Saturday 15th September 2018, Mary Culter near Aberdeen
Yesterday, we drove Modestine up to the nearest place to catch the bus into Aberdeen. This was the suburb of Peter Culter. Parking Modestine we joined the morning commuters for the bus into the city centre. A friendly fellow passenger told us we should ask for a return ticket which would be the cheapest and would also give us the freedom of the buses around the city. Apparently our seniors bus passes are only valid in England. Fair enough. The bus was busy at 8.30am and the driver printed off our return tickets, costing £8.40 for the two. Ian handed him a ten pound note which the driver told him to pop directly into a sealed transparent money box. This Ian did and waited for change. The driver then told him no change was given, it had to be the exact fare or contactless payment! Maybe there was a sign somewhere but we'd been talking with other passengers until the bus came and they’d not mentioned it to us. We are surely not the only people ever to overpay? Such a policy must bring in unearned revenue for the bus company which cannot be ethical! If the driver had said, we would have used the contactless feature on our card! It spoiled the start of a full and busy day. Finding out local information and accessing the internet are well nigh impossible when travelling. This is part of my anger. Bus users especially tend to be elderly, strangers, non-English speaking, vulnerable, homeless, children or simply hard up. Why should they be overcharged and possibly left without enough money for their day simply because they had not understood the system? Many would not have bank accounts and bank cards so would be unable to even use the buses! If I am supporting a charity I like to choose which one. I prefer to select my own good cause, and it wouldn't be Aberdeen's local bus company!
However, despite my fury we spent a very enjoyable but exhausting day around the city. It is known as the silver city. It seemed more grey to us. Build entirely from local granite the houses are smart, solid and substantial. The city claims that the mica crystals in the granite reflect the sunlight making everywhere gleam. Well it wasn't very sunny so we didn't have the same impression. Streets are broad and the city is generally widespread. We walked miles around the streets and by the time we left even Ian was exhausted!
Aberdeen is synonymous with oil! The current wealth of the city is based entirely on the discovery of the north sea oil fields. First though we walked through the city centre, stopping at one of the most prestigious granite building in the city, the gigantic Alexander Simpson for our morning coffee. This is Aberdeen's Wetherspoons. Alexander Simpson was the architect of the imposing city centre which is undoubtedly magnificent with a large cobbled central square, home to a statue to the Gordon Highlanders and the battles in which they were involved.
The Archibald Simpson. Perhaps the smartest Wetherspoons. Aberdeen
Tollbooth. Aberdeen. Scotland.
Market Cross. Aberdeen. Scotland.
Gordon Highlanders monument. Aberdeen. Scotland.
Jacobite plaque. Aberdeen. Scotland.
Marischal College. Council offices. Aberdeen. Scotland.
Leading down from the square one reaches the port from where ferries depart regularly to Lerwick in the Shetland Isles. There are many very modern office and residential blocks in the city, some up to 24 storeys high. They tower above the more attractive buildings from the past. The Provost Ross house, now part of the Maritime museum and built in the 1590s, and the Provost Skeine house, which is mediaeval with internal decoration dating from the 17th century, are both overshadowed by high-rise modern buildings that mar their setting.
Provost Ross House. Aberdeen. Scotland.
Provost Skeine House. Aberdeen. Scotland.
We walked up to Old Aberdeen. This was a good mile outside the city centre along streets lined by monotonous granite buildings. Traffic lights were slow and badly co-ordinated meaning walkers around the city spent much time on draughty corners waiting for little green men to escort them across the wide roads. Eventually we reached the old part of the city with streets of sturdy, well-built terraced houses. This area is the heart of Aberdeen university with its chapel, student common room and seminar rooms. It is pleasantly set amidst green sports-fields and there is a village atmosphere to the campus. It was teeming with young students just arrived for the start of the new academic year. We enjoyed the atmosphere despite it bringing it home to us that we are now approaching our mid seventies and are perhaps a little too old to be exploring college union buildings!
King's College. Henry Scougail plaque. Aberdeen. Scotland.
King's College. Quadrangle. Aberdeen. Scotland. (
King's College. Chapel. Aberdeen. Scotland.
King's College. Elphinstone monument. Aberdeen. Scotland.
King's College. Museum. Aberdeen. Scotland.
Saint Machar's Cathedral. Aberdeen. Scotland.
Saint Machar's Cathedral. Pictish cross. Aberdeen. Scotland.
Thinking to look out to sea for signs of shipping and off-shore oil platforms we headed towards the sea front. Our way was blocked by a large and scruffy golf course. The grass seemed full of cigarette ends and the area run down and shabby. It was impossible to see the coast because the promenade was built up as a dyke between the coast and the golf course. We walked for well over a mile through a wasteland of empty factory buildings and damaged bus shelters where it seemed no bus ever came. Eventually we reached the holiday-makers' part with sea-front amusement machines, coke, chips, ice cream cafes and a family entertainment centre where young mums with pushchairs and children spent time in the soft-play centres with their little ones.
Esplanade. Aberdeen. Scotland.
Footdee. Aberdeen. Scotland.
Footdee. Aberdeen. Scotland.
The harbour was, and still is, of importance for the Scottish fishing industry and as a ferry port with links world wide. Ferries leave not only for the Shetlands but also for the Scandinavian and Baltic ports while everything required to support and sustain the off-shore oil industry passes through the Port of Aberdeen. There is a lighthouse and a tower with a webcam for scanning all shipping passing in or out of the port.
Harbour. Entrance. Sewer vent. Aberdeen. Scotland.
Harbour. From Maritime Museum. Aberdeen. Scotland.
Footsore and weary we found a bus-stop just as a bus arrived. We clambered on board with relief. It took us back to the city centre via all Aberdeen’s other major attractions - the out of town shopping centre with Tesco, Sainsbury, Dunelm, Marks and Spencer and everything else required from a modern city. Back in the centre we realised there was no way we could cope with the town's three major museums. So we opted for the maritime museum where we had a brief rest and some lunch before our onslaught on the galleries. It was fascinating and for a while we coped. The history of the discovery and development of the oilfields happened around the time our children, now in their early 40s, were born. Astonishing that it was all so recent! There were films and clips about the different aspects of life on board the rigs, examples of the clothing worn, much about deep sea diving and films of how the oil was pumped ashore. It all looked surprisingly dated. Now the fields are running out and according to one statistic if we continue using oil at our current rate every known field now being worked will be drained within the next forty years.
Diver suit, Maritime museum, Aberdeen, Scotland
The museum covered all aspects of the marine environment including shipping, trade, wild life, conservation and exploitation. There was a scale model stretching right through the floors of the museum of one of the rigs showing the platform and the legs, drilled into the seabed, that support it.
There was also much about the disaster of the Piper Alpha rig in the mid 1970s when it caught fire and some 165 people were killed when it became too hot and dangerous to get any more of them off. I vividly recall the news reports at the time. Eventually the American expert Red Adair was brought in to work out a way to cap off the well. Less than 100 people were actually rescued and fewer still survived the disaster.
Maritime Museum. Piper Alpha life raft cover. Aberdeen. Scotland.
Soon one painting of a ship with sails began to look exactly like another ship with sails. Personally I ached in every limb and my shoes suddenly seemed to have become far too small for me! After a brief rest with a cup of tea in the cafe we made our way home. We are only eight miles outside of the city centre but such is the rush hour traffic that the bus journey took an hour each way!
