Van Rompuy in unexpected visit to King

A BJ reporter returning to the palace yesterday evening to retrieve a dropped post-it (BJ doesn’t run to notebooks), was intrigued by the arrival of European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.

Thinking there might be a surprising development, he hung around and then managed to glean the true reason behind the visit from E, a member of the catering staff, as she came off duty.

It would appear that the King had invited HVR round for a drink. Here are translations of snatches of their conversation overheard by E:

Ah, Herman, you’re the only other person in Brussels who understands just how “skiev” things can get.

Tell me about it, Albert. I’m about as successful in getting the markets to lay off Greece as you are in getting solutions to BHV.

The days when they could stand straight seem long gone.

Makes you want to throw in the towel!

Damp rag throws in towel!

King betrayed by non-country!

Hah!

Hah!

Another round?

Beer, yes. Consultations, no!

When E returned with the third round, she found them trying to compose a haiku that summed up their mutual misery. Whether they were successful or not will no doubt only be revealed when HVR publishes his next book, because by the fourth round, they’d moved on to singing, with an eye on linguistic neutrality, in English.

As she left they gave up struggling with a reworking of “Back in the old non-country!” and resorted to “Tell me why I don’t like Mondays, tell me why…”

As E said: “if it wasn’t for them palaces and all them thousands of euros, I’d feel sorry for them!”

Indeed.