Maersk Spring Ball 2013

One of my good friends Claire works for Maersk here in Aberdeen and each year they host their annual Spring Ball. This year it was held at Banchory Lodge Hotel in a gorgeously decorated marquee by Prime Events. Think hughs of pinks and purples with Spring flowers and gemstones scattered on tables. I was lucky enough to attend as her ‘date’ and we had a blast! On arrival we were greeted with cocktails and canapés and a photographer took a professional photograph of each group as they came in. Roughly an hour later we were seated for our meal. The director gave a heartfelt speech on the company and the importance of a supportive family which was a nice touch then we ate! For starters we were served Sugar cured beef with ginger and coriander dressing.  Mains consisted of chicken with yoghurt dressing and a Moroccan side salad. Dessert was a bit too potent for everyone at our table. It was a lemon mouse raspberry sauce and orange shortbread but at the bottom it was basically lemon curd, no thank you! Wine was flowing all evening throughout the meal and entertainment and each person received 4 drinks tokens to use on whichever drink they fancied from the bar.

An envelope was placed on every table if you liked to donate some money to the chosen charity. This year’s charity was Friends of Anchor, a local charity who supports the Haematology, Oncology and Radiotherapy units for cancer patients at our hospitals. At the end of the night around £4000 was raised which is absolutely fantastic.

Under each wine glass on the tables was a raffle ticket to give you the chance to win some very fine prizes indeed. Claire and I agreed if one of us won we’d share the prize. Luckily for us one of our tickets was called and we won a £200 voucher for the Missoni Hotel in Edinburgh. Definitely getting used for a pamper weekend after Rockness! Another couple at our table won a Kindle Fire HD with Amazon vouchers and someone else took home a Ted Baker bag that I had my eyes on. Up for grabs was also golf experiences, Malmaison vouchers and iPads to name a few.

After the excitement of winning a raffle the first of the evening’s entertainment came on. Edward Reid from Britain’s Got Talent. Nope, I didn’t know who he was either. Apparently he was the guy who sang nursery rhymes to the tune of Run by Snow Patrol. He was a good laugh but nothing like the band who came on second. Killer City Sound. One at a time ladies, please! These guys had some serious star quality. They played covers of chart songs and reall good classics but gave it their own Indie twist. We took a few trips to bar and thought it would be a good idea to chat to them in between their set. I acquired their card and I’m seriously thinking on booking them for whoever’s 21^st is next, they were that good. Check them out here.

Everyone seemed to have a great time and danced the night away. A pre-paid taxi awaited us to take us home... Or into town where we met up with some friends and bragged about how much of a good time we had. Well done Maersk, I really enjoyed myself and I would be honoured to go back next year.

Urbexing at Cove Farm

We love a bit of Urban Exploring so we do! After coming across a lady on Instagram who also shares the passion we realised some of the places she had visited were pretty impressive and one of them was right on Nicola’s door step. Who would’ve known! We always thought the buildings just as you come into Cove were fenced off and part of the Stuart Milne development but evidentially not.  One evening a group of 6 of us went up to have a look. It was an ancient gem surrounded by brand new 5 bedroom houses. The steading and the barns are still intact with the machinery used for milking cows and incubation eggs. There lies two house on the farm. One, a small granny flat type building you could say sits at the edge. Inside is the remains  and memories of a family. The kitchen doesn’t look like it’s been touched in 30 years and still in perfect condition. Some of the other rooms had been hit with water damage and the living room was the only other room left with wallpaper and a carpet. Someone had left suitcases full of old books from the 60’s. A lot of Agatha Christies and Enid Blytons inscribed with the date and the owners name on the first page.

We left the small house confused because the images online were nothing like what was in there. Heading round the corner we found out this was because there was another house. A very, very big house. I lost count on the number of rooms there was in this house. Downstairs held 3 bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, 2 bathrooms, a pantry and some other spare rooms which looked like they might of been used for farming duties as they were linked to the barns. Upstairs we found even more bedrooms, another bathroom and a large storage loft. Everything had been left the way it was the day whoever lived here left. Even the calendar was open on the last used page. It was used as a daily meal planner. I felt so sad about this house because it was obvious a big family had lived here once but what happened that they all left without their belongings? Thrown all over the stairs were air mail letters from America. We pieced together that most of the family immigrated to the States and maybe the eldest died here. Because there was no family left here in Scotland the house was left to decay. Such a shame. What a waste of a beautiful property and so much land! I always say to myself when leaving places like this that if I won the lottery one day I’d restore them to their original glory.  I can only dream.

Don't think this has been used in a while

Living room in the smaller house

Nice carpet...

I wouldn't be eating anything cooked in that kitchen

Retro wallpaper

It doesn't play anymore. We tried.

Meal plan for the very last August

Blair Drummond Safari Park

I’m going to be honest with you here. Blair Drummond Safari Park is just as exciting when you were a kid now that you’re 20 odd... or older! It really is fun for all the family. Yes, okay, it’s more child orientated but who’s to say you can’t let your inner kiddie self out for a day? No one, that’s who!

Set near Stirling, Blair Drummond Safari Park lies on the grounds of Blair Drummond House, a great mansion house passed through families over the centuries which now serves as a home for disabled adults and is a central focal point from the park. Entry price for adults is £13.50, discounts for students, children and senior citizens as always. As you drive in signs sort of sway you to go to the drive through safari first before parking and having a walk around. There is no limit on how many times you go through the outside safari just make you are in a vehicle – lions and tigers and bears are scary on foot! And strictly prohibited. The main animals you get to see are camels, lions, tigers, springbok, zebras, giraffes, elephants and bison. The bison really are WILD! They stomped around in their gang like no one’s business, charging at anything and getting so close to hitting cars some people overtook on the grass to bail out. There are warning signs before you enter telling you it’s at your own risk. So basically don’t take your Porshe into the safari if you have half a brain.

The other main attractions include a sea lion show, a boat ride to Chimp Island, a petting zoo, Lemur Land, Penguin pool, Meerkat Madness and Giraffe and Elephant enclosures. For a bit of fun we also tried out the pedalos, the astro glide slide and the flying fox. The flying fox zip wires goes over the lakes that holds the pedalos so make sure you can pedal real fast to get out of the way of a surprise flying human!

Some of the animals let you get up close and personal with them. The pengins and meerkats didn’t seem to mind people around them when it was feeding time. We got a lovely surprise when walking around Lemur Land. Two beautiful Red Ruffed Lemurs popped out to say hello! They inquisitive creatures and won’t hesitate on grabbing your iPhone if you’re trying to take a picture of them.

There are plenty of facilities to cater for everybody with a restaurant, gift shop, snack stands and numerous toilets along the way. I think it was a great idea to place toilets right at the exit – a saviour for all parents before the set out on the long car journey home. We took our own picnic and were blessed with inside and outside benches to enjoy it on because it did start to rain a little. If you wanted to take your own BBQ food there were BBQ stands with coal already in them all ready to light up which is a nice touch.

Everything except from food, face painting and carnival rides is included in the admission price. Face painting is £4. We were SO tempted so pretend we were 6 years old again and go home with a panda’s face but we were stopping in Dundee for dinner and I’m not sure how well that would’ve went down in Nandos... Oh well, maybe next time!

Waddle, waddle

Alpaca picnic!

On the Chimp Island Boat.. James making this photo as always

A giraffe

Being a big kid

Red Ruffed Lemur coming to say hello

Having fun on the pedalos

James took his SLR and got some cracking shots. When he sends some through to me I'll update this post.