I agree ...."There is more to N.Ireland than Belfast and there is more to Belfast than small areas that dominate the news to give the world the sick view of N.Ireland most want to report."

I haven't been shot at or seen a bomb go off either.... but unfortunately that is the sort of news that gets broadcast to the rest of the world and thats what they think it is all like..... hence the questions.....

I tell them I never saw any of that and that I was probably safer there too, less street crime, home invasions etc.....

what really annoys me most is the way travel shows over here (and I assume elsewhere) cover it too... any time they show Northern Ireland all you get to see is black taxi rides to see murals.......... and heavily barricaded police stations... none of the scenery......

there is an Irish/Australian comedian Jimeoin (from Portstewart) who did a wonderful show to try to reset the balance he did a "tea-towel tour of Northern Ireland", (sort of like billy connolly's world tour of Scotland)...... and visited the places you usually find depicted on tea towels, like Dunluce, Giants Causeway, Carrickfergus, the Mournes, the scenery was wonderful, the people couldn't have been more friendly...... and any Ozzies I spoke to who had seen it were genuinely surprised, because they had never got to see the normal day to day stuff, and the real people before.......


slainte

alison