Chilli Beef and Red Wine!

Friday night and the January diet has caused enough suffering. It's time to walk up the town and treat ourselves. Mollys is a restaurant bar located about halfway up main street in Ballymoney. My ususal 'chilli beef' is pure comfort food. Washed down with a nice fruity Chilean red; just the business...

If you are in town and fancy trying it, give them a ring on 028 276 62189, although a reservation (unless for a large group) is not really necessary as the very friendly staff will do their best to get you sorted.

Sign of the Times?

The redeveloped building site at the bottom of the main street in Ballymoney got a new tennant at the end of last year, a Pawn Broker! I wonder how many people in the cold light of post holiday January will be forced to seek help by pawning possessions to help get by financially?

Public Inconveniences?

On a recent walk along the sea front at Portrush I noticed this sign...

The people in Portrush must have excellent self control..

Don't Forget You're Alive!!

Good advice from the late, great Joe Strummer (allegedly) courtesy of some graffiti scribbler on the sea front at Portrush. The quotation in the background is of the more traditional variety invoking people to plan for the afterlife..
It may be better if we all tried to make this life a bit better for everyone in 'our wee country'.  So take Joe at his word.. enjoy life...

Pattons partially completed Building

Work on this new build on the Coleraine Road at the top of the town has not progressed since collapse of the Patton Group. This building is replacing a few houses which sat derelict for some time and were a bit of a n eyesore. It is very unfortunate that having reached this stage the build has stopped. Hopefully the receivers or whoever now has responsibility for this site will arrange for the build to complete. At the very least if the building is made weather tight it can be finished out at a later date...

Window Display Excellence.

A local charity shop....( Compassion Ministries Charity Shop ) should be commended for an impressive piece of window dressing; a Spanish flamenco style dress created totally in folded paper.
Compassion Ministries is a non-profit registered charity run by staff and volunteers from Green Pastures, the peoples church in Galgorm, including “Transform” community education programme and Freedom House.

Quality Local Product

This card was received recently and shows a very nice picture of the hotel mentioned and the rather splendid conservatory attached to it. Turns out the conservatory is designed and produced by Hampton Conservatories, based on the Ballybogey road which runs between Ballymoney and Portrush. These conservatories and orangeries are arguably among the finest handcrafted examples being produced in the UK or Ireland today. A look at their web site shows an outstanding catalogue of stylish designs and peerless craftsmanship

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The hotel itself looks like an ideal base to explore the south west of Ireland. Have a look here.

Tribute or 'Trip Hazard' ?

Now, I don't want to sound picky or churlish, but what the heck is this meant to be?? After sixty dedicated years service from Her Majesty the Queen to the country and the commonwealth, you would have thought Ballymoney might have had a little more imagination when it came to commemorating the jubilee.
The planting of oak trees is a welcome and long lasting tribute which will benefit generations of park users but how many people will walk past this little heap of stones and wonder why the council bothered. It is, to be fair, just opposite a seat where people can presumably rest a while and contemplate the wonderful service of the Queen to the nation. The problem is it is such an insignificant little heap that in many ways it is nearly an insult. Maybe it is Sinn Fein's contribution to the jubilee and they just haven't owned up to it!
In a town like Ballymoney, coming down with builders and tradesmen of all descriptions, and not all employed due to the recession, you would have thought the council could have a least erected a cairn of sensible proportions. How hard would it be to collect up a small load of rocks and  build something relatively substantial instead of this 'trip hazard'.

Ellie Bee's

What must be the most compact and bijou coffee shop in Ballymoney has opened at the top of the town just opposite the town hall, in what was formerly a gift shop. This very small space has a couple of tables and hit the spot on a cold November night.

Hopefully the townfolk and visitors will support this new venture. Ideal for grabbing a quick coffee to go.....

Christmas Lights and a new name in town..

The Christmas lights in Ballymoney were switched on Thursday evening. A good crowd braved the arctic weather to come out and support. The shops in the town all had 20% special discount for the day and seemed to be getting good footfall. Hopefully it translated into a bit of business as most of the shops had made an effort to make their windows look nice and bright.
 

From out of the darkness a new name on the high street, Danske Bank. It is sad that a long standing bank like the Northern has gone but I suppose life moves on and nothing stays the same forever. Hopefully the new name will engender a bit of optimism and help us move towards a better ecomomic situation in the coming year.