A Strange Sign

Just think

A long time ago bears were here.

By the Order of Me

Hmmm, well now that is definitely not what I was expecting to find on Broad Hill when I went a walking the other day. Rather strange to say the least and wait there was not just one but at least eight of them on and around the hill. 

Well those of you who have known me for quite some time will know that I simply cannot resist investigating something as curious as this. And so I took a detour on my walk to the beach and photographed as many of the signs as I could see. Satisfied that this was all I could do in the information gathering part of my invesitgation, while being the only person stuck on a hill in what can only be classified as bloodly freezing cold conditions, I put my gloves back on and headed to see the sea. 

On returning to the world of indoor heating later that day I asked my sister and her boyfriend if they had ever encountered these signs but alas they were not the fountains of knowledge that I had hoped as they had never even been up Broad Hill. 

So I did what all good investigators do I turned to Google! And presto!! I had answers! Thank you Google you are a good search engine! 

For a more indepth explaination you can visit the website of the Aberdeen Voice but in a nutshell  the Order of Me is a collection of visual art by artist Rachel O'Neill, writer Davey Anderson and 54 pupils from Kingsford Primary School. They are trying to challenge the way in which visitors interact with their surroundings and were inspired by the many prohibitive signs found across the city. Which I have myself noticed since I arrived. One in particular caught my eye at the beach promenade - Drinking in public is strictly prohibited! Damn that used to be one of my favourite things to do in the UK when I lived here before university. Oh how the world is changing!

Well I think that is more than enough from me. Why don't you scroll down and take a look at some of the sign for yourself.

You make

 the world

  the world

By the Order of Me



Shout 'Hello uncle Jimmy'

And see if he shouts back

By the Order of Me

My dragon breathes fire

On boring humans

By Order of Me



No kissing

On the hill

I mean it

By Order of Me

Don't tell anyone

This is the spot where my mum and dad first kissed

By Order of Me

More animals

Please

By Order of Me

It's official a beach bum career choice is only for those in warmer climates

So usually when you live somewhere near the ocean and you are umemployed you can always fall back on the career path of being a beach bum. Although I hear the pay is lousy the job satisfaction is extremely high especially if you love the beach. Hence it was with a hopeful mind that yesterday I decided to take the five minute walk down the road to the seaside.

I spent roughly two and a half hours walking along the beach front only to discover that it is official a beach bum career choice is only for those in warmer climates! By the time I had gotten home, despite wearing about four layers of clothing and wellingtons to the beach, I could no longer feel my legs. Honestly on the stretch of road home I poked my finger into my thigh and nothing......I didn't feel a thing! So I tried a good old fashioned leg slap. Barely a tickle of sensation. By now people were starting to look at me funny as they walked by so I decided to hurry on home before the men in white coats came to look for me. 

The good news that came out of my walk is that today I am back on the job hunt and despite risking frost bite taking my fingers (yes I only have fingerless gloves...I know...silly right but I like to be able to feel the buttons on my camera)  I did manage to get some nice photos of the Aberdeen seaside.

So Enjoy!

A view towards the Aberdeen city centre from on top of a hill near the golf driving range. Actually there are the most entertaining signs on this hill as well which I will be posting up in my next post.

If you turn your back to the ocean from on top of the hill you look over this grave yard that seems to go for quite a distance.

The Aberdeen Promenade is quite busy even in winter. It may not look llike it in the photo but I passed numerous joggers and dog walkers while exploring the beach.

 Another view of the promenade.

 The beach in Aberdeen is an amazing cross between the lovely sandy beaches that I am used to visiting in South Africa and the pebbled beaches that the UK is known for. I say that it is a cross between the two as most it is sandy like the photo above but in some sections there are large build ups of pebbles.

 Ok so most of you are probably thinking what does she mean by sections. Well if you look careful at one of my promendae photos you will see rows of wooden columns like pictured above going out into the ocean. This divide the beach into what I have called sections.

 Once I had walked all the way to the River Don I could go no further without a boat unless I was prepared to swim across - which for the record I was not. I stumbled across the part of the river that the birds apparently love as you can tell by their numbers.

 Six seagulls fly overhead while they keep a watchful eye for any fish near the surface.



 The Bridge of Don

The river has a beautiful s-bend before it flows out to sea.

And just to make sure that I don't lose hope and remember that God has a plan I turned around from facing the sea just as the sun burst through an opening in the dense grey cloud that had covered my day. Reminding me that no matter the grey or the cold there will always be blue skies again.

Aberdeen

'This morning I find myself sitting in the kitchen window of my new home in Aberdeen drinking black coffee with no sugar (my friend Raisa would be so proud) watching the activity below on the street. As our first story flat is directly across the road from a massive sports village the activity is great and the people range from grey hair to young children in football kits. Yet they all move along the street like worker ants that know exactly where they are going. 

The sun's rays which rose above the ocean just a few hundred metres away are finally able to reach over the buildings allowing a blanket of soft golden light to carpet the rooftops of the grey buildings. A lady with a blue jacket and H&M bag rushes down the street as if entered in a speed walking competition. Catching a bus? late for work? I'll never know. A woman with a squash racket pops into the gym followed by two guys  dressed to gym the morning away. Only what appears to be a twenty-something lady pushing a pram is not on a frantic mission to get somewhere. 

In some ways I envy them the knowing - the feeling of 'I have people to see and places to go'. Yet the allure of not knowing and experiencing the unexpected is very tempting. For me at present the unexpected is my only choice as the job hunt has yet to result in a job. 

So for now I will enjoy the new flat and continue unpacking boxes. As my friend, Caeri Dunnell, pointed out on her blog the other day we need to 'be happy and dance to the music of life' and have as much hope as we can!

The sliver lining of not working at present means that I have time to explore of new surroundings and take photos as often as I like! 

