Past Life: Our trip to Aberdeen
From Shetland Life, October 1984, No.48
by Class Primary Five, Hamnavoe School
We got to the P & O terminal at half past five. Just before six we got on the boat. We went to follow Mrs Smith then we went outside on the steamer and saw our mums. We got our photos taken with a large camera then we went to our cabins. Some cabins had little green stools. The beds were not made up so you had to make your own. They were comfortable but hot. There were four boys in a cabin. Lyn and Elaine were in cabin 418 going down. After we had put our luggage in our cabin we set off for our tea. We got vouchers and had our tea with that. John William had two tins of fruit juice, fish fingers, beans and chips, and ice cream. He ate it all.
After tea a few people were sick but then it was fine. We went upstairs to see a film called Annie. It was about this wicked lady who made Annie and all the other little girls work and scrub the floors and stairs. After that we had to go to bed. In the morning we had our breakfast and then we went off. The press was waiting there. They took pictures and a man played the bagpipes. We went on a double decker bus to take us to His Majesty’s Theatre. When we got there we met a news reporter we’ve seen on TV before. Miss Perkins said to go in quietly. It was very nice. There were lovely velvet curtains and nice comfy seats. There was also a beautiful chandelier that cost lots of money. There were stalls at the bottom and a balcony a bit higher. The show was very good.
“Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat” was about Joseph being taken to Egypt and put in jail. The curtains lifted up and the band began to play. Everybody kept going off the stage and coming on with a different costume on. It was the best show we’ve seen live – the colours were very bright and the costumes were too. There was a fire eater and after that we saw the Pharaoh. There was a bang and they pulled up the model of Pharaoh and out came “Elvis Pressley” – well, he was dressed like him. There was a real donkey that came on stage and a real motor-bike. We got ice-cream then we watched the show again. When they were finished the curtains went up and down, up and down. The cast came down to speak to us and they gave us autographs and badges.
We went for a walk to Duthie Park and had a packed lunch there. Rona and Stephen went with Mrs Smith and Mrs Blanche round the glass house and looked at the turtles. William Roger and Karl saw wooden animals and sat on a squirrel. Shona, Alison, Ann Margaret and Karen went on the trampolines. John Lee, Jim and Mark went in the canoes.
We walked back and our feet were sore. At the market we bought toys and presents for everyone. Then we went back to the boat. We got our luggage and went to new cabins. Nobody was sick going back. We all enjoyed our trip away to Aberdeen to see “Joseph’s Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat”.
