth on some tradeshows, launch some nice viral movies on the net, populate a blog. But a flashy car doing the right things can just as easily reach to a broad audience and leave a long lasting impression.

And then, in the middle of the Arizona desert, I met about the biggest car I’ve ever seen. Politically very incorrect, probably contributing more to global warming than joggers (the CO² that these runners generate: you have NO idea J). But just very impressive. 3 tons of pure marketing power on wheels. Now there is a thought…

This week, I am visiting the Bluetooth All Hands meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. Every time I come to this desert state, I get under its spell. Endless blue skies, burning sun, the real-cowboy-cactus, the wild hills. Just sitting here on my balcony and sucking in the vast scenery makes me very happy. Maybe I am a sunshine boy after all…

Now you can have all the words in the world, all the social influence tools, all the data mining software available… nothing can describe the sun sinking behind the mountains in this desert. It is gorgeous.

Or so. Revved up my car this morning to faithfully do my 85 kilometer to the office. Sun was shining, eastern holidays… all moms and dads are recovering somewhere on a trendy ski-slope from too much chocolate bunnies. So I should have had an easy, fluid, quick, refreshing drive. Forget it. There was quicker movement in the Galapagos turtle community than on my highway.

And yep, as most mornings, some brain-dead people managed to slam into each other in a queue that creeps along at 24 kilometer an hour. Sigh.  Why can people just not concentrate on what they should be doing: driving. I see people calling, eating, sms-ing, nose poking, beer drinking and tabloid reading…  Poor drivers should be shot. Twice. For good measure.