Life in the North..

Walking back from the laundry building today, I jumped at a clap of thunder in the distance.

Curious, I looked up.

Beautiful, blue skies.

I looked in the distance.

No clouds on the horizon.

Funny, I thought, as I continued my walk, that couldn't be a...

No. Couldn't be.

Even the football players on the pitch stopped for a moment to look in the direction of the noise.

As I entered my flat, I couldn't help but shake my head and smile as I remembered how high I would jump during my first weeks when I heard firecrackers go off. (In the run up to Halloween, sporadic fireworks were a nightly ritual. Still, hooligans occasionally light them from the street and shoot them toward the student accommodation buildings.)

After each burst I would jump, clutch my heart, and look around.

Was that the IRA? I would think with a slight panick. Did someone just get shot?

After awhile, however, panick gave way to annoyance. Now when I hear the shots, I just roll my eyes, and moan something about those, "blasted hooligans on the street. Well if they were my kids...."

Today's sound, it turned out, was this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4578695.stm

Even more shocking than the fact my initial suspicions were half-right (there was an actual explosion... and bomb fears).. was the fact that to find out about the explosion, I had to dig deep into the BBC's Web site. In North Carolina, I imagine, this would have been headline news.

So I started to check the Northern Ireland news page even closer.

Top headlines?

Fugitive law published.
Kids saw shooting victim be abducted.
Bank robbery suspects in court.
Arson.
Stabbing.

Secondary headlines?

SDLP home attacked.
Gun murder victim identified.
IRA chief makes appeal.
Man's death suspicious.

Sometimes, I think, Americans take their relative security for granted....