| At odds with the city's reputation
for being careful, Aberdeen's locals got into the festive spirit on the streets of the
city. As New Year's Eve dawned, Union Street thronged with, quite literally, dozens of
festive shoppers swamping the shops looking for festive fripperies. One store manager told
the JT: "They've been going mad in here, spending up to £1.50 on completely
non-essential items like bread and jam." Cafes in the city too
reported a roaring trade with hell- raising hedonists rashly ordering up millionaires
shortbread like there was no tomorrow. Pubs experienced massive increases in business as
locals ordered up to one pint each before time was called at 6PM.
As night fell, excited locals cheered as the Lord
Provost set off the city's firework display. |
There was a moment's concern as the
milk bottle holding the "StarBurst" rocket rocked uncertainly in the Arctic
gales, but momentslater the firework arched majestically into the night sky providing a
bumper three seconds of unrivalled pyrotechnic entertainment. There was
more unbridled madness to come when Aberdeen Football club toured the City in an
open-topped bus celebrating the club's success in holding on grimly to the bottom of the
Premier.
Grampian's Chief Constable had expressed some concern over clearing the streets
of early evening revellers but in ordering the deployment of officers with charity
collecting tins order was restored as locals vanished in micro-seconds. By 10pm, all was
quiet, the darkened streets empty save for a lone tumbleweed borne along by a keening
wind. |
