Joy At A Belfast Wedding

October 9, 2024October 10, 2024 / fgrtommo / 2 Comments

The last weekend of September was one of life’s memorable high points. I’m still humming from the pleasure of that weekend during which our Youngest Son (YS) got married to a lovely Belfast woman who he has known for almost 10 years.

The tear-jerking (for me, anyway) formal ceremony itself was in the impressive Belfast City Hall. Before and after these formalities, there were great opportunities to meet up with the bride and grooms’ friends and family and to celebrate the marriage. There were weekend events in a hipster brewery bar, in a traditional central Belfast pub, at the newly married couple’s home and at an impeccably organized and delivered reception at Waterman House. The vast majority of our close family was there – including both our grandchildren. Jane and I loved every minute. I think the bride and groom had a rather special time too!

*^{Sun Shining, A Beautiful Building And A Happy Couple}*

Life can be wonderful (if you can avoid things like climate-change-accentuated weather catastrophe’s, poverty, wars, and ill health). I have always been a ‘half-empty’ person who worries about the news and the future. However, Jane would say that we need to live in and appreciate the current moments and certainly this Belfast wedding weekend was compelling encouragement to think that way.

Jane and I know how fortunate we are to be able to have experienced grandchildren and to see our sons married to such lovely people. It is now just Middle Son (MS) to go on the marriage front but he and his fiancée have already given us the privilege of Second Grandchild. He was a little marvel throughout the Belfast trip and celebrations. He was so calm as he was passed around the revellers and I was personally chuffed by the number of instant and gorgeous smiles I got from him during the weekend.

First Grandchild (FG) was a treat too. Although he struggled with my explanations of the concept of marriage, he fell further in love with the bride – perhaps that was because she was dressed a bit like an angel – and he loved the hugs he got from her.

We, and our two elder sons and their families, stayed at the ideally located, cool and very comfortable Bullitt Hotel. Our room was large enough for us to give Eldest Son and his wife a break by playing indoor games with FG. Jane played a card pairing game and we introduced him to the idea of paper planes. He played enthusiastically with one for ages; who needs manufactured toys!?

Jane also took FG off during the wedding reception since he was struggling with the noise levels and needed a break. Jane only just made it back in time to deliver her speech. I found a draft version of her speech on my phone in case I needed to step in but the Master of Ceremonies – a naturally funny and larger-than-life Australian friend of the now married couple – had the situation under control. Jane returned just in time to deliver perfectly. All the speeches including those from the bride’s parents and another Australian friend of the married couple were amusing and hit their mark.

We ate extremely well and Watermans Restaurant did a tremendous job of delivering four choices of three courses of food to so many very efficiently and effectively. The drinks flowed and the music and dancing started. As the music got louder so I spent more time in the adjacent alley so I could hear conversations with my ageing ears. My ageing knees didn’t prevent a bit of Dad-dancing though. However, I saw from subsequently released video that the dancing became increasingly rumbustious after Jane and I left the youngsters to it.

In between all the wedding related events we enjoyed the sunny weather and Belfast. Breakfast each day quickly settled into a routine of meeting with grandchildren and their parents at Established, a café we seem to visit during every Belfast trip. The food is simple but just right for me and the Americano coffee is great. We also had excellent lunches there and at General Merchants in Ormeau Road. Belfast is small relative to, say Bristol, London or Edinburgh but it has become well equipped with enough excellent, modern cafes and restaurants.

^{Belfast’s Botanic Gardens And Ulster Museum}

We wandered through the Botanic Gardens and visited the Ulster Museum again. Our intention was to visit an exhibition on Belfast political murals. That was closed so we diverted to another exhibition of textiles created around the world to illustrate conflict and humanitarian issues (“Threads of Empowerment: Conflict Textiles’ International Journey”).

*^{Inside The “Threads of Empowerment” Exhibition}*

*^{A Collective Catalonian Arpillera Called ‘Hands On’ Showing Community Self Help With Over 200 Characters – One Of The More Positive Pieces On Show}*

We had seen something similar at Kettles Yard, Cambridge about a year ago. That had exhibited Palestinian embroidery. This Ulster Museum exhibition covered a wider international scope. Many of the works focused on South American conflicts and especially ‘The Disappeared’ but the most moving works for me were reflections on the Holocaust by Heidi Drahota, a German (below).

