I’md never been to Northern Ireland until last week. I found it fascinating to visit a country so synonymous with Troubles, whose stereotype is of violence and unrest, whose headline grabbers have spent the last decades howling and fighting and killing and dying. And what did I find? A nice, pleasant, affluent little corner of Europe, none too different from where I grew up, not too different from my memories of a fun weekend I once had in Dublin.
Pretty, welcoming, friendly: I enjoyed NI. Worth killing and dying for? It’s complicated and sensitive, but if I was to be born again and I had to choose between growing up with all that Northern Ireland has and had, or growing up with all that Sudan has (another divided and troubled land), I know where I’md plump for.
All of which I had not sat down to write when I decided to share with you the odyssey photography site. But it’s a wild and wonderful world out there, and I wanted to say that this site is provocative and beautiful. I suppose that it prompted me to ponder about the gradation of people’s discomfort and injustice shows that well! Have a look here.