Tag: Aberdeen
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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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Union Street, face masks, and cat litter boxes
There are more changes happening in Aberdeen. Yesterday on my usual bike ride into the city centre I discovered the top of Bon Accord Street has been taken over with picnic tables for Soul Restaurant which is the church in this next photo. Many churches in Aberdeen have been converted into pubs, nightclubs, restaurants, and…
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Strawberries galore, in the paper, and changes afoot
It’s Friday already. I don’t know where the week has gone. We’re getting so many strawberries just from our backyard right now. They almost spread like weeds here. This is what I picked when I went out this morning. Aberdeen is going through some very exciting changes. On an almost weekly basis now the council…
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Aberdeen beach
I cycled to the beach today and It was nice to see vast empty scenes along the waterfront after the crowded images that emerged from Bournemouth last week. I would like to say it’s because Aberdonians are very sensible people and that is certainly true but I think the difference is really more to do…
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Union Street is closed to cars | Pics by the River Dee
The Aberdeen City Council was awarded a £1.76million grant to widen pavements, install temporary bike lanes, and build one-way walking systems – all to create space for social distancing during the pandemic. I cycled into the city centre this morning and they’ve already closed part of Union Street to cars and buses (the part between…
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Haircuts, avocados, allotments, scones, and buying undies
I gave Daniel a haircut today. His hair was annoying him and he’s been asking for a haircut for several weeks. I don’t think he’s going to be a grungy musician when he grows up. Here’s the before and after photo. Many months ago I ate an avocado and decided to grow a plant from…
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A walk around Aberdeen harbour to Torry battery
We dragged the children out of the house against their will and walked to Torry Battery today, an artillery battery that was used as a defensible barracks for Aberdeen from 1860. It is now a ruin but a nice place to spot birds and dolphins in Aberdeen harbour. I think the kids are enjoying quarantine…
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City mobility index and the adaptability of kids
Citymapper has a mobility index which gives a graphical illustration of how locked down cities are over time. The data comes from public transport trips planned in the Citymapper app. According to this index, the two cities moving more than any other are Seoul and Hong Kong but both are still way down than is…
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All humans must self-isolate by order of the Daleks
I saw this on Twitter yesterday. I don’t know where it was taken but it’s obviously somewhere in the UK – the scenery, the sky, the houses, the signs, and the Dalek on the left side of the road all point to somewhere in the UK. Things are getting pretty serious. pic.twitter.com/OLc6egO9V5 — Ben (@Jamin2g)…
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What the kids have done in their first week of quarantine
Day 4 of quarantine and Elizabeth said to me today, “Quarantine is going pretty well”. She may feel differently after several months of this. For me, it has been rather nice not having the school drop-offs and pickups along with Highland Dance and everything else. I feel like I’ve adopted a slower pace and am…
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Cycling to the rescue
It’s the last day of school today for goodness knows how long but it’s not all bad. There are some benefits to this virus. For instance, there’s noticeably less traffic on the roads, especially around the school gate. I think many parents have already withdrawn their kids from school. The air smelt cleaner and fresher…
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19th March 2020 update #COVID2019
Schools will be closing on Friday this week for the foreseeable future. It’s unlikely they will open again before the summer holidays which means they’ll be shut until August and potentially longer than that. Much depends on what happens in China when they lift their restrictions. Children of key workers and vulnerable children will still…
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Ventilation shaft on Justice Mill Lane
On Justice Mill Lane in Aberdeen is this lovely pole. I’ve always admired it and wondered what it was. Ben recently borrowed a book about Aberdeen from the local library and it gets a mention in that. It was built in 1905 as a ventilation shaft for underground tunnels containing electricity cabling. The ventilation helped…
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Sometimes we need pancakes for dinner
I’m really snowed under with work and cycling-related activities right now that I couldn’t be bothered cooking dinner tonight and since I’m the parent I get to decide what we eat so we had pancakes. The kids were shocked and delighted all at once when they found out. I’ve found a great recipe for vegan…
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A weekend at the Barley Bothy
We’ve just had a lovely weekend at the Barley Bothy: a little hut on a strawberry and sheep farm near Huntly. You can watch the making of the hut on Channel 4’s Amazing Spaces, (series 4, episode 4). We like staying in interesting places because that’s all part of the holiday experience and the Barley…
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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…
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New vegetarian restaurant in Aberdeen
Inn at the Park hotel near Duthie Park now has a vegetarian restaurant. It’s a hotel/pub/restaurant all in one and the restaurant part of it has gone all vegetarian as of 1st August 2019. I don’t know the particulars of the change – it never used to be veggie – but I suspect it’s just…
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One week left to respond to the city council SUMP consultation
The Aberdeen City Council currently has its Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) out for consultation and it’s closing next week on July 26th. This is a plea for anyone living in the area to respond to the consultation before it closes. It’s important for as many people to have their say as possible because politicians…
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Can bike paths save the high street?
High streets in Britain are in decline. People say this is due to online shopping and this is undoubtedly part of the cause. It’s so easy to buy goods on the internet and have them delivered to your home that there’s no need to go out to the shops. You can even get your groceries…
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Fibre to my door and another doggy
Gigabit fibre is currently being rolled out onto our street. I’ve been impressed with the speed and efficiency with which it has been installed. They did the pavement outside our house in less than a day – lifting paving slabs, digging, installing cable, then putting everything back again. They were all standing around when I…
