 |
| College Gardens, Belfast (Timothy Ferres, 2021) |
I motored over to Belfast's University Quarter in a sunny February day in 2017.
There were spaces on Elmwood Avenue, so I parked, ambled towards Lisburn Road and turned in to College Gardens, a street which runs from 95 University Road to Lisburn Road.
One entire side of College Gardens comprises Methodist College or "Methody"; the opposite side, terraced town-houses and flats.
I was curious to see number six, because it used to be the home of Field Marshal Sir John Dill's father.
John Dill was a branch manager in the Ulster Bank. (The bank, today, still has a branch on the University Road side of the 1970s block).
It transpires that the said house is long gone and numbers 1 to 6 are now a two-storey block, viz. Queen's University's old Common Room.
The College Gardens side of this block - the ground floor - is now the premises of Deane's at Queen's restaurant.
 |
| 4-7, College Gardens, Belfast, 1896 (Image: Northern Ireland Historical Photographical Society) |
I suppose the original terrace was demolished in the early seventies to make way for the more prosaic block we have today.
Thence I strolled over to the Ulster Museum, where there was an informal talk taking place about the museum's two paintings of "Spring" and "Winter" by Pieter Brueghel the Younger.
Thereafter I continued my amble, along University Road and past Camden Street, where a friendly cat basked in the sunshine.
Anybody who knows me will know that I never pass a cat without greeting it, and this large ginger number was no exception.
Two young women accosted me and inquired if I knew the owner of Ginger (no).
They were concerned that Ginger was alone, taking the benefit of the sun.
One of them spotted that Ginger had a collar with name-tag and phoned the number.
False Alarm!
Ginger was, it would seem, accustomed to spending some time on Camden Street.
First published in February, 2017.
2 comments :
Tim,
Ginger was no doubt playing Cat Chess, a popular feline activity explained by the late and much lamented Terry Pratchett and Gray Jolliffe in their book The Unadulterated Cat....
"Cat Chess
This needs, as the playing area, something the size of a small village. Up a dozen cats can take part. Each cat selects a vantage point - a roof, the coal house wall, a strategic corner or in quiet villages, the middle of the road - and sits there. You think it's just found a nice spot to sun itself until you realise that each cat can see the other cats. Moves are made in a sort of high-speed slink with the belly almost touching the ground. The actual rules are a little unclear to humans, but it would seem that the object of the game is to see every other cat while remaining unseen yourself. This is just speculation, however, and it may well be that the real game is going on at some mystically higher level unobtained by normal human minds, as in cricket."
Points, it seems, are scored for seeing another cat while not being seen to see them. Perhaps you blew Ginger's cover by speaking to him!
Best wishes.
Stroan Ranger, Oh, the joy of being accosted by a cat. Dear Bastet Cat still gazes at me when I'm reclining on the chaise longue.
Post a Comment