Whenever I step into my car I turn the radio on and listen to BBC Radio Ulster. The only time I change station is when they’re speaking in Irish – that’s no fun. Apart from that, I think it’s a great way of understanding a bit more about Belfast and Northern Ireland. They talk about celebrities I’ve never heard of in my life, about difficulties with parking in towns with funny names, of whose birthday it is that day, stuff that’s going on in town, shows, museums, roadworks. It’s nice. I’ve learned a lot already.

Yesterday evening N decided to take me to the new place in Belmont Road, Ace. Apparently these are the same owners as Il Pirata, so the decor and tapas-style food made them feel very similar. I had a (virgin) Chunky Monkey shake, The Works Burger and the Spiced Aubergine Chips, everything very good! N had some wine, Pita Bread and Hummus, and Crayfish with Avocado Taco. I didn’t try the taco, but the other stuff was all right (mine was better). Total bill was about £26. I think it can get a bit busy at lunch time, but I’d recommend it if anyone else is looking for somewhere to grab a bite.

Even though my knowledge of Belfast geography has been improving in the past few months, I still find it a challenge to drive to nearly anywhere in or around town. N has been very patient with me: if I have an appointment somewhere that I will have to drive to on my own, he’ll teach me how to get there once or twice beforehand, sitting next to me in the car while I drive. But this weekend I’ve noticed a problem with this setup: I only know how to get to places from my house.
The other day I had to go to three different places in one day, all of which I knew how to get to, from home. So I had to go back home twice, which probably added about 30 or 40 mins of useless driving around to my day. No fun. I think the next step is to either get a TomTom, or to just try to make more drivable connections between places.

It’s been over 3 months since I moved to Northern Ireland, so now I can finally register on the electoral roll. I had never come across this rule while I was living in London, but hey, I’m glad the wait is over.

After I bought my car, the salesman told me customer services were going to call me some time in the near future to know whether I was satisfied with how the purchase process had gone. The only thing he asked from me was to, instead of using expressions such as “aye, dead on”, just say “I am very satisfied with the process”. Apparently the headquarters are not familiar with Northern Irish slang and rate “aye, dead on” as “bad”.

Got my Northern Irish medical card and healthcare number in the post today, I can get sick now!

I (we) have a new car! Now I don’t have to worry the car doesn’t have working breaks I’ve finally started driving on the wrong side of the road (i.e., left). However, a far bigger concern than keeping on the left was remembering there was more car to the left of me rather than to the right. A good tip from N: don’t focus on the left edge of the car (as I would were I driving in Portugal), focus on the right edge of the car, which is now the driver’s side.

I still don’t understand what I’m actually doing when I’m driving from East to North Belfast on the motorway, but some of the usual routes do make a tiny little bit more sense now.

When I moved from the Algarve to London I was told the weather would be bad. It was a good prediction. I was expecting the weather in Belfast to be even worse. Now I’m told it’s snowing in London. Where’s my snow? I feel cheated.

Since I moved to Belfast, I’ve already had to leave twice: one time I went to London, on my own, for work and I was gone for 2 nights; the other time I went to Nottingham, with N, for a conference and we were gone for 3 nights.

When I was living in London, whenever I had to go away, I would start missing the city very soon after I left. But that’s what I missed: London. These last few times I had to travel I missed something different: my home. Even when N was with me. I still don’t feel any strong attachment to Belfast, the city, but there’s definitely something here now that I want to come back to.

In the next 5 weeks, I have to travel away from home 3 times, on my own, and even though I always look forward to seeing my friends and colleagues, I’m not looking forward to missing home.

There’s a nice restaurant in Ballyhackamore, walking distance from my house, that I think is worth paying a visit to. They make nice Italian-type food in form of tapas. The service is friendly and super-quick, and the prices are pretty decent. It’s a nice place to go to when I need some fresh air and to stretch my legs from staying home all day, and to eat something other than left-overs for lunch. They have a Twitter account.