In days of old, bus companies were run by former engineers and drivers.   Nowadays the oily rag has been replaced by the Armani suit and the leather briefcase – yes - accountants are in charge.   New buzzwords abound, and one of those is “outsourcing”.   It’s happening everywhere, so why not in the bus industry ?   Thus First Aberdeen hit on the bright idea of outsourcing all its maintenance to Volvo Bus, late in 2000.   There was only one snag – what to do with the sizeable fleet of Mercedes buses that already plied the streets of the granite city.   The solution was simple – swap over 100 vehicles south and west (the North Sea is in the east and the north) so Aberdeen ended up with a fleet of only Volvos.   Not since Noggin the Nog was last in town has Aberdeen seen so many Scandinavians.   It is a true viking invasion.