Belfast carnival 2008

Today was also the occasion of the Belfast Carnival to welcome the new Lord Mayor - it used to be known as the Lord Mayor's Show - and the streets were packed with photographers (they can't all have been press so I assume there were a few bloggers there as well as freelance).
I just love this shot of the very determined photographer and the very laid back assistant.

A slight case of overkill perhaps

Tonight I had the misfortune to be on a bus proceeding along Clifton Street to Antrim Road (and thus home) while an Orange parade was proceeding along Clifton Street to York Street (and thus effectively bringing the city centre to a standstill). I couldn't help noticing that there were possibly more police and land rovers in the vicinity of north Belfast monitoring this one small parade than were deployed along the whole route of George W Bush's recent cavalcade. It would be interesting to see how much of the tax payers money was wasted tonight so that these eejits can exercise their right to march along the Queen's highway and thus preserve what they see as a sacred and glorious tradition.

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Here is something interesting I have just come across....

The Qualifications of an Orangeman

"An Orangeman should have a sincere love and veneration for his Heavenly Father; a humble and steadfast faith in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, believing in Him as the only Mediator between God and man. He should cultivate truth and justice, brotherly kindness and charity, devotion and piety, concord and unity, and obedience to the laws; his deportment should be gentle and compassionate, kind and courteous; he should seek the society of the virtuous, and avoid that of the evil; he should honour and diligently study the Holy Scriptures and make them the rule of his faith and practice; and sincerely desire and endeavour to propagate its doctrines and precepts; he should strenuously oppose the fatal errors and doctrines of the Church of Rome, and scrupulously avoid countenancing (by his presence or otherwise) any act or ceremony of Popish worship; he should by all lawful means, resist the ascendancy of that Church, its encroachments, and the extension of its power, ever abstaining from all uncharitable words, actions, or sentiments, towards his Roman Catholic brethren; he should remember to keep holy the Sabbath day, and attend the public worship of God, and diligently train up his offspring, and all under his control, in the fear of God, and in the Protestant faith; he should never take the name of God in vain, but abstain from all cursing and profane language, and use every opportunity of discouraging these, and all other sinful practices, in others; his conduct should be guided by wisdom and prudence, and marked by honesty, temperance, and sobriety; the glory of God and the welfare of man, the honour of his Sovereign, and the good of his country, should be the motive of his actions."

Flower Power

Another photo taken from the bus - spotted these flowers growing from the base of a set of traffic lights near the art college. Shows just how resilient they can be, neither bricks, mortar nor chewing gum can keep them down.

A man and a woman

On the way home, on the bus tonight, I spotted a couple of unusual looking works of art in our local art college. On closer inspection they appear to be a male and female figure. The male figure, as far as I can tell, is made of metal rods giving the appearance of a shadow on the window while the female figure, though looking complete from a distance, when viewed close-up is only a partial figure made from some type of bubble material. Looks to me like they are having a secret liaison or triste in a vacant office.

MOVIEOKE comes to Belfast

It certainly looks like pop-corn but I will have to investigate further. It may just be a very clever 3D photo or polystyrene beads made up to look like pop-corn but, either way, it's an eye-catching advert.

Read about the event here: and see some of the movies here: (BUT I warn you, some of them are dire)