An outsider visiting Catholic bars along Belfast's Antrim Road yesterday afternoon would hardly have noticed that people in the area are living in fear of a loyalist attack. Customers were celebrating Celtic's win over Rangers in the Scottish derby, and in a district known as "murder mile", people are well used to getting on with life.
But the celebrations were unlikely to last into the night as everybody in the district predicted that the LVF would strike again after Wednesday night's attack on the nearby Clifton Tavern. It was just a question of where and when.
"People are out during the day, but by seven o'clock, they're all gone home. They get their drink and go back to their houses for the night," one barman explained.
He added that a security system had been put back on the bar immediately after LVF leader Billy Wright was killed in the Maze prison last Saturday. Customers have to ring a bell and are scrutinised by security cameras before even getting into the off-sales section of the bar. Taxi companies had either put up security gates or were planning to.
It's no coincidence that this part of North Belfast has suffered more than any other area of the North. The gunmen who killed Eddie Trainor (31) in the Clifton Tavern on Wednesday night had easy escape routes back into a number of surrounding loyalist areas.
One newsagent described the atmosphere in the area yesterday as dusk fell as "unbelievably grim". Kevin Carruthers (30) said he didn't even bother to open his shop on New Year's Day.
"It's an awful way to live your life. I'm sitting there in the back of the shop keeping an eye on the door, wondering if they come in, what way would they come.
"I went for a walk last night, and all the old feelings are back. I walked up one side of the street, thinking that if anything happened, I could jump into the gardens on that side. Most people are too afraid to go out at night," Mr Carruthers added.
He said that once darkness fell, business completely dried up and there was no point in keeping the shop open. "I think they will try something else, and then the fear is the other side will get involved, and then we're back to the 70s," he said.
Most people on the streets were despondent and resigned. They expected either their area or a vulnerable Catholic country area to be hit and had no confidence in the security forces. "It's always the same with the RUC. The area was swarming with them the night before the attack, but on New Year's Eve, they were nowhere to be seen," said one woman.
"The only thing the RUC will do is wave them back to the Shankill," another man said. A new round of tit-for-tat attacks was feared. "Now they've started, there's going to be retaliation and more retaliation," said one young woman.