Went to Belfast over the weekend, my first visit to the city and indeed Northern Ireland despite it being the birth place of my paternal grandmother.

It is astonishing- truly astonishing- to see the transformation that is taking place on and around the Lagan. Belfast is still a city divided (physically by the "peace walls" as well as by poverty and by new racial tensions that are increasingly replacing the sectarian) but it is inconceivable to imagine some of the developments recently completed and in progress happening as lately as five years ago. A new court house that's not only bereft of a fortified wall, but made largely of glass? An open air shopping mall? An open-top tour bus that goes down the Shankhill and up the Falls road AND gets friendly waves as it passes churches on a Sunday?

People's memories cannot be that short. Indeed, some of the murals I saw indicate that there's some who have absolutely no intention of ever forgetting. The city will have to address the presence of gun-heavy murals by this minority and the still provocative grills, walls and fences that split street from street before it can hope to raise a generation of Catholics and Protestants entirely at ease with one another.

Nevertheless gable-end murals are an integral part of the culture of the city, should never be subjected to a ban, and I wanted to see them as but for few twists of fate and accident of birth I'd probably have found myself contributing to them. It was interesting to see the extent to which some painters have turned away from direct provocation to more simple commemoration (Bobby Sands and his compatriots; various civilian victims from both communities; a spectacularly boss-eyed Queen Mother) and have abandoned NI's troubles in favour of painting about distant lands. Cuba and Palestine are- perhaps unsurprisingly- high on the list for Republicans, but there's a fair amount of general Bush-bashing and murals about African nations too. Others prefer to dedicate wall space to the tiresome Celtic/Rangers clusterfuck, but its heartening to see the extent to which non-sectarian sport (particularly ice hockey) appears to have taken root and found a following in the city. Humour has always been an important part of dealing with and healing after any trauma and the people of Belfast have embraced it fully. I was particularly tickled by the plan to redevelop the ship yards area and replace every job that was lost when their industry withered. How? By building a "Titanic town", a new quarter of the city centre entirely dedicated to the disaster-stricken vessel. As one resident put it, "She was fine when we she left our yard, it's not our fault they put an English captain and Scottish first officer in charge..."

All in all it was a pleasant experience. It might have been nice to see a few more brown faces about the place but the reality is that the city has been a no-go area for outsiders of every sort (immigrants, investors, tourists) for so long that it's a sort of miracle the place is attracting the flurry of interest that it's currently getting. Long may it continue.