They Call It The Teuchter Triangle, Apparently
I can't blame the folk at Aberdeen train station. The sign clearly said that the taxi rank was to the right. I simply didn't believe it. When I looked right all I could see was a flight of steps leading towards an underground car park. That's not where I remembered the taxi rank to be, so I turned left.
What I didn't realise was that they're in the final stages of building the new shopping complex attached to the front of the station and the old rank was temporarily closed. No matter, I decided I would simply walk up to Union Street, trailing my little trolley case behind me, and find a cab there.
No luck. So I rumbled through the Bon Accord centre and emerged in George Street where a wee blue sign indicated there were taxis to be had if I walked around the next corner. I decided to start believing in signs again but, alas, that rank also seemed to have vanished. By this time I realised I might as well walk all the way up to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ at Beechgrove Terrace. I've done that many times before and usually only get lost about one in three times. It was worth the gamble.
But I tell you, as I trudged up Rosemount Place (past empty barber shops advertising fantastic deals for fast haircuts) I began to regret my decision to give up drinking. By that I mean that I longed for a big St. Bernard dog to turn up with a little barrel of brandy under its chin. Boy, do I need to get fitter.
But I made it and, eight hours later I was in Glasgow, sitting inside an actual taxi as it took me from Queen Street to Pacific Quay. The driver was listening to a commercial radio station and on came one of those Government-funded public health adverts advising us to and do something more useful with our lives. The driver switched it off before it was finished.
"Where are you from?" he asked me.
"Well I'm from Glasgow, I live in Inverness and I'm just back from Aberdeen."
I thought he would be impressed by this globe-trotting lifestyle of mine.
"Ah they call that the Teuchter Triangle," he told me, "I ought to take you up to the Park Bar. You'll probably know everyone in there."
Great banter. I wonder if taxi drivers get Government funding for that.
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