The strange side of Belfast

I did notice a few things about Belfast that were odd and they added to the sense of diverse experience over the few days that we were there. So where do I begin.

On Thursday evening we did a scouting mission to find the concert venue so we wouldn't be driving around in desperation on Friday looking for it.

This is something I have always done in unfamiliar cities and it has stood me in good stead on visits to places as diverse as Como in Italy, Novato in California and the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina.

We found it easily enough, the Waterfront Hall, located right down at the edge of the harbour in Belfast.



We drove back towards the city, planning to head directly back to the hotel but when we reached the centre of the city I found myself in the centre lane of a 3 lane street with no way to make the left-turn that I needed. No problem I thought, I'll go on to the next junction and take a left and loop back that way.

We proceded to the next junction and made the aforementioned left turn. As we entered the street this was like no other we had driven on in Belfast. I'll describe.

Above the street was a zig-zag of bunting, small red white and blue flags stretching down the street as far as the eye could see. The kerbs (curbs) were painted red white and blue, the lamp posts all featured union jack flags.

Are you getting the picture here?

We had driven into what might be termed a "loyalist stronghold". Me with the family driving on the street in the only car with plates from the Republic of Ireland. Click here for more pictures.

Don't get me wrong. There was nothing that was an obvious concern to me.

I mean nobody was trying to throw themselves on the bonnet of the car like Gary Coleman or anything like that. It was just a strange feeling. It was just so different to a regular street. In fairness if I had driven down the Falls Road I think I might have thought that unusual too. Maybe it was just the fact that I wasn't expecting to see this.

On Friday morning I was sitting with my wife and our boys in a coffee shop on the main street that runs in front of city hall. We were having coffee with a friend who used to work with me many years back. Anyhow I was sitting in the seat next to the window and right opposite me, directly opposite the street in a kind of central-symmetry of an intersection (way to complicate something) there was a huge construction site where they are building a big shopping centre.

I noticed this guy appear at the intersection and he was holding one of those big video cameras, the sort you normally see TV news crews using. He was alone and holding this camera filming the building site.

Across the street these three guys come along, all wearing baseball caps. The minute they spotted the camera two of them put their arms up to shield their faces while the third pulled up the hood on his jacket to hide his face.

I'm looking at this thinking what the heck are these guys doing.

I've never seen this kind of thing before so this too makes it into my "list of strange".

I spent 5 weeks studying Burberry and the problems they have because of the Chav culture in the UK. Well it appears that this culture is alive and well in Belfast too except in Belfast these guys are known as "spides". These three lads were spides for sure.

I'm not passing judgement on these guys or the city culture. I'm just saying that these guys were acting like they had something to hide. This to me is not normal.

Anhow. That's enough for now on the Belfast trip. It was great fun. Next post will probably see me ranting about something trivial again.

p.s. the credit card company refunded me while I was away in Belfast. Good news.