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Aberdeen Art Gallery and the BP Portrait Award
I took the opportunity to visit the Aberdeen Art Gallery today. I still haven’t been since it reopened to the public late last year after 4 years of redevelopment and £34.6 million. It will shut tomorrow afternoon for Christmas and then remain closed for as long as we remain in Tier 4, so I thought […]
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Two countries and their Christmas strategies, the 5-mile boundary, and Manifesto
One of my coworkers lives in Italy and he told me they’re going into lockdown from December 24th – 27th and then again from December 31st – January 3rd. This is the opposite of what’s happening in the UK where everyone is in lockdown now but we’re free to meet other households from the 23rd […]
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Abedeen in tier 3 for Christmas
For the second time this year we’ve had to cancel a holiday due to covid. We were due to go to the highlands on Monday for 6 days to self-catering holiday accommodation but they’re moving Aberdeen into tier 3 on Friday at 6pm which effectively puts a fence around the city for everyone living here. […]
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What’s Rachel been up to lately?
I’ve had less time to write lately. I’ve been trying to do four jobs – my paid full-time job as a product manager for Creative Force, my role as campaigns secretary for the Aberdeen Cycle Forum, my work for Aberdeen Climate Action on their websites, and a new project I’ve taken on to help address […]
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Street lego art
I was walking around central Aberdeen today and found this crumbly building that had been patched up with lego bricks. Those colored bits are lego. Here’s another photo, zoomed in. There are even some lego doors and windows there. It’s very clever. Just around the corner from the lego is the Aberdeen market and the […]
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O Christmas tree
We put our Christmas tree up last weekend. It’s the same timber tree we use every year that we bought in the UK several years ago. Unfortunately the company appears to have gone out of business now but we love our tree. The lights are up in the city centre and they’re very pretty, especially […]
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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 […]
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Cycling to Aberdeen beach … with children
A friend of mine started cycling around Aberdeen with her young children during lockdown when the roads were quiet and they’ve continued even now the roads are busy again. She inspired me to try the same with Daniel and Elizabeth because although I have cycled with them many times around Aberdeen, they always sit in […]
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In the paper, cat news, a kilt in a cargo bike, Foodstory, and zombies
I’m in The Scottish Daily Record today in an article about the state of cycling in Scotland. This is in response to the tragic death of a young woman in Edinburgh this week. It’s a good article that got a full double page spread and my photo spans from top to bottom of the paper! […]
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I can’t even begin to desribe my frustration and disappointment with Aberdeen city council … again
Last month for the first time ever I was impressed with the Aberdeen city council for installing European-style bike lanes at the beach. This was a first for Aberdeen which is an oil city with a transport strategy straight out of the 1970s. The bike lanes were built with funding from the Sustrans Spaces for […]
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I broke my phone and photos of the autumn colours
My last blog post I wrote and published from my new phone when I was out and about in town. As I walked back home, tragedy struck when I dropped my phone, smashing the screen. I had bought a spigen phone case for it because these had always protected my iPhone very well but they […]
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Storm Alex, cycling, and cat-shaming
This weekend we’re getting the tail end of storm Alex which has brought a deluge to France and Italy and caused severe flooding. Yesterday we had heavy rain non-stop all day here. Elizabeth had highland dance in the afternoon and so I cycled her there in my cargo bike, Hoss. One of the nice things […]
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Half my life
I’m 45 today. If I’m lucky enough to live to 90 then I have lived half my life. I hope I’m still riding my bike at 90. You’re only as old as you feel or, as Groucho Marx once said, “You’re only as old as the woman you feel”. I heard another quote recently that […]
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Spuds
I’ve never been a huge fan of potatoes but it’s funny how when you start growing something yourself it takes on a new value. Potatoes are so easy to grow, they’re not affected by slugs, or pigeons, and they don’t need any special netting. All you do is bung them in the ground in spring […]
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Swimming in the Dee
I’ve been a bit grumpy this past week because sometimes it feels like the world is conspiring against me. Earlier in the year I planted lots of sweet pea seeds. Only one of them germinated and when it had grown to about 10cm tall I planted it at the base of the tree on the […]
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Privacy versus lockdown
There is a new outbreak at a chicken processing plant in Perthshire. It’s disappointing that we use the euphamism “chicken processing plant” rather than slaughterhouse which is what it is. Outbreaks in slaughterhouses have been quite common and it’s not yet clear why. It could be the cold temperatures or the conditions people have to […]
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Test and trace needs to be better
Aberdeen is going into its third week of lockdown now. Nicola Sturgeon announced today that although cases have fallen here there are still too many to lift the restrictions. According to local papers the city council does not support the continued lockdown. I feel some sympathy for the city council and my view is the […]
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Lake Polmuir
There’s lots of news today. We got woken by a massive thunderstorm this morning with torrential rain. The rain was so heavy that many streets in Aberdeen and Stonehaven flooded. This is Polmuir Road in Aberdeen at around 8:30am this morning. The water has subsided now. A train derailed in Aberdeenshire this morning killing three […]
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Aberdeen back in lockdown
Another lockdown has been imposed on Aberdeen today after a local outbreak starting at The Hawthorn Bar on Holburn Street. This is actually very close to us but none of us have been there or indeed gone to any pubs for quite some time. There’s a rumour circulating, and I’m unsure of the veracity of […]
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Running club, trees on Union Street, a royal vintage wedding dress
Someone at work started a running club challenge last week and since I’ve been running every day anyway I decided to sign up. I’m chuffed to say I’ve been at the top of the work leaderboard both weeks so far without doing anything different. I started running during lockdown and have just continued doing it. […]
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