Belfast Riots

I just want to say thank you to all my friends who have asked if I am OK? If you live in N Ireland, you know it is awful, unnecessary, and killing all the work done to bring peace to this beautiful part of the world. If you don't live here which is most of my friends, the media allows you to focus on the very worst.

It is horrible and spreading, but I live outside of Belfast about 20 miles from the centre and to date about 7 miles from the closest trouble. On Friday when I flew home from London my taxi driver had been affected getting to me and the drive home was very hairy. I was once in my own car in a riot and that was one of the worst times of my life and spent an hour on the phone to a friend who just talked rubbish to me to get me through it.

I don't want to belittle the problem, it is not what we want, it is affecting the economy, no one wants to go shopping in town, more than half of the cruise ships planned to stop in Belfast have cancelled, and I am sure we have lost our place in the top 10 places in the UK to visit. BUT it is not the whole story, N Ireland is beautiful, I love it and normally I am proud to stay I live her.

But thank you all for caring, I do appreciate the messages and emails - I love you all