marramgrass

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I had a potter around Belfast at lunchtime, today. Coming in, I noticed how much construction is going on again. In the past month or so, the Obel Tower has started to shoot up again, and is moving quickly. It’s not the only one, either.

I took a walk through Victoria Square. Even though it’s been open for more than a year, today was the first time I went up to the dome and actually had a look out. The views are good enough, but they’re dominated by the roofs of the shopping centre around. It was on the dander back down the spiralling stairs that I looked down and noticed the lines made by the escalators and the walls.

We were there last week, as well. Paperchase was deemed a suitable supplier of birthday cards, so we decided to brave a visit to Belfast’s premier under-occupied premium and luxury shopping centre with a pram and small child in tow. It turns out that the lifts in Victoria Square don’t seem to work to any noticeable pattern. I’m used to lifts where you push the button to indicate whether you’re going up or down, and when a car arrives a helpful light tells you if it’s going your way. Apparently not in Victoria Square.

Rather, the lift arrives and offers no indication of whether it will go up or down. On the ‘Lower Ground’ floor we pushed the down button, to get down one level to the car park. A lift came down, the doors opened and we got in. We pushed the button for ‘B1’ or somesuch, and the lift started to rise. We made it all the way up to the dome before it started back down, stopping at each floor on the way. We got to the car eventually.

I had tried to get the pram up and down the escalators earlier in the day. Up’s okay, but down isn’t as easy as it looks. Next time, the child goes in the sling-carrier-thing.

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Saturday was the much talked-about, occasionally maligned and, by all accounts, rather up-and-down monthly farmers’ market in Lisburn. It was packed out, much more so then the last time we were there. (Apparently it was all but empty last month. Sited in a park a little bit removed from the rest of the shopping in Lisburn, it will always be quite sensitive to the weather.)

We stopped in to say hi to our friends at Bean and Gone. The market was that busy that, by the middle of the day, the espresso I had used some of the last of the coffee they had with them, and before we left it was completely sold out. That can only be a good sign.

The council has committed to running the market until next Spring, on the first Saturday of every month. It only works when the traders make money, and there’s good food and various other things to go with the good coffee. If you’re passing Castle Gardens on the right afternoon, stick your head in and have a look.

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I’m not completely sure of this exact crop, or the rough and ready processing, but you can see what I was going for.

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Late, today. I got a bit distracted by events.

We were at a wedding on Friday, our first with the wee man in tow. It went alright, I think, and the day as a whole was great. The bride and groom were driven off from the church in a Riley Elf belonging to a friend. I had a look around it during the afternoon. There’s a lot more room in that wee car than you’d think, and it was a well-looked after example.

I think that’ll be our last wedding until my brother’s in the autumn.

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