rachel.blog

Category: Aberdeen

  • South College Street Consultation

    South College Street Consultation

    The Aberdeen City Council has a consultation open until the 19th January 2021 on proposed changes to South College Street. This work is part of a bigger project known as the Berryden Corridor which will see a dual carriageway built from north to south through the central city. I spent much of last weekend writing […]

  • The farting woods (Tullos Wood)

    The farting woods (Tullos Wood)

    During the lockdown early this year, Ben did a lot of walking around Aberdeen. On one of his walks he discovered a woodland just south of the city in Torry. We decided to check it out yesterday. We cycled there from Duthie Park. The first part of the ride was all on shared-use paths so […]

  • An open letter to the Aberdeen City Council about South College Street

    An open letter to the Aberdeen City Council about South College Street

    This past week I have felt very frustrated with the Aberdeen City Council after I read about their plans to spend £5.5 million adding another lane for private motor vehicles to a road in central Aberdeen. A bike path has not been included in these plans and the road in question is uninviting for pedestrians […]

  • The condom poncho

    I got myself a poncho for cycling in the rain to keep my knees dry. Otto London make some really nice ones and I got the clear Festival Poncho which is only £24. I was thinking I looked pretty cool until Ben asked me why I was wearing a condom. I gave my iPhone to the […]

  • How can I be an effective activist?

    I’m so frustrated with the city council and their lack of action in building cycling infrastructure. We know that cycling infrastructure encourages people to ride their bikes and we know that when people ride their bikes there’s less pollution, less traffic congestion, and less of a strain on the NHS because those people are engaging in physical […]

  • The beach in Aberdeen

    The beach in Aberdeen

    We went to the beach today and I took some photos. Can you see all the ships on the horizon? The next photo is a building at Castlegate in Aberdeen. It’s quite striking and is, I think, what is called an example of Scottish baronial architecture. It looks very Aberdonian to me and contains nothing exciting at all […]

  • Blue poppies

    Another Saturday and another children’s birthday party at Codona‘s by the beach in Aberdeen. Last Saturday we also went to a children’s birthday party at Codona’s and I found the bike ride there incredibly stressful. This Saturday I took a different route and it was just as hard. I even cycled the wrong way down a […]

  • More snow

    One day the novelty will wear off but for the moment I’m still just as excited as ever by the sight of snow. It snowed today despite being a positively balmy 4°C. We had snow last week too which was beautiful. Busby is still at the bike shop so the kids have had to walk […]

  • Fish antibiotics

    Mum has been ill this week with a headache, sore throat, blocked sinuses, cough and just generally feeling miserable. She wanted to see a GP and after my experience trying to get an appointment for Dad when he was here I was not hopeful. It seems I was right to feel this way because every place […]

  • Soul Bar

    Yesterday afternoon I took the kids swimming and when we returned to Busby afterwards I discovered I had forgotten to chain him up! He was sitting there without a lock for at least 45 minutes but thankfully, no-one stole him. Perhaps it’s just as a friend of mine said, “No-one can steal Busby because everyone in […]

  • In town without my car day

    Today is “In town without my car day” and as big advocates of the pedestrianisation of city centre streets we thought we should go along and lend our support. They had closed off some streets to cars which was marvellous and put lots of fun activities in their place like a giant water slide, a […]

  • Fyvie Castle

    My sister rang first thing this morning sounding very upset because she had slept in and missed her flight and was consequently unable to come and visit us this weekend. We were all very disappointed and so we took off for Fyvie Castle to lift our spirits. Fyvie Castle is an enormous 13th century castle about […]

  • We’re famous

    There are a couple of photos of us in today’s EveningExpress taken at the Wee Jaunt yesterday. Not such a great one of me because it looks like I’m flashing but fortunately you can’t see anything. Ben showed his photo to a PhD student at work hoping to impress him but his response was, “It would look more […]

  • Wee Jaunt Aberdeen

    Buying a house seems to have sapped all the fun out of lives so we decided to do something to rectify the situation. This morning we participated in the Wee Jaunt Aberdeen, a Pedal for Scotland initiative to encourage cycling and raise money for a children’s charity. They closed off several roads in a 6 mile route […]

  • Insurance woes

    Is it possible to insure someone else’s property? Our house insurance doesn’t cover the damage caused by our water pipe to the downstairs flat. They only cover our house. So I rang AXA, our insurer, to look into purchasing a policy for her flat so we’re covered next time should this happen again but they […]

  • More dramas and a bit of a rant

    Yesterday afternoon the lady who lives downstairs knocked on our door to say water was leaking through her kitchen ceiling. Our kitchen is above her kitchen but there was no sign of any leak in our kitchen at all. I turned off all the water and the central heating as no-one was able to come until […]

  • A new home

    It has been a hectic and stressful week this week. Settlement for the house we bought was on Friday and we moved in yesterday. But the most stressful part was when my father took a turn for the worse on Thursday night. He had an emergency heart bypass last Tuesday and seemed to be recovering well. […]

  • Cycling infrastructure in Aberdeen

    We went for quite a stressful bike ride today. It was supposed to be a pleasant afternoon cycling along a newly discovered bike path but traffic and a lack of suitable crossings for bicycles made it stressful. I took a photo of one of the crossings we made to point out how inadequate it is for bicycles. […]

  • British pubs

    I’ve always liked British pubs for their atmosphere and uniqueness. They’re not like big chain restaurants that are all the same. They’re all different and often a bit quirky like the Slains Castle pub in Aberdeen. Lately we’ve been going to pubs for dinner more often. This is because I’ve just discovered how good they are for […]

  • Mediaeval battles at Drum Castle

    Mediaeval battles at Drum Castle

    We went to Drum Castle today. I have been itching to visit this castle again ever since our cycle ride from Banchory to Aberdeen via Drum Castle. It was so hot that day and we were so exhausted by the time we arrived at Drum Castle that I took one look at the tower with all its […]