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Aberdeen Inside Guide
Section 1 - On the Map
1.0.
On the map
1.1
Geography
1.2
Climate and weather
1.3
Size and make-up of the expatriate community
1.0
On the map
1.1
Geography
Scotland is part
of the United Kingdom (comprising England, Wales,
Scotland and Northern Ireland). Great Britain refers to
the island of Great Britain, i.e. England, Scotland and
Wales. Scotland has an area of 78,000sq km,
including around 800 islands, 130 of which are
inhabited. The coastline is rugged
and its length is estimated to be almost 10,000km.
Scotland is about half the size of
England and around two thirds of the country is mountain
and moorland. Although the Highlands account for more
than half the total area of Scotland, only 10% of the
population lives there. Scotland has a declining
population of around 5 million, the majority of whom
live in the Central Lowlands in the cities of Glasgow,
Edinburgh, Stirling, Dundee and Perth.
The country can be broadly divided
into three distinct geographical areas:
> The Southern Uplands
Comprise the
area south of Glasgow and Edinburgh. It is a gently
undulating, predominantly rural landscape with the hills
of Galloway in the west and the Cheviots in the east,
bordering England.
> The Central Lowlands
Comprise
a triangular shaped area from Glasgow in the west,
Edinburgh in the east and Stonehaven in the northeast.
The bulk of the population lives in this area.
> The Highlands and
Islands
The Highland
Boundary Fault runs from Helensburgh in the southwest to
Stonehaven in the northeast. Everything north of this
fault line is considered to be in the Highlands. The
countryís main mountain ranges lie in this region,
interspersed with river valleys (glens). The most
fertile land lies near the coast. The Highlands are
bisected by the fault line of the Great Glen, which runs
between Inverness and Fort William. A glance at a map
will show that the country was very nearly split along
this fault line. Today the fault line lies beneath a
series of lochs (including Loch Ness) and the Caledonian
Canal.
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1.2
Climate and weather
The climate of Scotland is
temperate (apart from the Highlands where the weather
can be extreme at any time) and tends to be changeable.
Temperatures are generally lower than in the rest of the
UK. Taking the year as a whole, the eastern side of
Scotland has higher average sunshine hours and lower
rainfall than the west. It is not unusual to have four
seasons in a day-sunshine, hail, rain and frost- within
24 hours. During the winter months, the days are very
short, but this is amply compensated by long summer days
with an extended twilight. It is still light at 10pm in
June. There is a misconception that Scotland suffers
from very high rainfall. In fact, long-term averages of
rainfall , show that over 6000 square kilometres of the
country have less than 800 millimetres (31 inches) of
rainfall annually. The average annual rainfall is 821mm,
compared to 610 in London and
1064 in Cardiff. In Aberdeen, temperatures in
winter can vary between +12 and -9 degrees (centigrade)
and in the summer between 10 and 23 degrees with a
possibility of temperatures dropping in the evening to
around 3 degrees.
For the weather forecast, see
www.bbc.co.uk/weather and fill in
Aberdeen/Aberdeenshire.
Whilst it can
snow any time between November and March, in general
snow does not tend to lie for long in the city itself
and roads are kept clear. Outlying areas are a different
matter, though main routes into Aberdeen are usually
well gritted for early morning travellers. Winter tyres
are not necessary unless you choose to live somewhere
rural and remote.
If you are not
used to driving in ice and snow it may be wise to take a
Skid Course which will teach you how to react if you
lose control of your car on icy roads. For further
information contact:
www.roadwisedrivertraining.co.uk/skid.htm
1.3
Size and make-up of the expatriate community
Within the Shell Aberdeen community
there are 43 different nationalities represented; the
largest representations within this community being (in
descending order): British, Dutch, American, Malaysian,
Nigerian, New Zealand, Indian, Venezuelan, German and
French.
There are around twice as many
couples/families as there are single people, however
Aberdeen is popular with single people.
Aberdeen in general has a large
expatriate community as there are many international oil
companies with offices in the city. There is then,
plenty of opportunity to meet people from outwith the
company. Nearly 6 percent of Aberdeenís population were
born outside the UK. (compared with Edinburgh 7.63
percent and Glasgow
4.79 percent)
It comparison
with some other Shell locations there is not a strong
sense of a Shell expatriate community in Aberdeen,
mainly because people tend to live spread out across the
city and in the villages around the city. Quite a
number, however, live in the Western suburbs of Cults,
Bieldside, Milltimber and Peterculter. Being a fairly
large community people tend to establish their own
networks of friends. Generally speaking, Aberdeen is
regarded as a friendly, pleasant city to live in.
If you have
recently lived on a Shell camp you might find it takes
you a little time to adjust to living in a non camp
environment. Friendships may take longer to establish.
While Outpost aims to assist new arrivals in any way it
can Aberdeen is still the sort of location where you
have to show your own initiative to a certain extent.
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Although every
effort has been made to ensure accuracy, Outpost
Aberdeen cannot assume responsibility for errors in the
information included in this guide.
All rights reserved,
including the right to translate or to reproduce this
guide or any part of it in any form or by any
techniques, without the written permission of Outpost
Aberdeen.
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