The museum has an excellent ceramics section and a very good permanent exhibition covering the Northern Irish Troubles which we saw last visit. We saved revisiting the latter for another trip so as not to risk the upbeat mood of the weekend. Not that much could have dented that.

*^{Inside Ulster Museum: The Ceramics Section}*

It was great that the wider family made the effort to come to the wedding, it was great to meet or re-meet the married couple’s friends, it was great that the sun shone and that the whole event passed off in lovely locations without a blemish. It was a perfect Belfast wedding and we are very happy that YS and his partner have (finally) ‘tied the knot’ and that we have more visits to Northern Ireland in prospect.

*^{Views Of Belfast – We’ll Be Back Soon!}*

Belfast Christmas

December 31, 2023December 31, 2023 / fgrtommo / 2 Comments

Christmas in Belfast started at a furious pace. Youngest Son (YS) picked us up from George Best City Airport and whisked us off to an Asian small-plates restaurant in the centre of town called Yugo. We had an early, swift and tasty dinner there before zooming off again to traditional Irish bar in the old docklands, The American Bar. Here, we met up with YS’s future parents-in-law and had a catch-up chat while staying well out of the way of the regulars who seemed very proprietorial about their seats at the bar.

Then we crossed the road to the Dockers Club for a gig by George Houston who was an excellent warm up act for Joshua Burnside. Both artists were amusing between the enlivening music and they both had songs with interesting lyrics.

It was a great venue; apparently the gig was sold out but it wasn’t too crowded. The acoustics were great. I could make out all the words of the songs as long as I didn’t stand behind the enthusiastic woman who thought she knew them all and thought we’d benefit from bellowing them out. Plus, the Guiness was creamy and proper. Seeing a gig in such a lively, functional venue was a real treat.

It was interesting to see YS and his fiancé bumping into several acquaintances and friends. Belfast is small compared to London where meeting up at a gig would be unlikely unless planned in advance. It is clear that YS’s partner has a huge network of friendships in Belfast through living in the city through her youth and, now, through her work as an osteopath and as a Pilates and yoga teacher. It is great to see how settled – and successful – they have become in Belfast.

It was late by the time we got back to their house and Reggie, their one-year-old dog was suffering cabin fever and then overexcitement as we walked in. Let’s just say he had an unsettled night of whining and moaning…. To be fair, he was very quiet on the other nights of our stay and he has settled down a lot since we last saw him in Spring. He no longer chews the furniture and stairs – though his history of this remains evident – and he is a very gentle dog whose only anxiety seems to be worry that everyone in his ‘family’ are close by. I’m looking forward to even more maturity by the next time we visit.

After that exciting first evening, the pace slowed and became very relaxing. YS loves a bit of technology and he has a huge telly with surround-sound in one room and a (pretty awesome) projector in another. That meant that while YS and I could watch football in one room, his partner and Jane could watch a stream of Christmas holiday movies in the other. The latter included Bernard and the Genie which we all watched. I hadn’t seen it since our sons were very young and was surprised that, amid the hilarity, some bits are amusingly inappropriate for the young.

We played games. YS won at HeckMeck as usual but Jane and I were dominant during my first exposure to Articulate! We had a hoot with that! I was less good at Jenga 😊

^{Ormeau’s Bread and Banjo Bakery – ExcellentAnd The Best We Have Found In Belfast So Far}

We ventured out to the independent shops in the local Ormeau area primarily to get some very good bread and bagels. Then, for the first time, we visited Lisburn Road, which also has an attractive range of shops, and picked up sherry and some interesting wine.

*^{Maven – A Cool Home Decoration Shop In Lisburn Road}*

I dipped out of some of the perusal of shops to walk through pleasant but wintery Ormeau Park. That enabled me to get exercise sufficient to enable conscience-free consumption later

*^{Carved In A Tree Stump With A Chainsaw By Hazy In Ormeau Park}*

On Christmas Eve we had a lovely walk along the Lagan River and into the woods near the Stanmillis Sluice Gates.

