I haven't forgotten about this site, or given up on it; honest.   It's just that there are other things going on in life that have been taking up a lot of my time recently.  Not that many people will have even noticed if the site stats here are anything to go by.  As Arnie said, I'll be back........sometime! ________________________________________ I mentioned in my profile write up that I had once upon a time, in a land that now seems very far, far away, worked as a motorcycle courier.  For some obscure reason memories of that time came back to me yesterday, so I suppose it is about time to put some thoughts out there about working in that job, here in Belfast in the early 90's.  Just remember when reading this, that hindsight is a wonderful thing.   😁   The motorcycle press of the time was full of adverts for the London version of couriering, promising £500 per week wages( a damned good wage at the time), and loads of work.  For ...

As seen at the Continental Market at the front of Belfast City Hall. You know you are living in a first world country when a company like this (see picture below) even exists.  One of their products is even more interesting/ ambiguous (see below again).  Is this product to be used on a particularly bushy growth in a personal part of the male anatomy, or is it simply a colloquial term for someone who sports a bit of face fungus?  All answers written on the back of a £10 note please.  ;-)

This is the ninth and final of the Irish chapters from Harry A Franck's 1932 book, 'Footloose in the British Isles' .  You can see my introduction to these chapters here:  https://oldandireland.blogspot.com/2019/11/foot-loose-in-british-isles-by-harry.html I see that he adds a little controversy for our English friends in the final sentence!  ;-)  There were a few extra pictures a few pages further on in the book, which I have included at the end of the text.

The traffic in modern cities sucks (or should that be blows?).   OK, that is stating the obvious but it does not make it any less true.   40 years ago or more, I used to have to help take my father to work here in Belfast before going to school.   He was confined to a wheelchair for years before he died.   Now when I look back on his daily rants about the terrible commuter traffic he saw then, I wonder what he would make of the situation now.   I doubt that he would have believed that the rush hour could ever have got this bad. Unfortunately the situation is exacerbated by government policy.   Our lords and masters are determined to make things difficult for us.   Well, at least for those who use cars.   Belfast City Council’s Transport Policy (available here if you need a good cure for insomnia:   http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/buildingcontrol-environment/regeneration/transportiniatives.aspx ), makes this very clear.   On page...

The modern labourer, on the contrary, instead of rising with the process of industry, sinks deeper and deeper below the conditions of existence of his own class. He becomes a pauper, and pauperism develops more rapidly than population and wealth. And here it becomes evident, that the bourgeoisie is unfit any longer to be the ruling class in society, and to impose its conditions of existence upon society as an over-riding law. It is unfit to rule because it is incompetent to assure an existence to its slave within his slavery, because it cannot help letting him sink into such a state, that it has to feed him, instead of being fed by him.   This statue, called 'The Speaker' stands on the steps of the Customs House in Belfast.  This was Belfast's equivalent of speakers corner, and was the site of many speaches by Larkin during the 1907 Dockers strike.  It is my understanding that this statue was originally supposed to celebrate the centenary of the dock stri...

  This memoir of a much loved pet was sent by a friend, Mark McClean.  The hugely strong links formed with family pets never ceases to amaze me, as does the trust that these beautiful animals place in the strange two legged companions that they choose to live with.   Dogs can melt the hearts of even the strongest of us.   Rest in peace Gracie. _______________ It all started in 1987. The setting was a small fictional town in northern California called ‘Santa Carla’. The protagonist was a young teenage boy called Sam and his husky-type dog: Nanook.   The inciting incident of the film plot unfolds to reveal Sam, along with Nanook and his family have just moved into a small sleepy seaside town stalked by vampires!   Have you guessed the film? The Lost Boys . It was a cult-classic of the late ‘80s starring the late Corey Haim, Jason Patric and Kiefer Sutherland. In the middle of all the punchy one-liners, guts and gore speci...

I worked for many years in City Hall.   It is a building with real character (it first opened in 1906), and although working offices have now largely moved out of City Hall to make way for public display spaces, there used to be many, many individual rooms within the building.   When I worked there, each office was allocated a storage area in one of the basement rooms.   These too were fascinating being full of old ledgers full of beautiful copperplate writing and ancient books of local bylaws.   In one basement that I used to visit occasionally, there was a huge leather bound volume of these bylaws (dating from the 1840’s if I remember correctly).   My reward for each dusty basement visit was to open it at a random page to see what I could find.   I remember discovering such anachronisms as a bylaw that banned keeping pigs inside a boarding house.   Another specified the amount of straw that was to be packed around gunpowder barrels when ...

The Bank Buildings fire on 28th August seems to have had a read effect on the ordinary people of Belfast..  Since the building was gutted, I have heard many people reminisce about what the building meant to them.. There have been fond memories of that first part time job that gives a little independence in a persons later school years, stories of Primark's awesome value and the piles of clothes that could be bought for relatively little money, and comments from those who just liked the buildings impressive façade.  Now, nearly a month later, I still see people stop to shake their heads as they stare at the wreckage. For me too the buildings demise brings sadness, because the only reason I live where I do is because of one of its founders.  My fathers family originates in Co. Armagh.  They come from farming stock, planters from near Newtownhamilton.  One of their number, a distant relative of my grandparents, had come to Belfa...

There is a hero in this story; his name is Ken McIlwrath. Belfast was not a very inviting place in the 1970’s.   The city centre was closed off and fortified. Getting to the shops meant passing through a heavy duty turnstile, and submitting yourself to a search by armed security staff who in turn were watched over by soldiers. Those who were old enough at the time will remember the automatic reaction of entering a shop and raising your arms for the search; a reaction that could be a bit embarrassing when travelling outside our small province!   The city’s night life had either moved out of town entirely, or to Great Victoria Street, an area then known as the ‘Golden Mile’. The bar trade in Northern Ireland was largely run by the duopoly of Bass and Guinness back then. Bars were supplied by one or other except for the black stuff which made it into all bars, with occasional pretenders introduced to northern drinkers by Bass such as Beamish or Murphy’s.   There was ...

This is obviously a far from comprehensive list of old travel books dealing with Ireland.   It is just a mention for a couple that I have read, and since they are available free on line, I thought a plug for the sites that host them would be worthwhile. I love travel books, particularly old ones.   While a modern travel book can show the reader what they are likely to encounter after jumping aboard a flight for a couple of hours, reading some of the great travel classics transports the reader to worlds long gone, and to which only the hardy could make their way.   They have nothing to do with Ireland, but do yourself a favour and find a copy of books like “Two Years Before the Mast”, or ‘Sailing Alone Around the World’.   The first of these is a tale of travel from Boston to California, when Cali was only a series of trading posts. The second title is more self-explanatory, but still a great tale of adventure and resilience.   Both are available as free dow...