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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

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.