Lisburn Road Walk

20 Windsor Avenue, Belfast

I had a very early appointment at Belfast City Hospital yesterday morning - at eight-thirty - which necessitated another visit to the same unit precisely three hours afterwards.

I had some time to kill.

So wearing the old British Warm overcoat, the woollen scarf, and gloves, I decided to walk up the Lisburn Road.

I haven't walked along this busy arterial route for about eleven years.

I seem to recall there having been more charity shops. There are still several.

I stopped to have a look at old Ulsterville Presbyterian Church, at number 139, which has been transformed into a restaurant called Saphyre.

I walked as far as Drumglass Park, former seat of the Musgrave Baronets.

20, Windsor Avenue (top), was once the home of Thomas Andrews, designer of RMS Titanic.

This is now the headquarters of the Irish Football Association.

Most of these large villas had been converted into flats by the 1970s.

Windsor Park rang a bell (not the soccer grounds!). I recalled an old pal who is now incarcerated - if that is the word -  in a nursing home there.

Accordingly, I paid him a visit for about an hour. They were kind enough to offer me a cup of tea.

It's a pleasant enough place. It even has BT Openzone; though I was concerned to see my friend bedridden.

I had to keep an eye on the time, so closer to eleven o'clock I bade him Farewell and walked back to the hospital.