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On Thu, 11 Nov 2010 19:45:13 +0000, ~BD~ wrote:

> Aardvark wrote:
>> On Thu, 11 Nov 2010 19:07:44 +0000, ~BD~ wrote:
>>
>>> Aardvark wrote:
>>>> On Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:43:08 +0000, ~BD~ wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Aardvark wrote:
>>>>>> On Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:35:07 +0000, ~BD~ wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I would like to know why you have been afraid to step onto Irish
>>>>>>> soil
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Who said that? I certainly didn't, and therefore there's no
>>>>>> question to answer nor explanation required.
>>>>>
>>>>> You felt the British were your enemy when you lived in Belfast -
>>>>
>>>> Not necessarily, although they did operate in support of those who
>>>> considered me *their* enemy.
>>>
>>> Surely the British Army were supporting the police
>>
>> All the more reason to mistrust them.
>
> I've always trusted the police. They only took me to court once when a
> youth!
>

I never trusted the RUC.

>>> - trying to keep
>>> Catholics and Protestants apart.
>>
>> Is that why they drove around the Lower Falls Road in 1969 in armoured
>> cars using Browning .30 machine guns mounted on top to shoot up houses
>> at random?
>
> I expect the guys would rather have been at home with their loved ones!
>

I wasn't referring to the British Army, I was referring to the RUC (or,
more specifically, the 'B' Special Constabulary of the RUC).

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Ulster_Special_Constabulary#1969_Riots_deployment>

>>> Do you perceive that they favoured one side more than the other?
>>>
>>>
>> You don't know much about N.I. history in general, or the R.U.C. in
>> particular, do you? Or worse- the 'B' Specials. Google is your friend.
>
> NI has never really been of any concern to me.

Thus defeating one of the aims of IRA bombing campaigns on the mainland-
to encourage to ask themselves why these people were doing such things on
their doorstep, and research the answer for themselves, as a result they
would find themselves in sympathy with the Nationalist population of NI
and encourage their government to pull out of the province.

I always thought that was a sto0pid idea, knowing from an early age that
many people prefer to wallow in ignorance and prejudice rather than
become educated.

> Except when my son was
> serving over there as a helicopter pilot - two tours in fact. An
> opportunity to save some money, but no life for a young man.
>

I doubt that old men could have done it.

>>>>> yet you
>>>>> came to the mainland to raise your children under a more secure
>>>>> mantle.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> No, I didn't. I came to England for reasons totally disconnected with
>>>> the raising of children, under a secure mantle or otherwise.
>>>
>>> <shrug> If you don't say, I'll never know.
>>
>> That's right, but you may rest assured that what I wrote above is the
>> truth.
>
> I don't doubt what you say when you say it - but you have never AFAICR
> said why you couldn't succeed in life in your homeland.

LOL. There you go, making assumptions.

> Maybe you refer
> to becoming a Marine Engineer - but if so, did you have to come to
> England to achieve that ambition? I've no idea.

There is (or was, in my day) one merchant naval nautical college in NI.
It trains officer cadets on the navigation side of things only. There
were, at the time, perhaps half a dozen colleges on the mainland where
engineering cadets were trained. My older brother went to Stowe Nautical
College in Glasgow (sponsored by J. & J Denholm, a ship management
company), my younger brother to Riverside College in Liverpool (sponsored
by P & O- you know who they are), I went to Highbury Technical College in
Portsmouth (sponsored by BP Tankers- you might have heard of them).

>>
>>> You have demonstrated that
>>> you've not preferred to be in Northern Ireland more than in England -
>>
>> Nothing of the kind. I am where I am. That's all there is.
>>
>> When I last left N.I., I had no intention of not returning. It just
>> turned out that way. I might go back there someday, I might not.
>>
>>> simply by still being here. Your kids are ENGLISH aren't they?<grin>
>>
>> Nope. Scousers. Half-Irish at that.
>
> It's hard to imagine anything worse!
>

From here, I can't think of anything better. Except, of course, 100%
Irish.

>>>>> How 'brave' is that?
>>>>
>>>> Neither brave nor cowardly. My leaving Norn Iron had nothing to do
>>>> with events taking place there at the time.
>>>
>>> If you say so.
>>
>> I say so.
>>
>>> I have no idea.
>>
>> What's new?
>
> You are simply not nice.
>

'Course I am.

>>>>> Something just doesn't quite ring true.
>>>>
>>>> LOL. Another one of your 'hinky' feelings?
>>>
>>> Not at all.
>>
>> So why hint that I may be, to some extent, mendacious?
>
> I just wanted to chat. Seems to have worked!
>

Ain't no chat. Just me supplying you with facts to assuage your 'hinky'
feelings. I wasn't originally going to write this reply, just to let you
stew in your own hinkyness juices..

>>> I have no conflict with you, AFAICT!
>>
>> I've had enough conflict in my life, thanks.
>
> That really is quite sad.

No. It is what it is. I'm quite content with where my life is at present,
and were it not for what went before- the sum of my experiences, if you
will- I might not be in this contented place.

Not sad.



--
"En un lugar de la Mancha, de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme,
no hace mucho tiempo que vivÃ*a un hidalgo de los de lanza en
astillero, adarga antigua, rocÃ*n flaco y galgo corredor."
-Cervantes, 'Don Quixote'

On Fri, 12 Nov 2010 20:38:27 +0000, ~BD~ wrote:

> It sounded as if you had a painful struggle to get there though -

No more painful than that of many others. Less painful than that of
multitudes.

> but
> I'm pleased you are not now sad.

I don't do sad.



--
"En un lugar de la Mancha, de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme,
no hace mucho tiempo que vivÃ*a un hidalgo de los de lanza en
astillero, adarga antigua, rocÃ*n flaco y galgo corredor."
-Cervantes, 'Don Quixote'