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Lindy McDowell: Belfast offers a dirty weekend with a difference
Saturday, 15 August 2009
Things that have changed in Northern Ireland since last time the Tall Ships were here.
Back then the ships’ crew members stood out from the crowd when you saw them in Royal Avenue.
Back then we didn’t get a lot of visitors.
In 1991 you could still identify who was a tourist. In 2009 we’re not quite truly cosmopolitan in Belfast. But there are encouraging signs that we’re getting there.
In 1991 some of the poor Russian sailors sold parts of their |uniform — jackets, hats, badges — for extra money .
These days we don’t usually put the words Russian and poor in the same sentence. These days your average oligarch could easily buy Belfast.
There weren’t as many ships either. But because we’d been starved of international excitement it seemed like the event was every bit as spectacular.
One thing that hasn’t changed.
Belfast for all its flash new shopping options, its world class hotels, its restored buildings and impressive new architecture is still a dirty tip.
Maybe by the next time the ships come back we’ll have solved the still seemingly insurmountable problem of persuading people not to treat the city streets as a rubbish tip.
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Quite agree. Was at the tall ships on Sunday and it seemed as though the place was not cleaned up from the night before. I had to pick my way around half eaten burgers, discarded plastic bottles and loads of paper. Seems like the people of Belfast are as dirty as ever. What a lovely picture for our international visitors.
Posted by Mike | 16.08.09, 16:44 GMT
Absolutely right Lindy! The only way to teach them is to spot fine them. Fine them until they learn that litter bugging costs money in the same way that speeding or using your mobile while driving does.
Put it in the BINS people - you wouldn't throw it on your floor, so why do it outside?
Posted by Centaur | 15.08.09, 14:33 GMT
Wise up Lindy. I'm sick of everyone putting Belfast down. Did you go to the Tall Ships? Great event for the country and this is the best you can say? I don't hear you talking about Belfast being a dirty tip and made even dirtier during the Twelfth or 'Orangefest' as we are being brainwashed into calling it. You know - when Orange Order supporters burn stacks of tyres, pollute the environment, pee in the streets and have the roads covered in rubbish and bottles after parades. You don't mention Belfast being a dirty tip then - do you Lindy? Do you? Perhaps this is the best you can up with because Tall Ships is an event for all.
Posted by Jen White | 15.08.09, 11:40 GMT