January

Haven't we have been having a very mild winter? We seem to have had no where near as much rain as usual. We heard about all the storms and saw some of the damage it caused in the UK, and in Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. We also saw that container ship adrift n the English channel, but the TV did not report on what happened to it eventually. However, for us it has been great, we're not sure whether this year is normal for Didim, or the rainy cold winter we had last year, but we hope this year is the normal one.

With the sun shining most days we are managing to get out and about. We went over to Davutlar just after our return from the UK to visit some friends who have just moved house. They were keen to show us their new one. It's very nice, well equipped and finished, and they have got a good deal from their builder, but it's still on a complex, so wouldn't do for us. They are within a few minutes of a very nice beach, Silver Beach, and all along the main promenade it has a split path, half for cycles and half for pedestrians. This must stretch for about 8 Km. On the way back from Kusadasi we had an unusual happening we hadn't been subjected to before. The Jandarme stopped our well packed bus, and then proceeded to check everyone's ID cards. As the only Brits on the bus, the young (very young) jandarme abruptly asked (in Turkish) for our passports. We don't carry them, but we do carry photocopies. He wasn't very happy with this, and asked for originals .. we told him they were in the house. We don't know what the bus-driver said to him at this point, but he backed off. They kept the bus there for 20 minutes while they radioed in all the passenger details. We're sure it's a normal occurrence here, but coming from the UK, it's not something we're used to. Don't know what they were looking for, but fortunately, not us.

We have booked for a 5 day break in Istanbul on the 14th February. This will encompass St Valentines Day, David's birthday and the International Boat Show. So with the sight seeing and the shopping as well as the show, we should be kept well busy. We've never been to the Ottoman capital before, but we do have some good books on it, and the sights look fabulous, so we're really looking forward to it. We fly up from Izmir to Istanbul with Onur Air and then the hotel we've booked into are sending a car to collect us from the airport. The hotel is within walking distance of the main tourist attractions. Once our 5 days are over we fly back with Atlas Air to Izmir. We'll let you know how it goes.

Oh, by the way, we're getting a new bank in Didim ..... HSBC and it's next to Ziraat Bank. There are also many new blocks of apartments being built around the town centre and each block has shops at ground level. The local newspaper is reporting the fact that several parcels of land have been earmarked for large scale projects. Two of them are for golf courses, one on the Akbuk road just after the industrial units and the other between Altinkum and Yesilkent. There are also some large hotels and a holiday village planned for Akbuk. So lots of changes going on around here. A new custom's house and jetty have been built, as well as a large car-park, so it looks like the proposed new ferry services from Altinkum to Patmos, Samos and Kos may become a reality by May.

On Friday 19th (no .. not the 13th) we dismantled the sidecar so we could paint the chassis, as it was showing signs of rust. Having spruced it all up, Sue then made it some new seat covers ... it looks well smart now. However, as we didn't complete the work until dark, when we came to put everything away we couldn't find the motorbike keys. We searched everywhere. we had the house apart, but no sign. We finally ran out of places to look, we'd stripped out all the cupboards and drawers we'd been in ,as well as emptying the tool boxes we'd used several times, all to no avail. We went to bed a very worried couple. We got up again at daybreak to resume the search. This time we started outside, going over the same ground again, but with the added benefit of daylight. Finally we found them, they had obviously been lying on the canoe cover, and a gust of wind must have flicked the cover and tossed the keys into next door's garden. What a relief!!

However, so much for poor Sue's new paintwork on the sidecar chassis. By the following weekend, one of the spars supporting the sidecar split. Fortunately we had reached home before it became apparent. We phoned our Turkish friend Ilhan and he, bless him, brought his welder over and made the contraption safe again. This did result in damaged paintwork sadly.

David's Turkish lessons began on the 10th of this month. They occur twice a week, on Monday and Wednesday evenings for 2 hours each evening. They will hopefully give a basic grounding in the language, enough to build upon with any luck!!

Many of our friends have returned from over Christmas breaks in the UK and Ireland, and it's been great catching up with them and comparing our visit experiences. It's surprising the similarities we all encountered.

As this month draws to a close, the temperature has finally dropped .... is this the long awaited winter?