DATE: Monday 21 August, 1995
PLACE: Belfast
WEATHER: Warm
REMARKS: The area is a little clearer. We venture into the
City Centre again The city strikes me again as largely characterless
- a hodgepodge of newer and older buildings; the new precincts
and malls at odds with the older buildings; and all looking
inwards, as though the outward appearance is an after-thought.
The Falls Road, by contrast, is a lively, cheerful, looking
area, alive with people and full of street life. In that sense
more like European cities. Perhaps the community engendered
by the Troubles has helped.
Bobby Sands' grave eludes us, but we get photos of a number
of murals (and some odd looks!) The police presence is low-key;
little evidence of weaponry and flak-jackets; but the Land-Rovers
are armoured (the 'pigs' of lore?) The police barracks/station
on the Falls Road is as close to a modern fortress I've ever
seen: high fences, barbed wire, cameras, and no openings.
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