{"id":12150,"date":"2025-09-19T20:58:42","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T20:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/?p=12150"},"modified":"2025-09-19T20:58:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T20:58:42","slug":"friday-19-september-aberdeen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/19\/friday-19-september-aberdeen\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday 19 September Aberdeen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.<\/p>\n

Took the shuttle home from the conference yesterday and asked the driver when we arrived at the drop off whether the shuttle was going to be running the following morning as advertised and he said it was. Will it be leaving from here? Yes, right here. OK, I\u2019ll see you then!<\/p>\n

So, this morning I turned up bright and early and full of confidence. I was a little worried when I saw no one else was waiting, which turned into outright dismay as the time for departure came and went. Goddamnit! I must have looked like a crazy person, stalking up and down the street and swearing like a sailor. Luckily a taxi van turned up just then depositing a couple bound for the train station, and he was more than happy to take me to my conference. In fact, we had a good chat, as i also had with the taxi driver yesterday morning. I am now much better informed about the social and political situation in Aberdeen, as well as acquiring useful tips for getting to Glasgow tomorrow, and at a very reasonable price of 16 pounds 80 p so I\u2019m going to stop complaining now.<\/p>\n

The first talk of the day was from a famous, now retired local forensic pathologist. Very entertaining, and his many brushes with crime authors has inspired me to get back to my novel once I return home. Just a half day at the conference today, so Simon picked me up in the hire car he\u2019d just collected from the airport and we drove out to Stonehaven for the afternoon. Simon had booked the car for the wrong day so didn\u2019t have any choice in the car we\u2019ve ended up with, which is a Tesla model 3.<\/p>\n

A lovely half hour\u2019s drive got us to the picturesque seaside town, where we got a late lunch at an overpriced tearooms. I had my first (and last) taste of Iron bru <\/em>there. It\u2019s the traditional Scottish fizzy pop but it tastes quite horrid, like medicine. Inexplicable that they drink so much of it, it makes Mountain Dew taste like elixir of the Gods.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Also, I\u2019d been envious of various fish cakes Simon had ordered over the past week, so I took the plunge myself. Alas, they were store bought, however they were deep fried beautifully. Speaking of which, we discovered on strolling about the wee hamlet that it was the birth place of the (in)famous deep fried Mars bar. What a thing to be famous for! Luckily Stonehaven has other strings to its bow.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"
\nAs well as being a quaint wee fishing village, it has a Tollbooth museum – Tollbooth being a type of jail apparently – and an old castle, mostly in ruins, called Dunnottar.<\/p>\n

The tollbooth museum was tiny and fairly amateurish, with bric a brac and various odds and ends strewn about. They did have an interesting section on the local fire festival. The origins of this are lost but for over 100 years locals have made flammable balls on chains which they set fire to on the night of the festival and walk along the street, swinging them around, until they get to the beach, where they throw them into the water. \u00a0Very strange behaviour if you ask me.<\/p>\n

The ruins were also picturesque. You can walk there along a famous cliffside walk from the village if you have the time, but we didn\u2019t so we drove there. The Tesla told us to go up a small road which we later found signposted as not fit for cars. Oops. Anyway, it was one of the best castle ruins I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We planned to try out a fast charger of the Tesla on the way back to Aberdeen. The carhire people had told Simon he could trade in the Tesla for an ICE car in Glasgow if he so desired, so we wanted to try out the charging system before making our decision. There were a couple of fast chargers nearby, called superchargers over here. Once again the GPS guidance was somewhat lacking – we could see the charger from where we were, but it was on the other side of a fence. We got there in the end, plugged it in and started charging. It was up to 90% charged after only 15 minutes, which seemed a successful trial, but the problem was, we didn\u2019t know how to pay. The lady in the adjacent petrol station \u00a0said you just do it with contactless payment, but for the life of us, we couldn\u2019t find any means of paying. In the end, we just unplugged the car and drove off. Not sure if that makes us felons, up there with stealing petrol? We\u2019re hoping it somehow goes back to the carhire company so we can pay for it there. Or maybe it\u2019s free? Who knows.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8Ukf-39Y","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8623,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/05\/in-the-way\/","url_meta":{"origin":12150,"position":0},"title":"In the way","author":"Interloper11","date":"January 5, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"As I was cycling up the hospital driveway this morning, a taxi driver coming the other way gestured rudely at me, angrily pointing at the road as if to say \u201cHow is a man meant to do an honest day\u2019s work when uppity cyclists keep muscling onto their roadway?\u201d Of\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/90C81247-6B8F-4507-9CB0-054CD6A4F3E9-225x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11910,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/14\/whine\/","url_meta":{"origin":12150,"position":1},"title":"Whine","author":"Interloper11","date":"June 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I am declaring war on Pinot Grigio. 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