Well it had to happen sooner or later, but I’m really surprised to see Hollister arriving so quickly in Belfast. I’d assumed being across the water from the mainland that it would take longer, but lo and behold, a Hollister hoarding has been erected on the lower level of Victoria Square in Belfast.

The store will apparently be 8200 sq foot, but no word on when it will be opening yet.

I’m a bit sad to be honest, it’s like when McDonald’s first appeared in Scotland (in Dundee, my home town), it took the specialness away from it. However my sister (fashion assistant at Tatler) has kindly agreed to start looking into new and upcoming brands that I can go checking out. Cheers sis! And it will help avoid the whole £20 shipping fee their website charges for shipping (from the US as there’s no from the UK shipping option).

Last week (bear with me, catching up!) I helped out at Do You Remember The First Time? A gig organised by Belfast City Council and broadcast live by ATL and recorded for TV (being broadcast this Tuesday, details at the end of the post).

The gig was held to celebrate the re-opening of the Ulster Hall after a two year refurbishment. Put together by the ATL team, each act performed two songs – one of their own, and one a cover from a band that they had seen play at the Ulster Hall in the past. Acts were all local, including Kowalski, Panama Kings, Lowly Knights (attractive girls included), Ash, and a surprise appearance from Snow Patrol. Unfortunately my favourite local band, General Fiasco, were missing from the line-up.

It was a great night really – I was just looking after some of the bands, making sure they were where they needed to be when they needed to be, so I managed to catch quite a lot of the concert, and it should be well worth viewing as well – the footage does look great. The Ulster Hall has definitely benefited from a make-over as well. Although you won’t notice much of a difference in the hall, the entrance is much nicer, as are the backstage areas (although they are still being finished by the look of things).

At the end of the night, all the acts got on stage for a performance of “Teenage Kicks” which with pyrotechnics and paper cannons was a bit like some weird X-Factor final!

After the gig of course, came the drinks – first in the Ulster Hall, then the Stiff Kitten (as the shutters were coming down and the floor was being hosed in disinfectant) and then the Holiday Inn bar. I left about half four in the morning I think.

Fun night though. ‘A’ was there as well, but I managed to avoid tipsy texting or anything like that. Result!

You can catch the concert “ATL – Live At The Hall” on BBC Two Northern Ireland at 9pm on St Patrick’s Day (Tuesday the 17th of March). If it’s still available on the iPlayer, you should be able to find a link to it on this page.

So, first night out in ages on Saturday night – for my mate Jill’s birthday. She was having a joint party with two guys down at AM:PM on Arthur Street – it was the first time I’d actually been to that one, and I quite liked it.

The party kicked off at about 9.30pm, and carried on well until the wee hours of the morning (and then on some more at one of the host’s houses). I was a bit peeved with two of my mates who failed to go with me (you know who you are!) but thankfully I was entertained all night by Jill’s lady friends. That’s Jill on the right in the pic above. She had big hair!

I ended up getting in at 4.45am – which is not too bad I think given my recent track history! Best of all I didn’t have a hangover the next day (despite Fiona convincing me to do a shot). Jill’s birthday is on Wednesday this week, but Happy Birthday for then anyway!

It’s a sad day for music, dvd and game retail in Belfast, and also of course in particular for those who will lose their jobs with the news that Zavvi in Belfast will be closing its doors for good by 20th February.

I much preferred Zavvi over HMV – I found it cheaper, better laid-out, and nicer to shop in. It’s a shame that the Belfast, Victoria Square store isn’t amongst the stores that have been sold to the former head of Zavvi, and will be re-branded Head, or even to HMV to be re-branded.

Sad news indeed. I’m a bit depressed to be honest!

We finally got some snow this week, after the rest of the UK seems to be completely deluged by it. Unfortunately it did not lie, so it was a bit boring. That’s not to say however that I didn’t nearly fall on my ass when walking down the slope outside my flats on Saturday.

We want proper snow!

So Saturday before last was my birthday celebrations. It was the first time I’d been drinking this year (so that was 17 days alcohol free!) and it all got pretty messy.

I wanted to do something a bit different from the usual just-go-out-and-get-drunk shennanigans, so first of all we headed to the only bowling alley still open in Belfast – the Odyssey Bowl. Unfortunately I came second, but was happy with that! Then it was off to Muriel’s, which is tiny, but we all got seats so that was cool.

