Loads more of this stuff from Aberdeen and around. I hope you’re following on your own giant World wall chart at home.
Arriving back in Aberdeen at 3.45pm on Day 1 of 3, I thought I’d better make a start on the four city newbies in the Guide.
Can you guess what it is yet ?
A second Spoons in Aberdeen, the Justice Mill is a very poor relation of the Archibald Simpson, both architecturally and in terms of boisterousness.
A quarter full, hardly any diners (and there’s ALWAYS someone eating a burger at 3.47pm in every other Spoons), Punk at £2.99, more Irn-Bru than cask sold.
The Broughton was cheap but a bit soapy; a pint of Deuchars with voucher would have been £1.29 but I didn’t see anyone convinced by that either.
Only two things of note. The local constabulary responded to a call-out about trouble at the Spoons, possibly the one in Peterhead, as the only I saw was when a lady berated her bloke for not getting off his phone. Perhaps that’s a felony up here. Or perhaps they thought BRAPA was in town.
And talking of phones, someone then instigated a full search as they’d left their mobile on Table 47. No luck; it would no doubt turn up at the bottom of her Primark handbag later.
I had a couple of hours before Mrs RM finished her IT doings, so I walked to Footdee, or Fitty, or whatever.
The Fittie is the old fishing village part of Aberdeen I really warmed to in the June sun a decade ago. No obvious pubs, but some gorgeous street art on the way.
Half an hour down along the docks and what I hope was the Red Light area (the alternative explanations are worse) before you join a few Japanese tourists at the Fittie.
I’m kinda delighted the Fittie is unchanging. No Brew Dog, no espresso bar, no weaving classes for hipsters. Just a network of little lanes of compact houses and colourful sheds, the sort retiredmartin will no doubt retire to when they build a fishing village in Preston.
I walked back along the sea wall in the direction of Pittodrie, admiring the beach and dreaming of a visit to a distant Peterhead.
Nothing much to actually do, but life isn’t all pubs and Chinese takeaways, you know.
I often tell Mrs RM that while in a sentimental mood.
retiredmartin 
“99% of English can’t even locate Scotland on this wall chart”
Neither can 95% of Scots!
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Not even joking.
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Love those houses. Those look single level which would make them great for retirement places. Expect a wave of retirees after this post.
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Don’t know how you qualify to live there, possibly like the almshouses inland. Anyway, answer to your question. Do go to Aberdeen.
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They sell, occasionally, at generally eye watering prices for the “compact and bijou” sizes. Start at £200K for a one bed and work upwards.
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Grief.
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Interesting. I had no idea what the prices would be.
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Expected higher.
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“I hope you’re following on your own giant World wall chart at home.”
Naw. I just use Google Maps.
“Can you guess what it is yet ?”
A pub?
“Or perhaps they thought BRAPA was in town.”
Is he that well known?
“it would no doubt turn up at the bottom of her Primark handbag later.”
The image of my darling wife just came to mind. (LOL)
“so I walked to Footdee, or Fitty, or whatever.”
I think South Park had a poke at that with their ‘tree-fiddy’ episode with the Loch Ness monster.
“Half an hour down along the docks and what I hope was the Red Light area”
Only when the sailors come ashore.
“Note neighbours talking to each other; still legal in Aberdeen”
I’m guessing they’re saying “what’s that big shiny thing in the sky?”.
“I often tell Mrs RM that while in a sentimental mood.”
Is that in regard to the sentence above, the bit about retiring in Preston or the comment on women and their handbags? 🙂
Cheers
PS – “as the only I saw was when a lady berated her bloke”
I think there should either be a word after ‘only’ or ‘I saw’ should be properly spelt eyesore. 🙂
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I love that mossy strip of stonework along the side of the path in the “Unspoilt by Londoners” photo. That sort of thing always looks magical too me– reminds me of stuff you’d see on the grounds of centuries-old Japanese temples.
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Does it ? Interesting. Quite a few Japanese tourists there, and it’s not well known.
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That wall chart has Manchester, Birmingham, London and Plymouth as the only four English towns worth identifying.
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Seems fair. Swap London for Wolves, perhaps.
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Can’t be a Russian map if it doesn’t feature Salisbury.
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Good point. Well made.
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“Can you guess what it is yet ?”
Thought you might have been abducted by an alien spaceship with all that blue light – relieved it was only a Weatherspoons…
The fishing village is lovely – great photos – though if Cambridgeshire folk have all bought them as holiday lets by next week – you may have to take responsibility…and attend a Scottish parliamentary committee to answer questions 😉
“I often tell Mrs RM that while in a sentimental mood.”
No doubt while you’re eating your chinese takeaway…
🙂
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