Brand New KeyDecember 1970
There was a kind of magic attached to Divis Flats with its new distinct type of streets called balconies. Ramparts, where kids could happily play out of the rain, and neighbours swap stories like old times as they congregated on the scrubbed half-moon pavings at their front doors.
It was an exhilarating arena, and a joy to call for Pat each night on the way to do our paper-round.
I tapped the letterbox three times and walked to the balcony wall, remembering that day a year before, having arrived home from my second day at high school, Karen by herself.
''Why are the Callan and Feeney houses boarded up?'' I’d asked.
''The housing officer visited this morning and handed the keys to their new homes over. Mum said they never wasted any time and were flitted befo