*^{Stranmillis Sluice Gate On The River Lagan}*

On Christmas Day we strolled through the Botanical Gardens and past the Queens University Sports Hall. There is a surprisingly large amount of interesting green space near to the dense but attractive residential housing of Ormeau – much needed with a dog as big and energetic as Reggie.

On Boxing Day, the weather was excellent in the morning and YS insisted that we fulfil what is becoming a tradition when we visit him in Belfast: a sunrise walk on a beach. Fortunately, its winter so the need to see the sunrise was less demanding on our sleep patterns than in the past.

*^{Just Before Sunrise – Helens Bay, Belfast}*

We went to Helen’s Bay and Crawfordsburn Country Park and it was empty and gorgeous.

*^{Helens Bay With Reggie At Full Pelt}*

Fortunately, especially early in our walk, there were few other dogwalkers. Reggie the dog is gradually becoming more manageable with other dogs but he is over-enthusiastic and provokes fuss and bother. Amusingly, when he gets into a tangle with another dog, YS and his fiancé’s strategy is to run away as fast as possible – not to ignore the problem, but to lure Reggie away promptly. It sort-of works and some other dog owners found it funny.

YS’s Partner’s Pictures Of Reggie At Helens Bay

Finally, it being Christmas and all, we ate and drank well. YS had bought a selection of excellent beers with strange names from Boundary Brewing.

On the food front, a highlight, of course, was the Christmas dinner itself which included YS’s terrific pigs-in-blankets. We also feasted on a huge selection of local cheese that had been provided by YS’s next door neighbours in gratitude for tolerance in the last 6 months while they built a very substantial extension on the back of their house. (Hopefully, one day, YS and his fiancé will be able to build an extension too!). Then, on our last night, YS’s fiancé made a delicious prawn and orzo dish that I will try out at home.

^{A Full Plate Of Christmas Dinner – Lucky Us!}

It was a lovely Christmas. Three years ago, Covid broke the mould of the succession of Christmas get-togethers with all of Jane’s family at our house. Then, two years ago, we decamped to the Isle of Skye for a small family Christmas with those sons and partners without a baby. Last year was a relatively small affair at our house with sons and partners that focused on First Grandchild as much as Christmas. And now we have done Belfast Christmas.

Next year the plan is to host at our house all three sons and their wives, partners and fiancés plus what will be two grandchildren by then. It’s only a plan but it is clear that the time for extended 15 to 20-strong family Christmas lunch has, passed for us and, now I have retired and have no work constraints, I can envisage that we may be even more innovative in Christmas location and composition in the future. Long may that continue. Lucky us. Happy New Year!

Breaking the Routine – To Visit and Be Visited

June 11, 2023October 7, 2024 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

After Jane’s Mother’s funeral early last month, we had visits from my Dad and my sister and then my Best Man (BM). A quiet week followed before we headed off to Belfast to see Youngest Son (YS) and his partner. I’ve written a lot about my retirement settling me into a new structure of daily routine but these visits were a nice break from that and forced changes to our settled pattern of everyday life – a beneficial shake up.

It had been quite a while since my Dad and sister had visited us. Whilst there have been no structural changes to the house or garden since their last visit, the garden has matured. The weather was largely fine and the garden was approaching its best in terms of colour and variety. This, despite the loss of several small shrubs and many of the ornamental grasses during the cold and wet of late Winter and early Spring.

We ventured out on a few short local walks together while my Dad and sister were with us. Unfortunately, the bluebells in the woods on the way into town were well past their best but there was enough to see and the strolls were pleasant and largely sunlit.

We also had an excellent dinner at The Woolpack Inn in Slad near Stroud (thanks Dad!). This pub was made famous by the poet, Laurie Lee and it’s a great venue to go to with visitors to Gloucestershire. On one hand it looks like what people typically envisage an old rural pub to be (the toilets are still outside!) and the atmosphere is intimate and cosy. On the other hand, it offers modern, excellent food, and smiling but unoppressive service. In addition, I had a really well-kept pint of India Pale Ale.

