f4f3: (Default)
f4f3 ([personal profile] f4f3) wrote2005-12-06 09:21 am

King of the Wild Front Ear

Back up in Aberdeen, again, and finding it a very strange place.

Last week I did a fair bit of wandering up and down Union Street, reminding myself what a fine, handsome old town this is. Probably because it's coming up to party time, I didn't really notice on the streets just how few women were around.

It wasn't until I went for a drink, and wondered if I was being subliminally attracted to gay bars, that I realised it was something like a 90/10 split between male and female. My hotel was worse, table after table of males. This week's hotel is just as bad, leading me to decide that Aberdeen still has a frontier town feel about it, full of men working away from home. I wonder what it was like in the 80's when the oil boom was just getting started?

[identity profile] itchyfidget.livejournal.com 2005-12-06 10:40 am (UTC)(link)
I haven't ever spent long enough in Aberdeen to notice that (not that I'd mind - sounds great! Except I'm really not sure what your average rig-worker is like). Interesting.

[identity profile] morgaine-x.livejournal.com 2005-12-06 10:44 am (UTC)(link)
I was at university when the offshore activity was just starting in Newfoundland, and St John's was a great place to get a free drink! ;)

[identity profile] f4f3.livejournal.com 2005-12-06 11:21 am (UTC)(link)
...if you were a girl....

Reminds me of that joke where one guy is telling the other about how there's this place in Aberdeen where for a fiver they'll give you a three course meal, get you drunk, and then you can go through to the back room and shag all night long.
"Have you been there?"
"No, but my sister has."

I thank you...

[identity profile] morgaine-x.livejournal.com 2005-12-06 11:52 am (UTC)(link)
You didn't have to be a girl, but a skirt or a low-cut top probably helped...

[identity profile] f4f3.livejournal.com 2005-12-06 11:53 am (UTC)(link)
Nope, put me in a skirt or a low-cut top and it's not going to help anyone...

[identity profile] morgaine-x.livejournal.com 2005-12-06 12:22 pm (UTC)(link)
See, there you are, projecting your tastes onto others! Beauty is in the eye, etc etc.

[identity profile] f4f3.livejournal.com 2005-12-06 12:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Ok, well it's not going to help me...

[identity profile] f4f3.livejournal.com 2005-12-06 10:54 am (UTC)(link)
Well there's still a lot of what would best be called roustabouts - big hairy Russians, fond of a drink and a fry up at five in the morning, but there's also lots of smooth Scandinavian techies with ABS briefcases. Everyone seems to be just stepping on or off of a helicopter, and there seem to be more lap dancing bars per square mile than anywhere else I've ever seen.

Given that I'm a latte-loving metrosexual, I'm having problems adjusting to the local culture (for one thing, the lap-dancing bars charge £35 for a white chocolate mocha...)

[identity profile] pshtaku.livejournal.com 2005-12-06 07:11 pm (UTC)(link)
It's well known that Aberdeen has not succumbed to the Cafe Culture - in fact, I think I read an article, that there are only 3 "Coffee Shops" and NONE OF THEM are Starbucks - need to go find that article.

What you need is a good strong cup of tea, and a rowie.

[identity profile] f4f3.livejournal.com 2005-12-07 08:49 am (UTC)(link)
Well William claims to have found a Starbucks - but he's still complaining that the red cups are back, and he can't line them up with the little cardboard sleeve...

[identity profile] pshtaku.livejournal.com 2005-12-07 09:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Awh - I miss the whole lot of them you know!
Hope you have fun with them again!

[identity profile] f4f3.livejournal.com 2005-12-08 08:32 am (UTC)(link)
Left Mark and Mansoni in queue for dodgy nightclub last night - wonder when I'll see them today?

[identity profile] f4f3.livejournal.com 2005-12-13 04:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Just in case anyone is worried, Mark turned up at 9, Paul at 10 claiming a convenient memory loss from leaving the bar to waking up in his hotel room...