Moving on from a troubled past
10:54am Wednesday 19th December 2007
TURN on the news most days of the week and invariably there will be something on about lives being lost in war zones across the world.
Yet it wasn't so long ago that we would tune in to hear these kinds of atrocities were going on under our noses in Northern Ireland.
Throughout my childhood, the news was punctuated by tales of shootings at checkpoints, bombs in department stores and countless people injured or worse - not on some far flung shore, but in part of the UK. For although we may be separated by a strip of water, Northern Ireland is only an hour's flight from Yorkshire.
It's not a journey I'd really thought about making until a friend recently moved from York to Belfast for work.
So, armed only with a guidebook, I went with another friend to visit and find out more about the Northern Irish capital.
Although not vast, Belfast is a sprawling city, so we decided a tour bus would be the most relaxing way to get a feel for the place. It has the same red open-top bus fleet as York and we jumped aboard without really knowing what to expect.
The coach took us round many of the sights. First, the impressive parliament building at Stormont, which apparently was covered with tar, manure and hay during the Second World War to protect it from German attack.
We also went through the leafy suburbs of East Belfast, where many of the family of the late, great George Best still live.
While pointing out that not only has Belfast City Airport now been renamed after him - complete with his signature above its original sign - our tour guide Briodie also mused that the Belfast football team decided not to sign the city's most famous son, who went on to be snapped up by Manchester United.
By the time we eventually got to the part of the tour we'd been waiting for - the Falls and Shankill Road district - we had moved from comfortable suburbs, past the docks where the Titanic was built and through the city centre. It was beginning to sink in how recent the Troubles were.
Many of the main administrative buildings: law courts, police and fire stations - even train stations - ringed by large walls or protective barriers.
Briodie proudly pointed to the rapidly-growing waterside developments as a sign of the massive investment now being made in Belfast.
Tellingly, she said their huge expanses of glass would not have been possible five or ten years ago because shards of glass can become lethal weapons as shrapnel in a bomb blast.
We went past The Europa - the most bombed hotel in Europe - and countless "car parks" that were once bombed buildings and have been flattened, but not yet redeveloped.
We pushed past bullet-scarred schools and house after house decorated with the murals we have seen time and again on the TV, with masked gunmen and freedom fighters decorating the gable end.
The gates between the Falls and Shankill Roads are still shut over the weekend, we were told, to stop drive-by shootings. But perhaps the most memorable image was of the flags on the lampposts - the Union Flag and the Irish tricolour are everywhere you look in this part of the city, highlighting the deep divisions that still exist.
Getting off the bus, we were both more stunned and decided we needed fortification, which we found in the form of Guinness in the Crown Liquor Saloon, a recently restored authentic Victorian pub complete with original gas lighting and snugs.
It was in one of these snugs that we met many friendly locals, who helped us get a handle on what the city has been through and what it is now.
All said the Troubles were caused by a minority and one couple said the flags and murals are now maintained mainly for the tourists.
Another lady regaled us with a seasonal tale of how she and a friend make an annual Christmas shopping trip into Belfast and, one year, they got off their bus to find a bomb had just gone off.
"There was rubble strewn everywhere" she said, "But there was no way we were being stopped from doing our shopping - life goes on, you know?"
While I am not expecting any job offers from the Belfast tourist board, I would urge you to visit the city if you get the chance.
It's a unique and very real place, determined to make its future brighter than it's past.