I hate this time of year

(If only the LOL in the image stood for "laugh out loud", in this context it means "loyal orange lodge")

Tomorrow is the 12th of July and to the enlightened world that isn't a significant date. However, here in the backwards province of Northern Ireland half the population feels the need to celebrate an obscure and inconsequential event in history that for the most part they don't understand.

For those of you who don't know (and I envy you), protestant unionists in NI have parades on the 12th July to celebrate the victory of William of Orange at the Battle of the Boyne, where he defeated his catholic rival for the English throne in Ireland. Unionists in NI celebrate this every year about this time and all it ever does is piss off the catholic nationalists.

They jumped on this event like insects to a lamp, yet it barely represents what they think it does. For one thing, William never gave a flying fuck about Ulster protestants, his only interest was in shutting Ireland up so he could concentrate on other wars. It in no way represented a victory of English loyalism over Irish nationalism, the pope even backed William! And yet they burn the effigy of his Holiness every year.

Flags go up everywhere, the unionists even put up Israeli flags in response to the nationalists flying Palestinian ones. Such disgusting self-aggrandisement; no community here can identify with that conflict in the middle-east.

The bonfires just get bigger every year, the one in Ballykeel is easlily 30m ,and if it were to topple it would set alight the whole settlement. At least that would be them burning their own homes down, not just the nationalists.

Look at all the bullshit so far already, over fucking flags. It makes me feel ashamed to be associated with this tiny country that is so divided over such obscure differences. I can't follow the logical pathway that leads someone to care so much about something as arbitrary as a country's allegiance.

Anyway, rant over. This time of year always puts me in a bad mood.