pat loughery

Sunday – Day 9

On Sunday, I joined Jack in taking Mary to the airport to fly home, and then went to Jack’s church again. The church was hosting a youth group who would help with a youth fair to serve the children in the neighborhood. I was struck by how similar Northern Irish youth group kids were to ones I know – giggly, emboldened by being around other people like them, exploring but yet tentative.

After worship, I walked through the city of Belfast for the day. I estimate that I walked more than ten miles – from the church’s neighborhood down into the city center, through the shopping areas, out to the college, and many other places. I walked along part of the Peace Walls again and saw other tourists looking at the murals. I stopped in a couple of pubs for half-pints of Guinness. I still felt like an outsider. In one pub, I was hoping to order food, but I never did figure out how to do it, and the locals’ comments about my wisdom in walking into the place with a backpack were unnerving. I finished my beer and left quickly, not knowing if they were joking or serious. Since I was on Falls Ave, I decided to play it safe.

I was loosely looking for a tattoo parlor in Belfast that I’d found on the Internet before I left. I was hoping to have a shoulder piece done of the same Celtic cross that was on the gravestone in Downpatrick, and I knew the street that the parlor was on, but not the address. I walked much of the street but never did find it. If I had found it, I would likely have done the design if I’d liked the portfolios of the available artists. I felt more connected with Celtic spirituality than I had before I had come, and the model of Patrick was something that I wanted to remember. This was something I had thought about for a few months before the trip.

During my walking, I found a lovely neighborhood in East Belfast which was very hip and postmodern. I sat in a place that felt like a martini bar, where an acoustic duo played folk and blues music. I enjoyed myself. I also found a little pub that Mark and Stewart Drennan had told me about when I asked them where I could find traditional music in town. I waited for a few hours for the show to start, and didn’t stay long. The music was all right, but the crowd was quite touristy. I wasn’t really in the mood for tourist chat. I took a cab back to the Drennans’ home.

Monday – Day 10

On Monday, I flew home from Belfast airport through Newark and back to Seattle. A highlight of the flight home was reading Ray Simpson’s book, “A Pilgrim Way”, which focused on Community of Aidan and Hilda and monastic models. Another was flying over Greenland, whose ice was far more mountainous than I had imagined. I always thought of Greenland as a flat ice field. It was beautiful.