Not noted for their fiscal largesse, Aberdonians have quite a reputation for being sincerely generous in all other respects. They can’t get enough of you and they can’t do enough for you. It’s all ‘don’t bother’, ‘you’re fine’ and so on. The whole town feels like they’re interviewing you, much more interested in the minutiae of your daily existence than their own. Good to know, because the weather barometer has been known to drop to a low of -15 some years, while guidebooks paint a picture of fine but hard gray granite buildings quarried from the Rubislaw Granite Quarry. A warm welcome and a kind ear make all the difference in the chill of Scotland’s third city.

I remember the 1988 North Sea disaster and the news headlines and photos of the Piper Alpha oil rig 120 miles from Aberdeen and burning like a torch. It is still said to be that industry’s worst offshore rig disaster and the rescue of all but a few was coordinated by the Aberdeen coast guard. The Aberdeen Maritime Museum houses all the stories of its past links to the sea and recent explorations by the oil and gas industries.

Aberdeen, or the Mouth of the Dee where it meets the Don, was once a major fishing and shipbuilding port, also famous for its textile and paper mill, but the oil industry has flooded those images of the past and now flaunts the title ‘European Oil Center’.

Aberdeen is a majestic city, with beautiful buildings, parks, gardens and a long, soft sandy beach. For horticulturists, Aberdeen is a joy to visit and therefore a regular winner of the Britain in Bloom award, it has to be banned so other cities can see it. Scotland in Bloom is now a recorded victory and where else can you go after that but to the International Cities in Bloom to collect the trophy?