Greetings, true believers! I am posting this blogosphere entry from my Uncle Charlie's house in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It's about nine o'clock in the morning here, which would make it approximately 1066 A.D. back in the States.

My flight departed from Newark Airport at around ten o'clock at night local time on Saturday - after a delay of about an hour, of course. Being a red-eye flight, I hoped I'd be able to get some sleep since it would be around 8:30 A.M. Sunday when we landed in Belfast - but oh, how mistaken I was. For one thing, my seat was directly on the wing of the plane, which meant I had the rumbling of the engine to keep me company all night, even over the sound of my iPod. The legroom was practically non-existent (I was pretty envious of those bastards in first class when I got up to use the bathroom). Sooooo I think I got roughly an hour of sleep at most. After we landed, customs took about two seconds to get through the "WE WILL ASSUME AUTOMATICALLY THAT YOU ARE A TERRORIST/DRUG MULE/SCIENTOLOGIST AND FUCK YOU ACCORDINGLY" nature of the U.S. Customs (For some reason the " and @ are switched on U.K. keyboards...) My Uncle Charlie was waiting at the airport for me, and after a short drive to his house in West Belfast, I promptly fell asleep around ten o'clock in the morning local time. For ten hours.

So, Sunday was pretty much shot. But I woke up early the next morning and we took a drive around the city to all the different neighborhoods, Catholic and Protestant, with murals on nearly every block commemorating this-and-this Republican hunger striker or that-and-that Loyalist volunteer. (Republicans want a re-joining of the entire island of Ireland and are generally Catholic, Loyalists are generally Protestant and wish Northern Ireland to remain under the yoke of the U.K.) Belfast is a nice city, much larger than I thought, with sad reminders everywhere of the violence in its past. It's quite safe nowadays, and rebuilding steadily, but sections are still decayed and decrepit.

After lunch we went to the Ulster Folk Museum, where they've set up a miniature village of authentic and replica 17-20th century buildings from around Northern Ireland - thatched hut houses, mills, churches, you name it. Unforunately my camera batteries crapped out almost immediately so I only got a couple pics, and on top of that we arrived about an hour before closing. Ah well. I had dinner with a few of the family, Uncle Charlie, my cousin Aine and her boyfriend Patrick, my cousin Conor and his wife Kate and their children Rebecca and Charlie (quite the characters, they).

So now I await the arrival of my Auntie Ann - more family visits and uncertain plans I guess until I officially set off on Thursday.

I really don't know what to do with myself waking up so early in the morning. It's... just... not... natural!

kbye