A Tour About Town

Yesterday was a pretty full day. Pat, from Relocation Scotland, took Bryson, Sadie and me on a driving tour around Aberdeen. I tried to take pictures, but am apparently too ignorant to work Brian's new camera. (Not surprising, really.) We drove all around Aberdeen and its suburbs. I would love to say that I absorbed it all like a sponge, but I am afraid that I missed most of it- so much to take in at once, I suppose. The city seems pretty straight forward, though and I am pretty sure that once I conquer the Roundabouts, I should be able to find my way around.

We only made a couple of stops on our tour, the first being at a local family oriented Country Club where we stopped for a tour and a cup of coffee. This was the first kid friendly country club I had ever been to and was quite pleased to see so many little ones (and available high chairs) in the small cafe where we had coffee. The Cafe is called The Observatory, as it has a beautiful view of the countryside, as well as of the playground outside. Poor Bryson kept wanting to go play on the toys. Our hostess ordered a Coffee and Scone, while I had the tastiest Mochachino. Bryson and Sadie each had a Dough Ring, which is a very light cake doughnut dipped in sugar (no icing). The experience was quite lovely. :-)

Upon finishing our coffee, we toured the facility as well as the Creche, which is a childcare facility for members to make use of while using the club. (How fab is that?) The best thing about this club, aside from the Kid Camps, kid classes, and all around kid friendliness is that it is right next to Aubrey's school. Just a footpath and we could pick her up from school. It is kind of a one stop shop of sorts, they have a full service salon, a gym, tennis courts, golf course, raquetball courts- a place to just go sit and read a book and sip coffee for a while as the kids are playing with other kids. We should look into joining...

Our second stop was at hospital. Yes, I left out the "the". Apparently "the" is not used as much with nouns here as in the states. I had to pick up the paperwork to register the family with a General Practice Clinic. Where you live dictates which clinic you attend. Since it is the National Healthcare System, it is not like choosing your own GP like at home. The upside, though, is that there is a brand new Children's Hospital, so our kids should be well cared for in case of emergency.

That pretty much concluded our tour about town. An interesting side note...yesterday I dressed Bryson in his new Rain Boots because I was expecting rain. This was a bit of an error, since it never did rain until after we were home and only a light shower at that. The locals commented on his "Wellies" (short for Wellington Boots) and got a chuckle at the fact that he was wearing them. That makes two days in a row that I mis-dressed the kids. Oh well, I will learn...

I have decided that I really need to invest in a small digital camera to take pictures to share with you. My iphone pictures do not do this city justice and as I stated before, I am not skilled enough to use Brian's big camera. :-)

One last bit of info...we take posession of the house on Hammerman today, and will be moving in tomorrow. No more apartment dwelling and three story climbing for this broad. :-) I'll take some photos when I can! Cheerio!

W