Thursday: The Day of Observations

Since Thursday was a wet, rainy day, and I had nothing left I needed to do before I move into my dorm on Saturday, I decided it was the perfect day to stay in bed. (Also, the fact I was freezing was another motivator, I admit.)

However, since there was nothing really to do, I had plenty of time to think. Here are some things I've noticed:

The drivers here are better behaved than the ones back home. I mean, I kinda expected that to begin with, but at least it was confirmed here.

The pedestrians are worse here; they cross wherever and whenever they wish, and the drivers allow it. It boggled my mind. Also, Aberdeen is more pedestrian friendly; the sidewalks are larger, and there are crosswalks everywhere - if a block is particularly long on one side, they still add crosswalks in the middle of the block so people can cross over whenever they wish.

There are banks everywhere. I noticed on Union Street (their Main street) that there are at least two bank branches per block. I've seen three Bank of Scotlands alone between Crown and King streets (which is about a 6-7 block stretch)

The B&B I'm at is placed equidistantly between two Waterstone Bookstores (Like Coles used to be in Montreal - like a book boutique instead of the massive monster Chapters-Indigo is is). I've also got about 3 other bookstores nearby as well (one is a bargain bookstore - I saw I book I wanted back in Mtl on sale for 1 pound! 1! I will have the book... but not until after I move tomorrow)

I''ve found very few pubs... I have seen a lot of bars, but not pubs... I admit to being a little disappointed not to have found more... maybe I'm just in the wrong part of Aberdeen for them. I've also only stumbled across three Fish and Chip shops so far... I'll keep looking.

There is a "French" restaurant named "Prêt a Manger" that has no idea what French food is... I'm kinda tempted to walk in and try to order a baguette or something in French, just to see what happens.

Their understanding of American food is also skewed. They have a resto named Filling Station which looks like a modern Texan Saloon (not those really cool looking older ones) what serves a couple kinda of deep dish "American" pizzas - they're only American because they've got American cities in their names.

I've only seen 1 McDonald's, 1 Starbucks, 1 Burger King, and 2 Esso stations in the section of the city I've seen (and those Essos are the only petrol stations I've so far encountered). It seems as the city isn't too "Americanized" when it comes to chain restaurants at least.

The no extra tax thing is also pretty sweet. When you go to a store, the price listed has the tax included. So if it lists as 3.65, it's literally going to be that on your bill... much better than trying to calculate the additional add ons when shopping, let me tell you!

There is far less green than I thought there would be. Most people have very little in terms of lawns. The amount of green in my parent's backyard alone would be obscene here. The mind boggles, it really does. It's also so surprising to me because I saw a LOT of green flying over Aberdeen last Sunday. True, it was near the airport, but there were houses and not all of it was farmland... so I have to wonder: what happened to it all?

And that will conclude this round of mindless babbling. I don't know what I'll be doing today - I overslept, so I don't know what I want to rush around for. There probably won't be another update until after I move (so it should still be before most people are up tomorrow morning), unless I do something awesome today I feel the need to share.

Feel free to leave comments if you wish.