As Peggy Lee said in the song, “If that’s all there is my friends/Then let’s keep dancing,
Let’s break out the booze and have a ball/If that’s all there is”.
These carefree dancers in Belfast’s city centre are by FGB (Francois Got Buffed – web | twitter).
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Disclaimer in the window of The Seedy Side Of Town in Haymarket Arcade: “We are not able to give any growing advice, so please do not ask. Seeds are sold as souvenirs. Germination of seeds is ILLEGAL under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Be informed before you purchase. By purchasing, you are indicating that you have reached the age of 18, and are aware of the law. You also waive any liability towards The Seedy Side of Town if you act outside the law. We are not trying to persuade anyone to break the law.”
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A Belfast Love Story by Leo Boyd (Tumblr | Belfast Print Workshop and see previously: Big Men Wail Hammers | Oh You Pretty Thing): “I love this city but doesn’t love me back”, says our heroine, standing in front of Belfast City Hall!
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David Bowie’s song Oh! You Pretty Things (from Hunky Dory) concerns “the impending obsolescence of the human race in favour of an alliance between arriving aliens and the youth of the present society” (Carr & Murray (1981). Bowie: An Illustrated Record: pp. 40-41 | WP). Ziggy Stardust also brought a message of hope for Earth’s youth. In the tribute poster to Bowie’s death (on January 10th, 2016), Leo Boyd (Tumblr | Belfast Print Workshop) takes the image from the cover of Earthling (Bowie’s 1997 album) and adds flying saucers, as though Bowie is to be beamed up. Farewell, Starman.
Previously by Boyd: Big Men Wail Hammers
Here is Bowie performing the song on the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1972.
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Here is the latest political comment from TLO (we assume): DUP member and former Minister for Culture, Arts, and Leisure Gregory Campbell – MLA for East Londonderry– is shown suffering from “Derryrhoea”. In the upper posters, his hair is orange and tongue red, while in the lower poster he appears to be seeing and thinking feces. Campbell has been twicebarred from speaking in the Assembly in the last 15 months.
Previously by TLO: Demonizing Paisley, Three Studies Of Ian Paisley, and Ian Jong-un, Wee Angel, Taking The Hump
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On a headstone in City Cemetery: Che Guevara, the Virgin Mary, a guitar, a pair of football boots, and an invocation of St. Dympna, “patron saint of the nervous, emotionally disturbed, mentally ill, and those who suffer neurological disorders – and, consequently, of psychologists, psychiatrists, and neurologists” according to her WP page.
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X03250 slán chífidh muid níos moille thú goodbye we will see you later
Belfast’s City Cemetery opened in 1869 and was originally intended for the interment of both Catholics and Protestants. At the insistence of Catholic clergy who argued that the ground would not be consecrated if shared, the graveyard was created with an underground wall (shown above) nine feet in height. (Republican News) After further disputes, however, Catholics were not routinely buried in the graveyard until 100 years later; they were buried instead in the nearby Milltown Cemetery.
Here is a short video of local expert Tom Hartley at the wall:
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Religion and military might are one in this giant (see the wide shot, below) cross in Belfast’s City Cemetery, which commemorates the dead of World War I. The base (shown below) reads: The cross of sacrifice is one in design and intention with those which have been set up in France and Belgium and other places throughout the world where our dead of this great war are laid to rest. Their name liveth for ever more.” There is a similar memorial in Dundonald Cemetery. According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, “There are now 296 Commonwealth burials of the 1914-1918 war and 274 of the 1939-1945 war commemorated here.”
Previously from the City Cemetery: The Depths Of Sectarianism
Previously on the same theme: And The Sword In The Other
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Graffiti in support of the nationalist community in east Belfast on the shutters of Dove House Community Trust in Derry, with a giant “IRA”.
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Three images of initialisms: Above in Milner Street, “UVF” [Ulster Volunteer Force] has been painted over but “UDA” [Ulster Defence Association], “Q/S” [quis separabit], and “RSD” [Roden Street Defenders] remain.
In the second image, in Beechmount Grove, we have “CRF” [Catholic Reaction Force?], “UTH” [Up the hoods], “FTDHLA”, [Eff the Divis Hoods Liberation Army”, FTW” [Free the weed?], “FTONH” [Eff the Óglaıgh Na hÉıreann]
The last (in Percy St) is left as an exercise for the reader. (Or: we have no idea what “code 5” is.)
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