Visits

A lot of people who wanted to see mom weren’t available when we were in Belfast before so we are playing catch up. This morning we met Anne (half of Anne and Rick, whom we visit in the winter in Naples) for brunch. She spoke sadly of how her Canadian friends who spend time in Naples in the winter--who own properties there--are being badly treated by US immigration when they cross the border. In the UK we have Theresa May's hostile environment policy and in the US we have persecution of people fleeing violence in the south and hostility to our friends in the north. Sad times.
Then mom and I took a tour of a half dozen charity shops. We got back to the car and found I had a ticket because I hadn’t noted the one-hour parking limit. A ticket here is 90 pounds unless you pay within two weeks, then it’s 45 pounds. That is outrageous on more than one level. The people who can’t come up with 45 pounds in two weeks are the least able to come up with 90 pounds. Mom finds tickets very shocking and upsetting and acts like the world will end. Possibly because of this reaction, I take them in my stride. This is my second parking ticket in four years here and I just see it as the price I pay for not paying attention to street signs. We were late to our meeting with Anne so I piled into the restaurant without looking back, never a good idea here.
Next we drove to the horrible retail area that is Boucher Road for cat food & litter. Then to Ulster Museum to see the Game of Thrones tapestry. Closed. Then to Ross Auctions to get mom’s opinion on a sideboard I’m interested in. Closed. Neither of these was an easy parking job so a bit annoying. However I’d paid for parking near Ross’s so we walked around Victoria Square mall and I bought a baby gift at Newbridge, a lovely silver shop.
After a short break at home, we visited Anne O’Dwyer, daughter of the Derry O’Dwyers, and her husband, Sean, and son, Jack. We were there for hours, spending much time discussing the implosion of Theresa May’s government. Her Brexit secretary resigned yesterday and the horrible Boris Johnson, the embarrassing foreign secretary, resigned today. The hope is that this will scotch the whole Brexit disaster. Jack will be studying political science and history in the fall in England and it is interesting to hear his take on where things are headed. Probably a bit boring for mom, though. We did review our trip with Anne before moving on to politics because she had suggested Powerscourt and wanted to hear all about our experiences there.
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