I have been having Quite A Time lately and have a lot of blogging to catch up on so let’s go back to June for a little holiday up north.
Long before I started blogging here, Nicolette and I lived in Aberdeen for a number of years. We’ve been back occasionally but really just traveling through and always meant to have a proper reunion visit. We finally did that and stayed overnight so we could wander around all our old haunts. We were excited to find some were still going strong, though others were long gone or massively changed. I really liked the new development in Union Terrace Gardens with lots of sculptures and a big light-up ABERDEEN sign for photos.
There was initially a lot of mockery but you know what, I will defend Aberdeen to the death. The main shopping street is very depressing but there are lots of lovely little shops and businesses and a great art scene. I also got some cool new shoes for £7 (see the photo below). Go Aberdeen!
We timed our visit for the Grays School of Art degree show as I was a student there and have never returned. I can’t describe what a massively weird experience this was! It’s been decades and almost nothing has changed so it was like stepping back in time but also having long-forgotten memories reappear. I was prepared to feel nostalgic about the canteen and quadrant but not about my locker still being there or the floor in the toilets.
Sadly it seems there is no longer a dedicated Printmaking department and the work in general was much more multi-discipline (which was pretty much forbidden in my time!). I actually enjoyed the design departments more, especially communication design, jewellery/ceramics and fashion. The fine art side was very much about installations and mostly came off as fairly pretentious. Still cool to see everyone’s work though.
My family came to the degree show too and then we had a little break back home, though a lot of it was just relaxing – and eating. Above is Crovie, a little seaside town at the bottom of a very steep road for pedestrians only. It actually looks much nicer from the top so it was not worth all the effort of walking back up!
We randomly came across The Reaper in Macduff, a restored historic Fifie herring drifter up for the boat festival in Portsoy. You could go on board in return for a donation and it was surprisingly interesting with a little museum downstairs.
Lots of cool details too – I love that huge compass, made in Copenhagen.
No one came down with me so I was forced to steer the ship for photos – in my historically-accurate Pusheen hoodie. This has to be the most photos of myself I’ve included in a blog post for a very long time.
You can see more of my photos on Flickr. We’ve since had a little trip to Northumberland so more exciting travel posts to come soon.
