Another glitch in Northern Ireland's peace process did not faze bus driver Colin, who in 22 years in the job has been hospitalised, pelted with stones and had his bus torched.

"I love it here, never leave," he said, lighting up a cigarette as he sat parked between runs in downtown Belfast.

It was the morning after yet another push by the Prime Ministers of Britain and Ireland to end feuding between Protestants and Roman Catholics, who have been at each others' throats for 300 years, but particularly for the 30 years of "the Troubles."

The stumbling block this time was pro-British unionists saying they had not been given adequate proof of weapons scrapped by the outlawed anti-British guerrilla group the Irish Republican Army under terms of the on-again, off-again 1998 Good Friday Agreement peace deal.

Unionist objections brought what had been heralded as the deal to end all feuds in Northern Ireland to a grinding halt.

Out on the cold, windy but busy streets of downtown Belfast, people took it in their stride. They are used to the peace deal, which established powersharing between Protestants and Catholics, coming off the rails.

"We never stand still, we're always moving one direction or the other, but I think it goes round and round rather than forward," said Janine, a middle-aged woman on her way to work.

In the meantime, life goes on and, according to most people, gets better.

Once a virtual no-go area at night, and almost a combat zone by day, when its main hotel was a regular IRA bombing target, downtown Belfast is now lined with smart shops, pubs and restaurants, like any other Western European city.

People drive by in fancy cars, the police presence which made the city look like it was under siege in the 1980s is vastly reduced, life seems normal -- almost.

"Obviously there's some areas where both sides have to avoid, but it's like anywhere," said Eamonn Connolly, 26, suited out in coat and tie on his way to work.

"South Chicago or South Boston have the same thing, you know. There's some areas where we all have to stay out, but generally we get on with our daily lives."

And for Connolly, who works in an agency recruiting salespeople, life is going quite well.

"It's fairly buoyant, the employment market at the moment," he said. "Usually after two or three years people get itchy feet and want to move on...and there's always demand for sales people."

But still, the political process and endless crises, which led Britain to suspend the devolved government last year after the discovery of an alleged IRA spy ring, take their toll.

"When the politicians are always fighting, the people fight too -- you can't blame them," said Janine, an educator.

Bus driver Colin, who asked that his last name not be used, agreed.

"It puts a damper on things," he said of the latest hiccough in the peace process, which has at least ended attacks on his bus, even if it has not brought total peace.

But he said Northern Irelanders can deal with it.

"Here in Belfast if a bomb went off in that shop over there now, 10 minutes later you'd be driving past and say: 'My goodness, look at that' and then you're going on ahead, just like life was normal."

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