only he can know it , the centre seagulls flapping their wings , old ladies pushing tartan carts , an old terrier barking at cars , the bus rank , the apartment , city hall with its green copper roof , great victoria presiding over the ship-building centre of her empire , a dour expression , traffic lights across the road to wh smith on the other side , people of belfast , alcohol-lined faces , young fresh faces , someone laughing in fear of the unknown , pigeons , restaurants , magnets , arcades , bookshops , boots , fat moustached civil servants with worried eyes but happy mouths no doubt the stress of their split existence tearing them apart a middle-aged woman stops to coo at a baby , the bright glossy magazines and beautiful bodies and desirable wealth , flaunted gold chains , levin remembers the car , the armoured black merc with the licence plate , uz1 4u , that drove past him at the junction by city hall every moment becomes longer and longer for levin .