This was to introduce Husband to my young childhood stomping grounds. We were booked into stay at a city centre hotel and took the scenic coastal route to get there. The drive was beautiful and gorgeous. I was a bit apprehensive about this because in the 8 years (give or take) my memory was of freezing cold winds.
They sky could be blue and the sun shining but there would be an edge to it that would have you reaching for your thermals!
And I was proved wrong. It was glorious all weekend. So our drive up was smooth and very scenic.
We decided after our tour of old home stomping grounds we would head out to Fyvie Castle for a wee tour and lunch.
Lunch was really very confusing. It's the second main meal of the day and we were hungry and willing to pay for food so from that point of view it should be really a simple and straight forward process. Oh and it was 12.45pm. This is important because after we took our seats we were told that it was too late for lunch. We could only have tea and scones.
O.K while we were surprised at this we none the less accepted the rules and ordered tea and scones. 20 minutes later (and no they were not warm and freshly made) they arrived with no tea. But during our wait we saw sandwich's, soups and salads all make their way out of the kitchen. Lunch was clearly still on but Husband and I presumably looked like the type to start a food fight of some sort and therefore not suitable clientele to be trusted with anything more than a couple of cold scones and jam!!
I popped up to the desk and caught a different waitress to the one we were clearly inconveniencing to ask for a couple of bowls of soup and tea to go with our scones. And later had to go back to explain what we had ordered and eaten to make sure that we paid for it all.
As we went around the various rooms in Fyvie the volunteer guides gave us a lot of information. For the record I am 100% Scottish (my to Husbands surprise, but more on that another time) and my Husband is 100% English and while he has lived in Scotland for 10-12 years (give or take!) he's got a pretty good grasp of the various accents. But I know he's not heard a good thick Aberdonian accent and was curious to see what he would make of it.
So with each room I asked a guide a question and with each room the accents got gradually thicker and thicker. Until we peaked in the library/reading room where we were greeted by a proper Aberdonian lady with an accept you could cut with a knife.
Husband went very quiet and wandered around the room looking at various things while I spoke the lady about the room and was told
" they cannae mack a guiy gidd reid"
At this point we'd reached the limit of what he could fully understand un-interpretted.
It translate as: They can't make a very good read.
On our last day we headed to the beach in the morning and there must be something about the North East Coast that preserves the spirit.
I hope to be a rollerblading pensioner when the time comes!!
(If you have ever heard any aberdonian you might be able to work out the question in the title)
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