This is the promenade in Aberdeen which is just a few minutes walk from my house. 

Dundee in the morning

So the other morning I went with my sister through to Dundee as she attends university there and I needed to use the free internet at the library and just get out of Brechin for a while. 

While waiting for the shops to open I decided to explore Dundee in the beautiful morning light that was bathing the city. 

A Dundee street is painted by the morning rays that rise up over the ocean. 

The fish shop is already a hub of activity even this early in the morning. 

I am fascinated by the butcheries in Scotland as they look so cosy and the butchers wear a uniform with a matching hat that just reminds me of images that I have seen in old films. 

The RRS Discovery was the last traditional wooden three-masted ship to be built in Britain. Designed for Antartic research, she was launched in 1901. Her first mission was the British National Antarctic Expedition, carrying Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton on their first, successful journey to the Antarctic, known as the Discovery Expedition. She is now the centrepiece of visitor attraction in her home, Dundee. (Courtesy of Wikipedia)

That Scottish sense of humour. 

The right kind of light can even make a dreary cemetery come alive. 

I took a wonder around the Mcmanus Museum in Dundee which documents the history of Dundee and its connections to the world. 

I just loved this piece of art work as it is made of recycled milk bottles and it is so colourful that I just can't help but smile when I see it. Wish I could have one in my room!! 

Arriving

Brechin home of a rather old cathedral, farm lands, the South Esk river and my sister. Well now I am getting a tad ahead of myself. Allow me to start at the beginning.  

Arriving at Glasgow airport on the 27th January at 11:30 I managed to clear baggage reclaim and customs with the speed of a seasoned traveller. So feeling rather sure of myself and my adapting to any environment skills I moved towards the arrival terminal, picturing the joyous reunion I anticipated having with my sister (We had not seen each other in two years). 

I never enjoy being the centre of attention so that moment when the automatic doors at arrivals opens and you can see all the people waiting to collect loved ones or taxi fares can be rather intimating. Especially as I imagine all those people eagerly awaiting a certain person to walk through the big doors pushing along a trolley stacked with luggage. And then all they get is me... you kind of feel as if you are a prize on a game show that nobody wants. In order to avoid this awkwardness, that I am pretty sure I have made up in my head, I formulated years ago a strategy of walking though the arrivals doors and scanning the room for the person picking me up without making eye contact with too many people. I move quickly pushing the trolley with the skill and ease of a veteran soccer mom manoeuvring a SUV. I busy myself with the task of making sure that my luggage does not fall off the trolley. And then a sigh of awkwardness-avoided relief that I have passed the crowd at arrivals only to realise that my sister is not waiting for me. So I guess this means my slow-motion-running-with-open-arms scene in the airport is not going to be happening today. 

I move myself and my trolley off to one side in order to stay out of the way while I wait for my sister. A couple approaches the airport doors and stops with their trolley. Dressed in board shorts and t-shirts I assume they must have been on the flight from Australia that landed at the same time as mine from Dubai. The gentleman bends down and proceeds to pull on a pair of tracksuit pants on over his shorts as a woman walks out of the airport and just like that it hits me! The cold gust of wind that blew its way through the open door caught me and travelled up my spine making every hair of my arms stand up. The wind proudly announces 'Welcome to Scotland in winter'!  

I was quickly spotted and befriended by two elderly Scottish ladies who it appeared were also just standing around at arrivals because their friends or family had yet to come and fetch them. After a couple minutes of polite conversation, during which I was mostly trying to figure out what in heavens name they were saying, I realised that some Scottish accents make people sound like they are not even speaking English. I can remember thinking to myself, "What have I gotten myself into?" maybe I could do a quick dash across the airport to the departure terminal and jump back on a plane to somewhere hotter and English speaking. But in reality I took a deep breathe, smiled at the ladies and nodded along in agreement to whatever they were saying. It seemed like the best idea at the time, and in the words of the very wise penguins from Madagascar, "Just smile and wave boys, just smile and wave". 

My sister arrived, after being delayed in traffic as it turned out, and we set off to drive the two hours from Glasgow to Brechin. And that my friends, is how I ended up arriving in the small town, or seeing as not too much happens, the village of Brechin. And now for your viewing entertaining here are some photos in and around Brechin as well as some photos from Lunan Bay (a beach near Brechin). 

The South Esk river that runs alongside the town. 

An abandoned church in Brechin. Many of the buildings in the town are run-down or abandoned but the Scottish Lottery Fund seem to be doing a great deal in order to fix up the heritage sites that have been neglected. 

Even graffiti art seems to have a home in Brechin. 

One of the main roads in the centre of town. 

The town is well known for its cathedral, with eleventh century round tower (Historic Scotland), one of only two of these Irish-style monuments surviving in Scotland (the other is at Abernethy, Perthshire). The tower was originally free-standing, but is now incorporated in the framework of the cathedral. (Courtesy of Wikipedia)

A river level look at the icy water and river bank of the South Esk. 

An old derelict boundary wall just outside of the town. 

A relaxing, but rather chilly walk in the farm lands and forest outside of the town. 

Not much light enters the forest as the trees are so densely packed. In strong winds, which the area does get, these trees can often bend to breaking point.  

During our walk it rained a little and a rainbow appeared over the town. 

Walking to the corner shop I made a new friend, the friendly cat. 

Ceri and Luke look on at Lunan Bay, which is a beautiful sandy beach near Brechin. 

Don't let the sun and clear sky fool you it was a very cold day and the sea temp must have been at least nearing zero or below. 

It was so cold that there was no way that you could walk on the beach, must less touch the water, without a coat, gloves and a pair of wellies. 

I was rather surprised by the number of people who had cameras on the beach. And I don't just mean little point and shoots but proper SLR's.