Pamela Louderback, Day 40

December has arrived!  And with that, the rent is due!  So, off to Elms Village down Malone Road for what usually is a twenty minute walk.  However, given the snow covered ice virtually covering 9/10's of the sidewalk, it took a considerably longer amount of time to 'baby-step' my way to my destination.  And, as luck would have it, I was pretty much out of any groceries save a couple of limp carrots and a can of tuna.  Since I was already out braving the weather to pay my rent, I decided to frequent the Tesco on the south side of town.  It's a bit larger and has a better selection than the Tesco in my area.  The number of people, many elderly, skating and slipping across the icy sidewalks with Tesco bags in tow amazed me!  Of course, everyone I passed was especially friendly, probably because we were all flailing our arms about to keep balance, trying to find that one small patch of sidewalk free of ice to help us along our way.  The trip back to the apartment was a bit easier in that I had several bags of groceries in each hand which provided a bit more balance. 

I spent the remainder of the day reading and researching the topics that I would be judging for the Debating Matters competition tomorrow.  I was to take part in judging all three debates since one of the judges was unable to attend due to the weather.  The first debate was 'Genetic screening  of embryos should be celebrated, not feared', the second  was 'Extremist religious and political groups should be banned from university campuses'.  And the final was 'We should not expect our online activities to remain private'. 

I had to also familiarize myself with the structure and timing of the debate as it differs than that usually found in debates and in Parliament.  For anyone interested in learning more about this competition, please visit   http://www.debatingmatters.com/events/qr/belfast_2010_11/

After much hard work to prepare for the debate, I decided to take in a little local music and interview one of the St. Mary's staff (Colm Mac Aindreasa) regarding Irish culture and language so I headed down to Kelly's Cellars -- one of his favorite hangouts.  Seems Colm does a bit of webpage maintenance for the pub and is a regular on most 'local musicians' nights.  It's the oldest  licensed premises in Belfast --and on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, local musicians play traditional music sessions.  Bands play the rest of the evenings, but they're not local traditional music sessions.  The pub was built in 1720 and is one of the oldest in the area. 

Below are some photos of the musicians and me.  Note the saying on the wall behind me translates '"When the drink is in, the sense is out".  There was a young man who fit this description, named Sean, who was quite the culchie (i.e., redneck)  -- a term sometimes used to describe a person from rural Ireland.  It usually has a bit of a pejorative meaning, and is used by urban folk to describe anybody who comes from outside an urban area. Generally the term is more humorous than abusive in rural areas, as opposed to the more offensive term "muck-savage".   Poor Sean was sopping drunk, making quite a fool and nuisance of himself and at the end of the conversation shared that he was with his boss (for the first time ever in a social event outside of work).  I would love to see how it went for Sean at work the next morning. 

 Local musicians playing a traditional music session at Kelly's Cellars.  The acoustic guitar player brought a quicker tempo to the music making it livelier.  He's also the vocalist and is quite exceptional.

 Better shot of musicians.  Note most of the musicians were quite youg.  The girl on the right (until recently) had to be chaperoned to the sessions because she was under age. 

 The musician on the left was playing uilleann pipes (Irish bagpipe)

 Photos and mementos hanging over the bar entrance to kitchen area

 Coat of arms painted above one of the entrances to the bar area

Colm Mac Aindreasa - IT staff at St. Mary's University College, webpage designer for Kelly's Cellars.  His parents were one of the first in the area to form an Irish Immersion school. 

Note the saying on the wall behind me translates '"When the drink is in, the sense is out"