Well, there is a huge difference between the Monday group and the Wednesday group - this really WAS a promotion! There were eight of us: I felt a little uneasy when I arrived as everyone else knew each other and communicated mostly in Arabic

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(many were from a women's project which you can see at www.foyer.be), but we soon got chatting and everyone was very friendly. The three teachers who were with us wore fluorescent orange jackets, and gave us fluorescent yellow ones.

Very soon we were hurtling down the cobbles (many with veils flying) into the city centre. Carmen placed one teacher at the back and one at the front of the group, while she hovered around the middle stopping traffic, shoving people on, giving a reassuring tap on a shoulder, dragging slower ones by the elbow, picking up fallen heaps from the ground, yelling 'Remember eye-contact - show them who's the boss!' and 'Tramlines! Cross perpendicularly!'

We spun round and round roundabouts like whirling dervishes, went down past the Cathedral, and all the way down to that wonderful symbol of Belgian civilisation, the Mannequin Pis (a teeny statue of a little boy urinating - legend has it that he extinguished a fire with this very activity a few centuries ago: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manneken_Pis).

Then we all lined up our bikes outside a lovely little restaurant called Exki (the best, healthiest fast food chain in Belgium – see www.exki.be) and all had coffees or herb teas with a slice of cake.

After that a great exercise in gear changes as we struggled uphill and back to the bike place. Another two-hour lesson for five Euro – this time with cake and coffee included. I’m really starting to like city life.