I don’t know what you’re all complaining about anyway, I holidayed in Northern Ireland in the heights of the troubles as a kid and have amongst many memories the following. A large car bomb exploding around the corner from Belfast train station just as we were coming out and the memory of a black cab pulling over as the cabbie had seen a family with suitcases and just shouted get in and my memory is of my dad throwing us in the cab followed by the suitcases and then him and my mum jumping in to form what can only be described as a huge game of pile on with children and suitcases to brake my parents fall. Fair play to the cabbie though, he took us all the way to the bus station so we could catch the bus to enniskillen and wouldn’t take a penny as his only thought was rescuing us from an unknown unfolding incident. There was the time that the IRA burned my grandparents cottage to the ground because of my family’s connections to the RUC and UDR. There was the time we were driving across the mountains of morne and stopped by 4 blokes in balaclavas with guns conducting a roadside check, something the IRA did from time to time as a political point because the British army did the same. Nice guys, gave us kids sweets and wanted to know which football team we supported before sending us on our way wishing us a nice day. Happy days.
