Tag Archives: Aberdeen

Aberdeen book purchases

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Jack had done his homework and looked up the addresses of the secondhand bookshops in Aberdeen before we got there. There’s a great online directory that you can see here.

So when we were in Aberdeen the first port of call was Old Aberdeen Bookshop, which took us to a part of the city we hadn’t been to before. It was my kind of place, not very big but crammed with books, double parked on the shelves and piled all over the floor. I dug into the piles and Jack even found a couple of books there he knew I would like, so it’s not all my fault! But I thought I had only bought five books there – it turns out it was much worse than that. It’s a real mixed bag and showcases my catholic taste I suppose.

Books Again

The Enchanted Land (1906) by Scottish author Louey Chisholm and illustrated by another Scot Katharine Cameron. The illustrations are really enchanting and you can see some of her work here.

The other book for children (of all ages) that I bought is Cockle Button, Cockle Ben (1943) by Richard Phibbs and illustrated by Gladys M. Rees which has very different illustrations but is very much of its time and is almost equally charming.

Jack found Money by Emile Zola for me, another one to add to my Classics Club list.

He also found Wolf Among Wolves by Hans Fallada, a great find as his books rarely pop up in secondhand bookshops – at a reasonable price anyway.

The last three are all by the Scottish author Jane Duncan who also writes as Janet Sandison.
My Friend Flora
My Friend Muriel and
My Friends the Miss Boyds

I read some of her books back in the 1970s when they were very popular but I can’t remember anything about them. The blurb is hopeful though, one front cover says: A riotous romp – moving, funny, fresh and alive. They might be the perfect light reading for when the news is too depressing.

Have you read any of these books?

Crathes Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

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For one night only – we were in Aberdeen recently. We went there mainly to visit Crathes Castle which is about 15 miles west of Aberdeen. Below is a photo of the castle from the front. It’s Scottish baronial in design as you can see and it’s pronounced Crath-es.

Crathes Castle 4

The castle was originally owned by the Burnett (pronounced Burn-it) family but it is now owned by the Scottish National Trust. As ever you are not allowed to take photos of the inside, it is about time they woke up and got rid of that rule as there is no possibility of damaging anything nowadays when you can turn the flash off in cameras. The SNT would get so much more publicity if there were images of the inside of their properties all over the internet.

Crathes Castle 1

Above is the back of the castle, not quite so attractive as the front.

Leaning out of one of the open windows in the castle I managed to get this photo of the autumn colour of one of the gardens. They are really well worth visiting, I’m planning to go back next spring or summer to see them at their best.

Crathes Castle Gardens

There’s a lot of yew topiary there some of which is hundreds of years old. What a job it must be to keep that lot looking good!

Crathes Castle

Crathes Castle Gardens

I loved the look of this teeny wee house too, I have no idea what it was for, maybe just for gardeners to hide from the rain in a downpour, or just to look pretty.

Crathes Castle

The next day we went into the city of Aberdeen itself, apparently the oil capital of Europe but I can’t say that it impressed me. I hate the greyness of it all, famously the buildings are mainly made of grey granite which is supposed to sparkle in the sun but it was a lovely bright day and Aberdeen still managed to look dreich. Granite’s one saving grace seems to be that it is hard wearing. You can see some images of Aberdeen here.

Aberdeen does have a good art gallery though and it was worthwhile going to the city to see that alone. You can see some of their treasures here.

Aberdeen, Scotland

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I say Aberdeen, Scotland, because there are quite a few places with that name around the world. Those homesick Scots got everywhere! The original California is a wee village near Falkirk.

Anyway, I had only been to visit Aberdeen on the north east coast of Scotland once before, and it was chucking it down with rain that time, so to me that granite city which Aberdonians are so proud of looked dreich and depressing. From a distance grey granite looks just like breeze blocks.

Last Saturday we found ourselves making our way there again, for a historic football match. Dumbarton had made it to the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup, the first time since 1979 when Jack couldn’t get there as we were living in Essex at the time.

It was a lovely day and as I would just about rather chew a wasp than go to a football match I just had a walk along the beach which is just a stone’s throw from the city centre.

Aberdeen is an amazingly bustling and busy port, with ships and ferries coming and going all the time and a lot of ships tied up in the harbour. They keep saying that the oil industry isn’t doing so well nowadays but from the amount of action around Aberdeen it seems to be picking up well. In fact I know for a fact that small workshops specialising in precision engineering around Fife are being run off their feet with the amount of work which is coming their way from the oil industry.

Despite the fact that I had done my homework and looked up the locations of secondhand bookshops in Aberdeen I decided against checking them out while Jack was at the match. I must admit that my sense of direction is so bad that I was a bit worried about being getting lost!

So I spent my time in Aberdeen just reading and having a walk along the beach, which has beautiful sand and some interesting stones!

Next time we go up in that direction we’re going to visit the Grassic Gibbon Centre which is about 25 miles south of Aberdeen. It was shut by the time we made our way back home.

Oh and if you’re interested Dumbarton lost 1-0. They had some very bad luck, I know because I ended up inadvertently seeing the highlights on the TV.