Our Big Adventure

POLITICAL TOUR of THE FALLS

Brian and I were interested in learning more about the “Troubles” so book a walking tour of the Falls area. Paul our guide meets us in front of Divas Tower, a tall block of flats that the British soldiers had used the top 3 floors of as an observation post during the conflict. It has commanding views of the wall and Falls Road. Paul was a IRA volunteer and had spent 10 years in jail during the eighties as a political prisoner. As he walked us through the area he pointed out to us where the first gun shots were fired, and places where friends and family had been shot and sometimes killed. Having spent his whole life here, apart from the years in jail he knew the area well. Many people that passed by called out their greetings, as we walked past the headquarters of the Sinn Fein he introduced us to the leader and other members of the party. Getting closer to the area he grew up he told us about one day when he was fourteen years old, and coming from school for lunch when a British Patrol drove past him, stopped a little way down the road, and pointed a rifle at him and then fired. Instinctively he ducked and the rubber bullet bounced harmlessly off a wall nearby. I’m sure that he wasn’t totally innocent during his teenage years. He tells of he and his mates standing watch on corners and then passing on the movements of the British troops to the IRA, and of house-wives banging garbage can lids to alert them of the same. We ask what it was like to live here through those times and he said that’s just what you did, all he knew. This man certainly wasn’t innocent during these times, the reason he was in jail was that he was caught placing a bomb in a Belfast building. We spent four hours with this Irishman, and after we parted company we felt that we have a little more insight into the ‘Troubles’ than we had previously.

posted by Brian and Julie @ 7:11:00 AM