Would you move up North?

jimgoose

lulu1 wrote: »

Some hard tickets in Belfast..

You'll get thickos like that. Best thing to do is fix 'em with the Steely Eye and let a roar, 'See ye hi! Shut yer fcukan moyth!!"

Dexter Bip

This thread seems to talk a lot about Belfast and also talks a bit of nonsense about it feeling liks a war zone. It's not.
First, There's more to NI than Belfast. It is agruably the prettiest part of the country. A pity that more people don't go there to see it. Sterling doesn't help at the moment though.
I'm just back in Cork having spent yesterday and today ( and most of my month's salary due to the exchange rate) in Belfast. The kids were at a concert in the Odessy which is an amazing venue. Going back to OP, I have mixed feelings about NI as a place to live.
Let me explain. I spent my early life in Belfast, in the lower Falls and the Springfield road. I went to school there. I learned to read and write there. My first accent was Norn Iron. I saw the sectarianism and bigotry on both sides. I was there when the troubles stated, as a small boy. I remember the pall of smoke over the city from my parents house which overlooked New Barnsley and Ballymurphy. My family moved south shortly afterwards to my mother's homeplace in Cork where I was raised.
I've been back on an number of times since during the toubles and afterwards, all over the north for work and for leisure. During the times when many people from the south wouldn't dream of venturing north of the border. Even during the height of the violence people were always friendly and great to talk to. Security/Army were always polite, possibly because I was a visitor rather than a resident, I don't know. I remember one incident back in in 1992 getting lost with my van and almost ran down a RUC/Army patrol around a bend in a country road while taking a shortcut across the sperrin mountains. They helped me find my way to where I needed to go, despite I couldn't provide any ID ( My licence was out of date and I knew better than to show this). Couldn't have been nicer. I've done the being searched going into carparks and shops during the troubles. I was in cookstown the week after the atrocity which killed 10 people. Still I never felt threatened or afraid. Today, all that misery is finished. There isn't any security presence and the only way you know you have crossed the border is to carefully look at the road markngs on the motorway. I had a great time today, driving through the loyalist and nationalist areas, getting out, in spite of the hailstones, and walking around,kids taking photos of the murals in the Shankill and Falls and myself and the missis trying to give them an idea of what had happened and how different it was from the bad days. Threatned or anxious? Why? It's a city, same as any other. We live in Europe; It's a civilised place. Now.
Interestingly, around the city centre, the amount of IRL plated cars was enough to suggest that there were too many to go about vandalising them all.


However and this is the mixed part, It is also a pity to see the hatred and sectarianism still enshrined in the wall murals. It hasn't gone away you know.

I think it will take another 30 or 40 years for this to dissipate. I liked the place but my wife who is from Cork wasn't sold on it.

Sad note. If any Belfast people are reading this post. St.Galls school in Clonard has vanished without a trace. I knew it had gone but still sad to not even to be able to identify where it had been. Last time I drove past ( too long ago ) it was abandoned but still there.

On balance. I would live in NI if i were young and single. As regarding raising children, apart from any religious/social issues. Is it fair on the female population of the world to raise your son with a Liam Neeson acccent. Unfair advantaga I would think?

William F

Belfast has it’s faults just like many areas in Dublin does aswel. My experience with Nationalist people in Belfast is that they treat outsiders the same way as Dubs treat ‘culchies’. It’s not obvious at first because of the political situation but after a while it becomes apparent. City people have innuendo that only other city people can understand. And any ‘culchie’ will understand how some Dubs will come across, especially the working class ones. It’s the same in Belfast with little reservation cause you’re a Freestater*

*the term Freestater being ironic considering so many northerners joined the Freetsate army.

mg1982

From my experience a lot of northerners are a friendlier bunch than most people you would meet down south and they like to talk, boy they like to talk. There sense of humour is different too. Crossing the border you do really feel like your in a place apart.

The Backwards Man

William F wrote: »

Belfast has it’s faults just like many areas in Dublin does aswel. My experience with Nationalist people in Belfast is that they treat outsiders the same way as Dubs treat ‘culchies’. It’s not obvious at first because of the political situation but after a while it becomes apparent. City people have innuendo that only other city people can understand. And any ‘culchie’ will understand how some Dubs will come across, especially the working class ones. It’s the same in Belfast with little reservation cause you’re a Freestater*

*the term Freestater being ironic considering so many northerners joined the Freetsate army.

You're a geg*. There's subtle nuances between how two culchies interact with each other and how they would with a city slicker too, it's just human nature.

*not telling you what that means, you have to learn to speak Belfast.

ThinkProgress

I've spent lots of time up north, but I don't like the general atmosphere around some spots.

Most people seem grand. But there is a lot of people walking on egg shells up there afraid to offend each other. (which is completely natural considering recent history)

People just seem less open. Not as talkative as down south.

Don't mind spending the day up there, there are some great places to visit too, but I couldn't live up there. No way! Maybe in 20 years time.