A day in Larne, many moons ago.
Larne is in the North Eastern part of the Irish mainland, and depending on how you lean politically speaking it is in the North of Ireland or Northern Ireland. However regardless of how you lean the day that I was there you could be in no doubt as to the political allegience of the greater part of the population of Larne, the sheer volume of Union Jacks was overwhelming, nearly nauseating for me, every building had a flag, even the public toilets were decorated with the Union flag.
I said it was many moons ago, it was around 1995 some time, we were on a run to Ballylumford Power Station, bringing heavy fuel oil since then the plant has been converted to gas, but it is an eyesore of monumental proportions with the huge chimneys sticking up, now at least they don’t belch out black smoke. Ballylumford Power station provides electricity for half of Norn Iron, and it was here that the mainly unionist workforce joined the strike that helped collapse the Sunningdale agreement.
I had a few hours to spare between cargo watches so I asked the surveyor what the crack was like in Larne, he told me that it was a great place and that I should go up the road and have a few pints, great I thought and I got my jacket and myself and the motorman headed for the jetty. To get to Larne from Ballylumford you have to get a boat, so the agent had provided a service from a local company, the boats were bright orange hardly surprising I thought and I put my question about Larne to the boatman, his reply was a bit different…..”Keep your head as low as a Larne Catholic”, he recognised my Southern accent, I was a bit put off but we were already on the way.
The long walk home down the jetty……
Even if I had had a colour roll in my old fangled camera, it would have looked fairly much the same as it does in black and white, especially the top picture, the nearest I have come to an Orange Lodge excluding the one on Molesworth Street in Dublin, not a lot of people think about that one anyway….. The phrase below the name “Stand fast in the faith” put the shivers up my spine and the Olympus got pocketed quickly.
The main street was protected by security barriers at either end to prevent car bomb attacks, the gates were good old fashioned farmyard cattle gates, on heavy duty steel poles….they are probably long since gone…to a farm somewhere maybe.
My shore going compadre was from Liverpool and sensed no foul atmosphere and was gagging for a pint so we hit the first hostelry available and had a pint, the wall was full of Rangers memorabilia so I kept quiet drank my beer and then we went to the next available bar. It was hard to tell what kind of a place we were going into it was dark and smoky and full of people and my round……I went up to the bar and ordered 2 pints of the black stuff, the barman nodded and went away. There were 2 lads in flat caps beside me, and I thought their accent was out of place, so I tried to tune in to see if I could hear better, and the accent was very out of place, it was my own accent Wexford clear and broad. So I turned to the 2 and asked what they were doing in a bar in Larne, and they said we could ask you the same thing, so I explained my presence and it turns out that they were from Irish Lights, up to fix the Lighthouse at the Maidens, one of the peculiarities of Ireland all the aids to Navigation such as Lighthouses and Buoys are looked after by an all Ireland body the Commisioners of Irish Lights so even in the heart of Norn Iron you got 2 Wexford lads up servicing a lighthouse. Needless to say the crack was great and a few pints were consumed, then it was off back through the streets of Larne, head low….back to the ship.
On the boat painted brightly orange I noticed that the deck was green and the wheelhouse white! Someone keeping a head low with a sense of humour.
Recent Comments