I often wondered why, if we were so keen to boast about our Titanic history, we didn't just build a small-scale replica of the doomed liner. Weren't we, after all, a city of shipbuilders?
A former DUP minister told me the idea had been considered at one time but the costs were prohibitive. So instead £77 million was spent on the Titanic museum building, designed to replicate the prows of the famous vessel.
It's become a popular tourist attraction and, from a distance, the sight of the structure on Belfast Lough is quite impressive.
But alas, in Belfast, our real talent is spoiling things. The old joke says that the Titanic was alright when it left us, but the building that mirrors it is going to be sunk by a crazy planning decision.
Work is already underway on the construction of a 13 storey development of 778 apartments, the Loft Lines, which will obscure the sight of the Titanic building. And while there's no doubt that there's a desperate need for new housing, it seems bizarre that it's going in this particular location.
But then the city planners have form here. Take a look at the Waterfront Hall. Well, you can try to, but that iconic building is obscured by banal office blocks on either side.
The vision for the Waterfront was that it would act as a catalyst for the whole area, transforming it into Belfast's South Bank, where people would stroll along at the weekend, like in London, with cafes and coffee stalls springing up to meet the demand of the passing crowds. It never happened.
The only good thing about the Waterfront project was that it saved St George's Market, which had been in such decline that the city fathers were actively considering moving it to the site of the old Smithfield market, which the Provos had already helpfully obliterated in their own unique gift to urban planning. It was a disaster averted.
Civic neglect and arson attacks also put paid to the fantastic Art Deco splendour of the North Street Arcade, which is now derelict with half a forest growing inside. Another unlovely development – weirdly called Tribeca – will arise in its place.
Just down the street is the decaying Assembly Rooms building on the corner of Waring Street and North Street, while the crumbling Crumlin Road Courthouse recently earned the distinction of coming third in the top 10 of abandoned buildings in the UK.
In France, the small village we stayed in recently was full of buildings that had barely changed in centuries, but were still in use as cafes, homes and businesses.
Every other street and square was named after French literary heroes like Victor Hugo, Marcel Proust or Honoré de Balzac. Here in Belfast, we honoured our Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney by demolishing the Lisburn Road house where he'd once lived and written some of his earliest work.
Meanwhile, Mid Ulster council is struggling to continue funding the excellent Heaney HomePlace in Bellaghy. It should be properly funded by central government. Oh aye, we haven't got a government.
We've already lost so much that is distinctive. The restoration of the Bank Buildings on Belfast's Royal Avenue has been a notable success, but there is little else remaining from the city's industrial past, unlike in Manchester, whose old warehouses have been repurposed into apartments and nightclubs, or Liverpool, whose stunning waterfront pays tribute to its maritime history.
What do we do? We build nondescript apartment blocks.
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I'm just back from a trip to York, which not only knows how to preserve its history but also has a nice line in witty graffiti. The council put up a sign warning that one major thoroughfare would be closed for yet more roadworks.
An exasperated shopkeeper put up his own sign, welcoming people to, 'The road that's been lifted more times than Barry Manilow's face'.
