A great night of brainstorming last night, as the entire team of Walking Tour guides and staff from the Pump House Cafe got together over pizza and beer to talk about the hopes, worries and plans for the next year.

It’s hard to believe that April 2012 and the big Titanic anniversary are just around the corner.  As we chatted, brainstormed and dreamed, it struck me again just what a huge year this will be for Belfast and for the Titanic Quarter.  EVERYTHING will change next year.  This little corner of the world will be the focus for remembering the ship which is now (they say) the second-best-known name in the world (after Coca-Cola).

For those working in the TQ, April ’12 hangs in the air like a promise and a threat.  It’s hard to know whether to worry that no-one will bother to make the trip to Belfast for the anniversary, or that so many people will make the trip that we aren’t able to cope with them!  It’s hard to imagine how the existing balance of the TQ will adapt to the opening of Titanic Belfast and the SS Nomadic as well as the Dock and Pump House. It could all be triumph or disaster.  Only one thing is for sure – a fabulous, committed, passionate, creative team are working their hearts out to make sure that it’s superb.

So I’ve said this on The Dock blog before  – GO ON A TITANIC WALKING TOUR NOW!  You honestly won’t regret it – it’s the perfect time.  The tours are still running twice daily (11am and 2pm at the Premier Inn) until the end of October, when they switch to Winter Mode and happen less often.  The Titanic Quarter is gloriously, tantalisingly poised between the past and the future – and there’s something wonderful about being there at this stage, when it’s all still a work in progress.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m unbelievably excited about next year; I can’t wait for my first visit to Titanic Belfast, to see the refurbished Nomadic emerge from underneath the tarpaulins, to have to fight my way through crowds of tourists with LOUD shirts and huge cameras.  But there’s something authentic about seeing the docks in their current state; an atmosphere of history that you can’t put your finger on and that money can’t buy.  It’s all going to change before we’ve had a chance to catch our breath.  So what are you waiting for?