So, there was me, taking a stroll through the beautiful city centre of Lisburn (there’s a joke – boarded up shops and empty buildings – the place looks decrepit, a shadow of its former self). I got up to Castle Street, where once stood the Co-Op supermarket, and the big NIE electricity showroom, and Frederick Thomas Prams and Nursery Goods, and I noticed that amid the dereliction, there were ridiculous balls of some sort strung across the street. I decided to make an image – this is it – mediocre enough, like Lisburn itself.

All that makes it interesting is what happened next. 

I crossed the road after making this image, and as I crossed a parked car down the street roared to life and screeched to a halt beside me. The passenger window was wound down to reveal a youngish man, – thin, with swarthy skin and Mediterranean-like features. He spoke…

“Why you take picture, huh?” Me: “Why I take picture? I take picture for fun!” “FUN,” He replied, “FUN!” “I sit in my car and you take picture of me!” Me: “No, I was taking a photograph of these hanging balls. If you were inside your car, I would  not be able to see you…” He replied, I think, but in a strange tongue, and drove off, very quickly.

Now, what was all that about? 

Here’s a few more shots from Lisburn…