Raining Cats and Dogs: Either we're in a Magritte or it's just Belgium

I went with some friends on a week-end coach trip to Amsterdam and on the way back we stopped in Bruges (Brugge). We had about two hours there and it rained heavily for most of the two hours . The Belgian gentleman isn't being arrested for driving a Taunus the police wanted to know why he wanted to take home some of the decorative iron chain put there to look old and to stop people parking on the verge. There seemed to be more visiting coaches from the UK than local buses on the streets.