"Such as?" asked Pat. Her gap year [a year off from school in the U.K.] had taken her to Australia and then, briefly on to New Zealand. New Zealand was perhaps somewhat quiet while Australia had proved to be far from dull; at least for her.
"Oh, Belgium," said Domenica. "Belgium is extremely dull."
Angust Lordie nodded his head in agreement. "I've never quite seen the reason for Belgium," he said. "But I certainly agree with you about its dullness. Remember the party game in which people are invited to name one famous Belgian (other than anybody called Leopold) - that's pretty revealing, isn't it?"
"I have a list of famous Belgians somewhere," said Domenica rather absently. "But I think I've mislaid it."
"It'll turn up," said Angus Lordie, taking a sip of his whisky. "These things do. Did I tell you, by the way, that I composed a hymn about Belgium? The Church of Scotland has been revising its hymnary and was asking for more modern contributions. I composed one of which I was rather proud. I called it God looks down on Belgium."
"And the words?" asked Domenica.
Angus Lordie cleared his throat. "The first verse goes as follows," he began:
God Looks Down on Belgium
God's never heard of Belgium,
But loves it just the same,
For God is kind
And doesn't mind -
He's not impressed with fame.
After he had finished, he folded his hands and looked at Domenica. Pat felt uncertain. Was this serious? She had enjoyed the Chinese poem which he had declaimed to her in Scotland Street, but this hymn seemed...well, he couldn't possibly mean it.
Domenica looked at Angus Lordie and raised an eyebrow. "Did the Church of Scotland use it?" she asked.
"Inexplicably, no," said Angust Lordie. "I had a very polite letter back, but I fear that they feel it's not suitable. I suppose it's something to do with comity within Europe. We have to pretend to take Belgium seriously."
from 44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith
www.timeout.com/travel/brussels
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