Larne: some fun; some sad and strange sights too.

We spent today with Diana, Richard's sister, before heading off to our holiday house, a little way up the coast, this evening.

There was a summer fair in Larne, on a large sports field near the leisure centre. We popped in because a friend of Diana's granddaughters was one of the singers performing there.And that was a real pleasure to see and hear.

Other aspects were such a strange mixture. On the plus side, there were some lovely children's entertainments - see the jugglers in one  of the extras. Anyone who can juggle firesticks gets my applause; doing that on a unicycle is an added bonus.  It all reminded me of similar summer shows that I remember from childhood.

The sad part: there was a small, roped-off enclosure in which were imprisoned some very beautiful birds of prey. The main photo shows one; there's another in the extras.  I know that sometimes the birds used at shows like this are rescue birds, who are in captivity because of injuries or other difficulties. But nothing could excuse confining these fabulous birds in a situation of extreme stress: sunshine and no shade; little space; all the pressures associated with noise and crowds.  Sometimes one of them would jump off its perch and flap desperately, which provoked laughs from some quarters. Mostly, however, the humans nearby were fairly indifferent to the whole thing, and no one was making any effort to offer information about the birds. In some ways the indifference was almost worse than the laughter.

The final strange sight: among various vehicles on show was a line of military jeeps, including a mock checkpoint. In Northern Ireland's history, real-life army checkpoints still loom large in living memory for many people. Sometimes people were shot and killed at those checkpoints. "Conflict becomes heritage", Richard commented. Larne is a predominantly Unionist area; I can't imagine that this particular display would have been possible in somewhere with a larger Republican community.