So Belgian they called it Belgium

I found this discussion of life in Belgium amusing:

Usually I avoid writing about annoying aspects of Belgian life and its weird mix of individual opportunism and ossified institutional arrangements (what I call ‘the dodgy and the stodgy’). [...] At least in France you could develop the front of a Parisian and enter into the theatre and power play of, say, getting a refund on your train ticket. But in Belgium you might as well be talking to a bag of flour. [...]

Anyway, this post is about the things in Belgium that work. When things work in Belgium, they really, really work. Especially in contrast to the usual lumpen state of affairs.