Backyard Bliss
Too many hours on a cramped plane later, we have finally made it to Belfast to visit Barry’s parents. Flyin’ ain’t one of my favourite things to do, but it’s a means to an end, so some of us suffer through it with lots of fidgeting about in their miniscule seats, trying to watch the movies available or nibble the hot food provided – a passable chicken curry and coconut rice, in one case.
Due to increased security, there’s a whole new bunch of stuff that you can’t take on board. Apart from the standard 2 lt. bottle of bleach, cigarette lighters or knitting needles, you now can’t take face cream, liquid eye liner, bottled water etc. At one point, while in the middle of 2 1/2 hours worth of queueing, we walked past a desk with a collection of things that had just been confisticated from checking-in passengers – it was overflowing with lots of little lip balms, tubes of sun tan lotion (probably bought on the way out of the country, because who would need sun tan lotion while in the UK?), and a single bottle of vodka.
Anyway, we’ve only been here two days and it has already rained at least five times. That would explain why everything is such a vibrant green colour. I took some photos of the family backyard yesterday, and today, we visited a nearby Tesco supermarket to stock up on some things – mostly bad, bad, bad junk food – that you can’t get back home. We got back just before it started to rain again, and settled down with cups of hot tea and the smell of baking chocolate cake wafting from B’s mom’s kitchen. What’s not to like about being here!
Tags: N. Ireland 2006
