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Ní Neart Go Cur Le Chéıle

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“There is no strength without coming together.” Cork singer and fiddler Clare Sands (web) will be in An Chultúrlann in Derry tonight (October 16th) and at the Empire in Belfast on Sunday night (18th) promoting her new album “They Tried To Bury Us” (Bandcamp).

The phrase “they tried to bury us; the didn’t know we were seeds” was briefly used in a Crossmaglen mural where it was attributed to Bobby Sands, but probably goes back to Nicaraguan poet Ernesto Cardenal in 1961.

This new mural is on the back of Madden’s bar, in Berry Street, Belfast city centre

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Copeland

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Copeland distillery in Donaghadee has partnered with Tí Mhadáın/Madden’s Bar in Belfast to produce a whiskey. The wrapped bottle on the left suggests that you take one home with you after sampling it in the bar: “Uısce beatha, níl a sharú [shárú] ann mar dheoch an doraıs. [Whiskey – there is no surpassing it as a parting drink]”

The mural is generally commercial, but a lark – symbol of republican POWs – and a quotation from Cork mayor and 1920 hunger-striker, Terence MacSwiney, are also included: “It is not those who can inflict the most but those who can suffer the most who will prevail. Ní hıad na daoıne a chneánn ach iad a fhulaıngíonn a mbeıdh an bua acu. [It is not the people who wound but those who endure who will achieve victory]”

The car door on the railings is a piece of protest art, entitled I’m Afraid Of The Dark.

Berry Street, Belfast city centre, replacing the Power’s mural. On the other walls are the Art Lundy/Kneecap mural and the Clare Sands mural.

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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The Park Of The Dead

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“The Park” is the name of the new beer garden/courtyard at the Hatfield on Ormeau Road in south Belfast. “Mex” (web) is a brand of flavoured tequila-based cream liqueurs, which had its Belfast launch in Thompson’s last week (Aug 8th) (ig). Mex’s symbol is the skull-painted face worn for the Day Of The Dead, on November 1st/2nd – see La Calavera Catrina.

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Monkey Shaving The Goat

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The drive to revive Belfast’s “Brewery Quarter” comes from Bell’s Brewery at The Deer’s Head (web) in Lower Garfield Street. Bell’s itself is a tribute to the brewery of John Bell in the late 1700s, one of many in what was then known as Bell’s Lane (Ireland On A Budget). Among the brewery’s offerings is the “Monkey Shaving The Goat”, a 4.3% ABV IPA.

Lower Garfield Street, Belfast, replacing irony’s Pearl.

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Thai Orchid

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The national flower of Thailand is the blossom of the cassia fistula or golden shower tree but the high humidity and high heat also make the country an ideal growing location for more than a thousand species of orchids, making Thailand (one of) the world’s largest exporters of orchids (Nation Thailand | ASEAN Garden). In Thailand itself, they are a mark of respect and are given, for example, to teachers on Teachers’ Day (Thailand Now).

These orchids (perhaps Phalaenopsis Baldan’s Kaleidoscope) are on the shutters of Orchid Thai Massage (web) in Great Victoria Street, Belfast city centre.

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