Miscellaneous Blog 2

Day 15, I think that's right! We hope to be on the move again tomorrow and our friend Ali is joining us later today. It's cold and wet so for your entertainment and mine here are a few more miscellaneous facts.

The Belfast Buoys.
I always wondered about the origin of this word and here is an interesting explanation. Well I thought so!

I wandered along the quay where we are moored yesterday morning and went into this amazing cafe. It is run by a charity to promote community in the Titanic Quarter. The picture below explains how this unique cafe works.

The Dock Cafe works on an honesty box system and is run by volunteers.
Last night we went out at 9 p.m. once the torrential rain had stopped, took a stroll across the river on the pedestrian bridge over the Lagan Weir to the Merchant Hotel. They have a bar on the ground floor called Bert's Jazz Bar and as I love jazz it was a must for me to visit. It is a themed 1930's art deco bar and small restaurant and they feature jazz every evening from 9 p.m. I had a rather expensive Winter Gin cocktail, my first taste of local Irish gin, it was delicious.

We sat at a table with another young couple and as you do here in Belfast you get chatting. They were both civil servants and they asked if we had been to Stormont, the seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly. This got us on to talking about a topic I remember from our tour guide on the hop-on hop-off bus. There has been no government in Northern Island for over two years! The government collapsed in January 2017 due to a disagreement between the DUP and Sinn Fein and no Ministers have turned up for work since, despite still being paid.

Apparently NI is now in the Guinness Book of Records for the country that has been without a government for the longest time! It's unbelievable!? The couple we spoke to said that civil servants have been running the country, but the trouble is various decisions etc need to be signed off by a Minister, who isn't there. They thought that the recent shooting of the young journalist in Derry during rioting may be a catalyst to bring the government back. Not to mention Brexit, which I did mention and perhaps should not have. It is a big issue over here, understandly so. It has been interesting watching the news and various programmes about Brexit from the NI prospective and it seems it would be a complete disaster if there was a hard border.

On a lighter note, I have started to knit hats for seaman via a charity called the Sailor's Society. I have completed two so far and feel quite pleased with myself as I haven't knitted for many years. Here is Josh modelling them for me.

Josh modelling the first hat, in fetching blue stripes.


Modelling hat no 2 we have Josh again, demonstrating the jolly sailor look.

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