Relaxing in Derry

Well the past couple of days have been more relaxing than they have been adventurous, which is one of the things I was wanting from this part of my adventure, some quality relaxation.

I have been out late the past couple of nights enjoying several musical enclaves of Irish music, Peador's and Sandino's. There is no doubt that the majority of the songs being sung are about, peoples' rights, solidarity, and making things just.

The area that I have been staying in is a few blocks away from Bogside, the area of Derry (that once was a bog) where most of the catholic immigrants were forced to live. By forced I am describing a fact that for years (1830-1920) the unionists government was in control and as such had control over what properties were sold to which individuals, if you were catholic you could only buy property in Bogside and as the catholic population grew other areas such as Creggan were opened for development, but only due to severe over population.

I have always been a supporter of democracy; a "government of the people, for the people, by the people". It seems that governments, either knowingly or out of ignorance, make horrible decisions about how the people should be governed. In the case of Derry, there have been many issues, but it seems to have been primarily started due to lack of just representation within the government, in fact they governing powers ensured this fact by gerrymandering the districts.

This part of Ireland, specifically Derry and Bogside, have had generations of greater than 20% unemployment and it continues to day, with in excess of 25% unemployment of the working population. The one thing that I have found interesting is that the people from Derry know what they need; being present in the moment and enjoying it, love of family, friends, community, giving & helping, laughter & enjoyment, ... hmmmm! wealth is not in their list of needs.

I have updated the pictures in the Album "Free Derry Murals & Bloody Sunday", the link to this Album can be found below in the "Free Derry Corner" post.
Also, I did take a walk out to the city cemetery and around. I did not find any relatives of my family (that I am aware of), I needed my Aunt Joey there to help out with the genealogy. The earliest graves that I found at this cemetery were from the early 1820's when Bogside was being developed.

Derry City Cemetery

Tomorrow I will leave for Belfast. I plan to catch the 11:30am bus.