Aberdeen through the eyes of a former homeless person: 'I showed Prince William around the city'

Angus experienced homelessness in London and in Edinburgh after working in construction for many years. In Edinburgh he was a Big Issue vendor before joining Invisible Cities, which trains people with experience of homelessness to be tour guides around the streets they know very well. His Edinburgh tour was based on the construction of the Royal Mile – from huts to high rises.

As a lover of languages he speaks six, including Norwegian, Swedish and Roma. The latter he taught himself to be able to communicate with fellow Big Issue vendors. In 2024 Angus returned to Aberdeen to retire, but came back to Invisible Cities to design a tour inspired by his love of construction and his history of attending university there. The theme is, Between lectures and legends: my path through old Aberdeen.

Why is it so grey in Aberdeen?

Aberdeen is very grey because it is mostly built from grey granite, from Rubislaw quarry in the west of the city, but there are buildings using pink granite or a mixed, speckled granite too.  

Read more:

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What’s the best thing to do when the colour of the sky matches the colour of the buildings?

On rainy days, which are actually not nearly so common as in most of Scotland, I recommend visiting the maritime museum, Marischal College, (the second-largest granite building in the world behind El Escorial near Madrid) the Art Gallery, Music Hall, St Machar Cathedral and enjoy a full breakfast in the Union Cafe, an exquisite mega scone in SCONE or a variety of cakes, bakeries, fruit drinks, teas or coffees in Kilau. 

Does speaking so many languages help you with visitors who take your tour?

Visitors nearly always speak good English but I sometimes have to explain the occasional word or place name. Probably most often in German. Aberdeen has an unclear name! Aber is Pictish for river or stream mouth, but which one? There is the derived word Aberdonian, so is it the River Dee, the River Don, or where the settlement first appeared, as a harbour at the mouth of the Den Burn? 

The first person to take your tour in Aberdeen was Prince William (left). What did you show him?

I took him around the west end of Union Street and Golden Square. He seemed to be most interested in the architecture and in Nuart. We didn’t have time to explore cafes. We also had to think about security measures! So we walked on quieter streets.

What’s Nuart?

Nuart is an urban art project comprising large-scale murals on buildings around the city, there is an annual celebration of these. Nuart began and continues today in Aberdeen’s neighbour city to the north-east, Stavanger in Norway. 

Does Aberdeen sometimes feel closer to Stavanger/Norway than other parts of the UK?

Stavanger and Aberdeen do indeed have a kinship both in older and recent history, traditionally fishing ports that were transformed by the oil industry from the 1970s onwards. South-west Norway and north-east Scotland were in constant contact through the Middle Ages while being inaccessible to the far-off centres of power for their own countries.

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