Monday, 30 November 2009

Aberdeen City Centre Update and a lot of Digression

Happy St Andrew's day.  Isn't it a disgrace that we seem to celebrate the patron Saint of Ireland more than our own?  They've tried to steal our national sport and pass it off as their own (golf) and aided and abetted by the drinks trade have tried to brainwash a generation into thinking St Patrick is our Saint.  But I digress.

Sorry I've not blogged a great deal lately, was under the weather last week and now the boys aren't great (heavy cold and tonsillitis respectively).  But again this is not the thrust of this evening's blog.

Aberdeen City Centre is in the news a lot.  If you believe the local media and the Police it's like Tombstone on Union Street of a weekend.  Wasn't Val Kilmer superb in that film his finest hour I'd say - what happened to him?

Anyway when 5 people who read this blog and would not be too upset if I called them middle aged ventured into the Wild West this weekend I thought it was a good chance to judge for myself and I have to say I've come back with a confused picture.

The Police have been bigging up in the local radio today a build up of SS Stormtrooper proportions of Officers to Police the City Centre from the weekend just past until after the Festive Period (or should I call it Winterval so as not to upset my diverse, multi-cultural readership) to combat this anti-social behaviour.  This instantly confuses me as this is the time of year when people who are not normally in Aberdeen go out for Christmas Parties, so it's not the usual "ned" element who are the main pub goers.  Maybe the Police are very worried about gangs of middle aged Administration Assistants seducing said neds in Chicago Rock (if it's still open!?). 

Anyway back to our night out in the Bronx.  After a lovely tapas meal in Eljos (highly recommended) we went for a quick drink before we retired for the evening and sure enough outside the pub a young lad was cornered by 5 cops.  Now we couldn't hear what was going on, but he didn't seem to have caused too much of a rumpus and it certainly appeared that being surrounded by so many Police wound him up a damed sight more than he had been before they arrived mob handed.  A Police van then turned up and this made him struggle with them as he obviously knew the inevitable trip to Queen Street was about to happen - it all seemed very heavy handed. 

We then walked half the length of Union Street passing various drunks and one loud and aggressive female who was certainly committing a breach of the peace, with no Police to be seen whatsoever - I guess they were all in the Maria with the solitary guy they'd picked up half an hour before.

I appreciate they cannot be everywhere, but for it to take 5 of them to lift one guy for a seemingly minor Breach of the Peace, whilst the rest of the main thoroughfare was bereft of uniforms seems madness.

I have to say though in certain pubs there is an undercurrent of menace.  The place in which we were having "one for the road" was full of real undesirables.  A large contingent of them had plunked themselves right in the centre of the pub and were not moving for anyone who tried to get past.  You got the feeling this was deliberate and they were dying for someone to make an issue of it so they could turn nasty.  Complete bell-ends.

Can't finish my first blog of this week without commenting on the big news of the weekend - Aberdeen 1 Rangers 0.  Well done Dons you did us proud!

After this blog only one song recommendationcan be appropriate - Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting."

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