Café de Koophandel and the rooftop in front

We leave Katrien's garden in Hingene, on the other side of the Rupel, and continue walking towards Nouverem. There we take a seat in Cafe Koophandel, a café dating from 1930, whose customers and decorations reveal glimpses of the history of the nearby brick factory. As we sit there, we see some familiar faces, people we met the day before. In front of the café, there is still part of the building structure of one of the former brickworks, the last one to close in the area in 2006. The factory is still in good condition, overlooking the road and its passers-by. Next to it is a large chimney with several cracks. Under the roof, someone has placed a bench and a table, inviting people to come inside. It seems like the perfect place to make Stone Soup. We ask the lady at the café if we can cook under that roof one of the coming days and she tells us that this is no problem at all. We decide to organise it on Wednesday and invite people. We continue exploring the area and walk past a huge workshop where a boat is being built. We ask the workers if we can have some wood scraps for the oven and they give us lots of beautiful pieces of wood.