*^{Double Rainbow From Our Dinner Table Window At The Woolpack}*

Later in the week, the arrival of my BM, an old friend from university, was dominated by his exciting news that he is getting married. We met his fiancé, a lovely Chinese woman, in 2020 just before the Covid lockdown. After a lockdown apart, they are now together in Kenya and planning their wedding. It’s a lovely story of late life (for him, anyway) romance and we enjoyed catching up with that and the other developments in BM’s life during good food and long walks.

Our trip to Belfast was long awaited. YS and his partner bought a house there at the end of last year and we have been keen to visit it and them since then. YS wanted to settle into the house – and get the spare bedroom renovated – before inviting us. Then that invitation was postponed by YS and his partner taking on the responsibility for a large and lively puppy. We finally arrived to meet ‘Reggie’! He is a disruptive handful but they love him despite his chewing of the furniture and the digging up of the lawn.

The house is already great and has a lot of potential. I liked the local area, Ormeau, very much; it is a much larger residential area than I remembered with several roads with pretty Victorian terraces and later rows of larger, well-built houses. There are a smattering of attractive independent businesses on the main road and river walks and the Belfast Botanic Gardens and Ulster Museum are nearby.

*^{Inside The Belfast Botanic Gardens Palm House}*

We visited the Botanical Garden Palm House briefly but spent far longer in the Ulster Museum. This has a very diverse set of exhibits and attractions set in an airy combination of old and new buildings. Since YS moved to Belfast, I have focused more than before on articles and television programmes about Ireland but my understanding of its history remains thin; the museum provided a lot of reminders and filled in a lot of gaps.

*^{Inside The Ulster Museum With Porcelain Works By Frances Lambe And Nuala O’Donovan}*

As well as displays about Ulster and Northern Ireland history there was some beautiful craftmanship on show. Overall, it is well worth a (free!) visit and I’m sure we will go again.

The weather in Belfast was noticeably cooler than back in England but it was mainly sunny and clear; perfect for walks along the coast to the east of Belfast and around the green enclaves of Belfast along the Lagan River – both with and without Reggie.

*^{Walking With Reggie in Belvoir Park Forest, Belfast}*

*^{The Path On The South Side Of The Lagan Estuary}*

We were also able to leave Reggie so we could visit YS’s place of work in a renovated set of warehouses and factories in East Belfast. His offices weren’t open but we were able to sample a beer (and a few games of Bananagrams – YS loves games!) in the Boundary Brewing Taproom next door.

YS’s partner’s business (Restore Osteopathy) is more centrally located in the Cathedral Quarter. Here she practices not only osteopathy in a very attractive treatment room but also leads yoga and Pilates classes in two large, ideally suited rooms. It’s a wonderful space for what she does. Both YS and his partner have more than found their feet in Belfast.

*^{YS’s Partner’s Yoga Spaces And Treatment Room}*

Belfast itself is very lively and seems to have so much potential if only the politics would calm down and business could invest with even more certainty. It is a small city compared to London. But, like Edinburgh (which is about 50% bigger) it is a capital city, has some impressive things to see and is attracting increasing numbers of young people setting up new businesses.

Great coffee houses and interesting and enjoyable restaurants are popping up across the city. On this trip we ate at EDŌ where we had a welcome chance to catch up with YS’s partner’s parents (thanks for dinner guys!) and Waterman House. We breakfasted on trendy bread from an bakery (Bakari) apparently using Icelandic recipes.

*^{Waterman House Restaurant With A Large Painting Of Belfast By Colin Davidson}*

Being visited and visiting others disrupts our well-worn micro-routines. This is a good thing. Having YS ask us whether we want a beer at 4.30pm instead of waiting till our traditional 6pm drinking time is a good challenge. Not finding time to do the Quick Crossword at 5pm is actually ok for a day or two. Having to scrabble around in the depths of a cupboard for our sugar bowl for a visitor that takes sugar in their coffee isn’t much trouble really. Dealing with the issues of a new puppy is unsettling but helps to keep us on our toes. Seeing new places and finding out about them is always interesting. We should, and will, do more and I should avoid getting stuck in my ways.

My Retirement Journey

I've Retired! What Next?

Belfast Botanic Gardens

Joy At A Belfast Wedding

Belfast Christmas

Breaking the Routine – To Visit and Be Visited