Welcome to the new blog. East Belfast Diary retains many of the features of the old South Belfast Diary, such as the majority of its name. I expect the content will be broadly similar too. I’m sure I’ll keep writing about politics, although from a slightly different perspective now that I’m no longer a member of a political party. I’ll continue to reflect on the strange world of academia and on aspects of everyday life which fascinate or horrify. I may include some posts on the very interesting history of East Belfast, and perhaps some more content on my academic specialisms of urban regeneration and housing. I hope there'll be time for a few book, TV and film reviews too, along with occasional accounts of my continuing struggle to learn the Irish language.South Belfast hasn’t quite been left behind – I still work there. But getting to know our new neighbourhood has been a very positive experience. Although we’re further from the centre of Belfast, it feels less suburban than did the part of Stranmillis where we used to live. The variety in house types, the social mix (in terms of class) and the accessibility of shops and other facilities reminds us of London.
It’s also clear that East Belfast has a very distinct identity, more so I would say than South. What does East Belfast mean to you? You might mention the shipyards (there used to be more than one), Titanic Quarter, George Best, Van Morrison, CS Lewis, Freedom Corner, Cyprus Avenue, the UDA, the Robinsons, the Paisleys, Castlereagh, Stormont, IKEA, Aldens, the UWC strike, Connswater Community Greenway, Kincora, the Twelfth, Naomi Long, Cluan Place, the Short Strand, City Airport, Glenn Patterson….
There will be plenty to write about.
6 comments:
Welcome back Jenny. Be interested to hear what you think about the plans to slash and burn at QUB if you get the chance.
Thanks Garibaldy. Not sure I'll be blogging at length about my employer's plans to cut jobs :) BUT I do have mixed feelings about it - I see promising young academics who can't get jobs and I do think one good aspect of it is to offer voluntary redundancy to more senior time servers - as long as this does actually free up cash to preserve some lecturer posts and improve access to a postdoc year. But of course cutting area of expertise, and possibly whole departments (like my own, which didn't do that well in the RAE), is more worrying.
It's good to see the new blog up and running, Jenny. My uncle is from East Belfast, great place! I hope you are settling in and everything.
Thanks 1967 - and it's amazing how many people have links with East Belfast, but of couse had no reason to tell me that before I moved!
I have lived in East Belfast for almost 30 years and was always proud to say I lived in this end of town. Up until a couple of years ago that is. I now watch with horror the rapid decline of east Belfast.
The main shopping thoroughfares of Newtownards Road and Castlereagh Road are practically gone and whats left is empty and bricked up shops and buildings. The Cregagh/Woodstock Road is heading that way too with nearly every other shop now being a pound shop, charity shop or a chippy. This of course happens in areas where protection money is demanded from shops and businesses and those responsible squeeze the very life blood out of their community and people. Theres no doubt that the global recession has been the final nail in the coffin of many of our shops and businesses. However, today I walked the full length of the Albertbridge Road and then up castlereagh street. What the hell has happened? Have the people in this area lost all heart in their homes and surroundings? Gone are the days of pristine windowsills, scrubbed doorsteps and gleaming windows. The litter and garbage lying on the footpaths and roadside is due lack of street cleaning by the Belfast City Council, as are the tree sized weeds growing out of the kerbs and grates. Despite a few of the houses and gardens on the front of the road being very neat and tidy, the vast majority are scruffy or in some cases even unclean. From as far back as the 1st world war East Belfast residents have been renowned for the pride they take in their homes and streets. Most lived by the motto "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" and would have associated "dirty windies" with "tuther side". So at what point, and why, did these people who live on Albertbridge Rd/ Castlereagh St, decide to give up the ghost and let their area turn into a ghetto? Unemployment or lack of money? No, for the houses in this area where like "wee palaces" even during the 1930s recession when there was no money at all and people even went hungry. It costs nothing to pick up the litter out of your garden or to wash your windows. Skip an episode of Jeremy Kyle and go out and clean up your front mrs!! Instead of cooing over the great job done by the 60minute makeover team switch off your telly and scrub your steps and front path!! Is it possible that some of these so called community groups might actually go out into the local community and help the residents clean up their gardens and streets?
East Belfast needs to claim back its dignity and self respect NOW.
Wow, anonymous, you should have your own blog, this is so well put. I'm starting to feel the same way about the city centre, although I suppose the parts of East Belfast I'm most familiar with (which are a bit further out)strike me as being in the main very well looked after.
Also I don't have an answer for you as to why it's happening - loss of some kind of 'community spirit' I guess, or perhaps more to the point an inevitable loss of the old community spirit which may have been slightly inward-looking, but as yet no replacement with a wider consciousness. I think Belfast is a splendid city and we should all be proud to live here and, as you say, do our bit to keep up our areas - including a very different sort of community activism from the kind you mention.
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