THE first time I visited New Orleans, I was struck by the fact that many of the car registration plates had the phrase “Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler” on them.

In fact, the phrase was pretty much everywhere and was explained as being a translation of “let the good times roll” into Louisiana French Creole.

They take it pretty seriously in that part of the Deep South of the US, but it is a phrase that could equally have applied to Aberdeen in the 1980s.

For those of us who were young enough to enjoy the oil boom years in the north-east, it was a glorious time to be alive.

The discovery of oil in the North Sea in the 1970s sparked an unprecedented spell for the city, which threw off it’s staid and harsh veneer to welcome in the hydrocarbon barons.

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The Americans were first in, followed by the French and transformed the city almost overnight.

Suddenly, French bistros and restaurants opened up along with American diners and bars.

Soon the city was awash with high-class establishments with prices to match.

In my primary school, classmates from Texas called Eugene and Wilbur suddenly appeared, and my walk home took us past a newly-opened American foodstore which we would go in for a wide-eyed look around.

At secondary school, French oil giant Total built an annexe for the children of their workers to be educated to the same curriculum as they would be back home.

Parties, or soirees as the hosts liked to call them, at the homes of the French kids were always interesting and the canapes, as you might expect, were divine.

The school rugby team also........

© Herald Scotland