That’s what Belfast is.  Now, this may be true of all modern European and British cities, but Belfast is the one I know well, having walked her streets (we don’t have a car) for the past 4 years.  (Actually, Belfast is the really the only one I know at all. Well, I’ve been to London twice.  But I have never been on The Continent.  That will change when I get to go to Tuscany in September for Simon’s Sister’s Wedding.)

Belfast has been around since the Bronze Age.  That’s a long friggin’ time.  And parts of it are very old worldy, with narrow winding streets and buildings made of stone.  Other parts of it are very new worldy, with wide boulevards and buildings made of metal and glass.

Then there are the streets that are both.  Where we currently live, there is a church that was built in 1844.  And a block of flats that were completed about 6 months ago.  They are building ‘Belfast’s Tallest Building’ (which we locals joke will be 4 storeys) next to Queen’s Bridge, built in 1849 (named for Queen Victoria, BTW).

Everywhere you go there is a mix of the old and the new.  The current and the past.  And quite a lot of the future, as construction cranes go up all over town.

I, as an American who grew up in a town where I think the oldest structure was from the 1950s, find this fascinating.  I love old architecture and marvel at it. I marvel at the fact that our local Marks and Spencer is in a building that, in the US, would hold a bank, and would have been built to look that old.  I marvel at the fact that our local Tesco is in the former home of Allied Irish Banks and has the most amazing arts and crafts style ceiling.  You should see this thing, you’d be amazed that you are in a supermarket when you look up.

So Belfast is a study in contrasts.  And I love (nearly) every minute of it.

Overall, I really really like it.

I’ve pretty much liked it from the moment I moved here, with a few exceptions. I am totally *not* enamoured of the lack of customer service (although that is getting better), especially compared to what I was used to in the US. I can understand the apathy, based on Belfast’s history. There was so much tension for so very long, its hard to be cheery to customers, I guess. And I am not really asking for cheery. I am asking for (and this just happened about 2 weeks ago) the tills to be ready to accept payment 45 minutes after the store opened (although that might have been because of the snow we got) and someone available to take my payment at the tills (which happens *all the time*).  Grant the ‘finding someone at the tills’ thing happens in the US.  But I don’t get a face made at me when I ask for help in the US.  Well, not usually.

I think another part of it is that people don’t expect it.  They have received bad service for so long, they just go along with it. And until people complain, nothing will change.

I do really like the people here.  Bus drivers call you love.  People really do say ‘crikey’ and (and this is *very* Irish) ask you what the craic is.

Sometimes you have to watch what you say.  If someone is going to England for something, they will usually say they are leaving the country, even though, technically, they aren’t.  And please please please please make sure you call it Northern Ireland.  Ireland, or the Republic of Ireland, or the Republic, or ROI, is a totally different country to the south.  Some people are still hoping for a united Ireland, but I doubt it will ever happen.  And at least we seem to be past blowing each other up over it.  For the time being, at least.