Irish Cotton? What a farse!
Trip Start
Jun 12, 2007
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38
220
Trip End
Ongoing
Derry,
United Kingdom
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
What a strange day to arrive in Derry. Today is the day that the British army relinquishes their control policing the area. I have to admit I was a little nervous going there on this day since it has such a troubled history. You can still feel the tension here when speaking to the locals or just walking around. There are a lot of things around town that remind you of the bloody history of the fight over northern ireland. It was interesting driving from the southern part of ireland to the north. I was told it's the largest unpoliced border in the world. It is difficult to imagine that this was once a border with police, checkpoints, and scary drives crossing the borders. Today, you wouldn't even know where the border is if you didn't pay attention. If you look at the pictures, the only way to know where the border is a sign that states that the speed is now in miles (as opposed to kilometers). Not good when our rental car spedometer is only in Kilometers (as if driving on the other side of the road isn't challenging enough). Then a little bit later, you'll quickly notice that the prices are no longer in euros but the even more expensive pound (the same value as the british pound but it's called the Norther Irish pound and looks different). We hear England will accept this currencly with reluctancy. The picture that looks like a bridge is actually the wall to the old city and close if not the exact place that started bloody sunday (where the kids slammed the gate in the face of the current ruler at that time).
We also visited a cotton mill today. I never realized how much I didn't know about cotton and linen. It was actually, surprisingly one of my favorite museums so far! And free! What a great combination. The one very surprising thing I learned is that all those linens that say "Made in Ireland" isn't really made in Ireland. There are no longer any cotton mills in Ireland. All they do now is import the finished linens and perhaps cut and design them. We also learned at this mill that the Waterford plant in Ireland is now only making special pieces and even that has been farmed out to other countries. So it's not just happening in America when you end up calling India for a computer problem.
