Friday 29 June 2007

Bonfire preparations, Cregagh Estate

Preparations are well under way for the 11th of July bonfires. All over Belfast (well, all over the unionist areas), there are great piles of pallets & old furniture waiting to be set ablaze on the 11th night. A tradition I guess, but a bit of an eyesore.
In the background you can see one of many murals commemorating George Best (he grew up in the Cregagh Estate).

Tuesday 26 June 2007

Crumlin Road Courthouse

The Crumlin Road Courthouse was closed in 1998, after about 150 years of service. It was the scene of many trials during the troubles, but now, a sign of hopefully happier times ahead, a local developer is planning to convert it into a luxury hotel.

Monday 25 June 2007

bright sparks




Someone has had the great idea of starting to decorate the electrical enclosure boxes around the centre of Belfast... You can see another one here at Dr A's site.

Saturday 23 June 2007

Carlingford Lough

A container ship travelling along Carlingford Lough this afternoon. The lough forms part of 'the border' - in the photograph below, the mountains rising to the left are in Northern Ireland, those on the right are in Southern Ireland.


Thursday 21 June 2007

Irish News

As mentioned in an earlier post, the second main local newspaper is the Irish News. Their offices are here in Donegall Street - just around the corner from the Telegraph offices.

Wednesday 20 June 2007

Gable Wall, East Belfast


Mural on a gable wall just off Templemore Avenue. Not the most impressive artistic effort I've seen (the map of Northern Ireland (ie. the white blob in the centre) seems to have lost the Ards penninsula...), this mural is a celebration of a loyalist flute band - the 'Gertrude Star'. More info on NI murals is available here.

Monday 18 June 2007

Cuddles

Cuddles enjoys a little bit of basking as only he knows how. I been studying his technique and when my holidays arrive I plan to put all I have learned into action.... or is that inaction.

Sunday 17 June 2007

Happy Fathers' Day

Fathers Day (here in the UK anyway - I know it is celebrated on a different day in the US), and to celebrate we had chocolate and salted butter caramel tart (a recipe from the new book based on the fabulous Chocolate and Zucchini blog), decorated with strawberries from our allotment.

Friday 15 June 2007

Allotment (2)

Late evening at our allotment. (This photo looks better if you click on it to blow it up to full screen size.)

Thursday 14 June 2007

allotment

I took this photograph at our allotment on Sunday evening after a day of blazing sunshine - hard to believe how the weather would change within the next couple of days...


East Belfast's flood....

A local roundabout during yesterday's flood. You can view a short video here.

Tuesday 12 June 2007

rain, hailstones, thunder & lightning....

After the blazing sunshine of the last few days, Belfast is now experiencing all of the above....just look at the water pouring off my neighbour's guttering.
Here's hoping the city's drains can cope.

ladybird



The grass around my husband's allotment is alive with ladybirds at the moment. I'm usually terrified of any insect or crawling thing, but I do love ladybirds.

Monday 11 June 2007

Custom House Square (2)


Another shot taken yesterday at Custom House Square.


Sunday 10 June 2007

Custom House Square


There is a great fountain at Custom House Square - where the water shoots straight up from the pavement. Today was one of the hottest days of the year so far, and lots of children were having a great time running through the jets of water.


Friday 8 June 2007

Smyths Irish Linens



If you are ever in Belfast and desparate to buy an aran jumper / a Shillelagh / a (bigger than life-size) leprauchaun / a fridge magnet shaped like a pint of Guinness / a (not to scale) model of the Titanic, then you'll really need to pay a visit to Smyths....

Thursday 7 June 2007

the Tele



The Belfast Telegraph has the widest circulation of any of our local papers. Based on Royal Avenue, it aims for the middle ground, but it is probably fair to say that it has a mainly unionist readership. (The biggest nationalist paper is the Irish News, which is based just round the corner in Donegall Street).




Wednesday 6 June 2007

'not amused'

This large sculpture appeared outside City Hall today - as the centrepiece of the City Council's Waste Fair. I don't think Queen Victoria likes it.

Tuesday 5 June 2007

sunset

A lovely early summer sunset over the Cave Hill.

Monday 4 June 2007

Che?



At first glance perhaps, but take a closer look and you can see that George Best's face has been incorporated into the famous image of Che Guevara. Cute idea - has anyone else seen anything like this - maybe with the photo of one of their local heroes?

Sunday 3 June 2007

Casement Park

My husband went over to Casement Park today for the Derry/Antrim match - but it was rained off. This photo was taken after most of the crowd had left. Here's hoping the weather has improved by next Sunday...

Saturday 2 June 2007

after the market



Clearing up after Friday morning market at St George's. In the background you can just see one of the massive 'No Smoking' signs - we've been smoke-free here since 30th April.