hi bridgette
thank you for your reply. what follows is my own thoughts on life here.
the country is divided into catholic and prodestant.
and unionist = proud british citizen
and loyalist = serious british citizen willing to kill catholics and deal drugs to remain british
and nationalist = proud wouldbe irishman
and republican = serious irish wouldbe citizen willing to kill prodestants and deal drugs
to gain irish free state.
in the cities this means people live in uneasy peace at the points where their
government slums meet.
(there is very little trouble among educated people living in thier own homes)
these "peace lines" are the centre for trouble.
if you drive near them at night (this is unavoidable if you want to travel) you will
risk attacks.
my car was attacked in june by prodestants i had a gun pointed at me and a concrete
paving slab put through my window.. allthough i live in a prodestant housing estate!!!!
if i then drive into a catholic estate, i can be attacked again.
the current trouble where prodestant adults throw bottles at children is a good example
of our sick country.
picture a tiny enclave with prods living in it.
imagine thier neighbour who outnumbers them 10 to one.
they attack them night after night FOR YEARS.
then imagine the old people not being allowed down the road to collect thier pensions because
the catholic neighbours wish to drive them out.
this same thing happens reversed in lots of other places every night too!
finally imagine convicted IRA REBUBLICAN killers taking OTHER PEOPLES children to school just to walk
through your neighbourhood SOLEY TO INTIIDATE YOU.
now you get the situation we have. Grown men throwing bottles at the men and children
on the way to school.
this is life in my country.
ps i live in a prodestant area so am biased. in other places the opposite is happening. the
only strange thing is that this happens at a time when Ira men are in custady for training
Columbian drug dealers who are happy to deal thier drugs (which they pay the IRA with)
to all you yanks.
hope this helps.
regards
josephus