OUR SPACE 52: The Parable of The Carraig Bar
In 1973 “The Railway Bar” on the Strand Road was bombed by the IRA.
The site lay vacant for some years but was eventually rebuilt in its familiar present form and re-named
‘The Carraig’. (‘CARRAIG’ in Irish = ‘Rock’, the name the neighbourhood takes from the rocky outcrop behind those Strand Road buildings).
The signwriter carefully, letter by letter, fixed the new name onto the front facade. But, presumably not knowing Irish, he mistakenly positioned the letters as “the CARRIAG” and went on his way.
A young woman from the nationalist community going past, looked at the new name, was puzzled, and then realised that it was a mis-spelling of the word ‘Rock’ in Irish.
Later that day she was chatting to a unionist colleague and commented: “Did you see the spelling mistake on that new bar on the Strand Road?
“Yea”, said her colleague. “They left the ‘e’ off the end”. (She had assumed it was meant to be called “The Carriage”).
MORAL: When we live in separated communities, we learn to see things differently, to understand the world differently. (The fact that the two colleagues were school teachers, adds to the implications of
this).
Here's to a good 2026 for us all.