The well known saying 'A picture is worth a thousand words'
came to mind when I saw the image shown in the attached photo. The office of our
local DUP MLA is at the top end of the town and is looking all neat and well
kept, decorated with references to the Queen's jubilee etc. However, the office
is at one end of a block of shops, all of which are now vacant with the recent
closure of a furnishings shop following on from the demise of the well known
company, McAuley Kitchens.
It seems to be a bit of a metaphor for modern day NI; the
apparatchiks in Stormont are doing well whilst the rest of us are scraping along
just about making ends meet and hoping the recession doesn't destroy all we have
worked for over the years.
All our MLA's could do with making a bit more of an effort to bring a bit of life to the town. Our local councillors need to get their act together. If in fact the street above has been derelict for a long time then they need to be ashamed of themselves and start putting some pressure on the landlords to develop the site.
Maybe it's time for some imaginative suggestions??
1 comment:
Hi Mortimer.....been a while since I looked at your blog and like the 'new' format a lot.
I took two Leeds friends over to Co. Antrim for 2 weeks last summer and although the weather was very kind and the countryside showed itself off brilliantly, most of the small towns we passed through did not seem to have changed much in the 40 years since I lived there. And not in a good way.
An understandable lack of investment in the years since 1970 should have ended a long time ago but that seems to have remained in the last decade. Ballymoney seemed lifeless and many parts were like a ghost town and small pockets of new developments were few and far between. Given the current recession everywhere, I can't imagine business life there improving anytime soon and I'd imagine the next generation, the future lifeblood of the town, will continue to leave to find a life elsewhere.
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