There Charlie was responsible for getting me to drink a tequila (with orange and tabasco instead of the usual salt and lemon, which was quite nice!) which I think kind of finished me off. We did go to White’s but I have no recollection of that. I also invited people back to mine to play Mario Kart, but that all went belly up as well.

All in all it was a good night, and it was cool to have everyone out together, but next time I shall be doing it minus the tequila.

Yes that’s right! I can exclusively reveal on my blog (well it’s an online exclusive as no-one else I know has written about it) that my mate G is getting married! He is having a barat on Saturday in London Town (well Watford) which me and the Miss Jill Morgan are going to. I am intrigued as to what it will be like as G can tell me nothing about it, and there is apparently no disco or dancing. But it lasts for five hours! What will be happening? Goodness only knows. He is marrying a lady called Fazia who I have not met yet, but no doubt will at the weekend.

Then, he gets to have another two weddings next weekend in Belfast the crazy cat that he is – he has a proper official ceremony to sign the licence and that, and then it’s another celebration, this time in Belfast!

So if you have ever wondered what a wedding from a different culture is like, wonder no more as I will be able to tell you on Monday (or whenever I get round to writing about it).

To celebrate G’s upcoming wedding, me and the Charlie Brown took him to Gourmet Burger Kitchen on Wednesday. (That is G on the right in the picture above). G has always wanted to go, so that’s why we went there. I wasn’t going to write a review in a post about G’s wedding, but it’s my blog and I can do what I want.

I quite like Gourmet Burger Kitchen. The burgers are about £8 each, and are very large, as you can see from the picture of the Cajun Burger I had which is above. Trust me, you will not need to eat anything else – no side orders or anything, as they are very filling. I felt slightly sick after eating there as I did actually have fries as well. The burgers are nice though, and are cooked however you like them (I like my beef medium-rare).

It’s got a bit of a sterile atmosphere about the place, but it’s ok for a casual lunch / dinner. Although it’s licensed, it’s not really the kind of place you’d want to take a lady for dinner. Well actually, maybe it would be ok if you were going to the Odeon in Victoria Square or something. Drinks (we just had soft drinks) and fries and things can very quickly make your bill add up though – fries are £2.95, and I can’t remember how much the drinks were, but I did think they were a bit expensive.

Anyway, that is not to take away the fact that G is getting married. I am really excited about a nice weekend in London and going to G’s wedding. Although a part of me is a bit sad that he is no longer going to be a single man. Not that I’m gay or anything, just that it’s another single mate biting the dust (although he’s not really biting the dust, just getting married).

Whizzgo has launched a green car-sharing scheme in Belfast. Basically you sign up for a £50 a year fee, and then you can go online and book a car for the hour, couple of hours, a day, a weekend etc. This quite intrigued me as I don’t have a car. I’ve avoided getting one because I live close to town anyway, and also they do pollute! But I do sometimes miss having one – particularly when I need to go food shopping and so on.

So I had a good look at Whizzgo’s rates to see if I could make it add up to being worthwhile for me. The fact that one of their cars in Belfast is parked right outside my house makes it doubly tempting.

It’s £50 a year, and then £5.15 an hour every time you book it, or £37 a day. That includes fuel, and up to 30 miles of travel. I did a quick calculation of how much it would cost me in a year just to use it on supermarket shopping trips.

£50 + (12 journeys * 2 hours * £5.15) = £173.60

Now at the moment I walk up to Sainsbury’s (about a 45 minute walk) which isn’t bad exercise, and get a taxi back which costs about £7.00. So taxis for a year shopping come to £84. That means Whizzgo probably isn’t worth it for me, so I’m not going to bother at the moment. It would probably be different if I had family over here I had to go and visit, but I don’t.

You can find out more about Whizzgo in Belfast here.

Boojum is a fast-food Mexican place that’s opened on Botanic in Belfast (along with Oodles, a casual noodles place which also seems like the first in a possible chain).

Boojum is an absolute carbon copy of Chipotle in the US – but that’s not to knock it. I’ve been to Chipotle a couple of times when in Dallas, and it’s good. If a little filling. Apart from the interior, there seems to be very little difference between Chipotle and Boojum – at least in terms of the product offering.

Basically you get a tortilla, tacos or a salad which can be filled with different kinds of meat, beans or vegetables and salsas, and then combined with rice and cheese if desired. Sides are in short supply – tortilla chips or tortilla chips.

It’s not too expensive, at about £5 for a salad or burrito, and it’s nice as the occasional treat. Just be warned – last time I was out in Dallas there was a news story on TV about how one serving at Chipotle weighs six times what an average lunch serving should be!