We decided to prepare the top terrace for the imminent arrival of the hot tub by putting up a bamboo screen/windbreak. Now all we need is the hot tub up there. Unfortunately it's still in customs in Istanbul.
Sue finished off the decorating. She's done the stairs, hall, landing, bottom entrance hall, kitchen and lounge .... wow!
Various neighbours have arrived for their summer sojourn, and we had temporary neighbours next door for three weeks. Everything seemed to happen to them while they were here .. the water tank on the roof split and had to be replaced. This could have been avoided had the estate agent acted upon our warning in the winter instead of just turning the water off. Then they had no water for a couple of days as the pressure was low and the pump that feeds the roof tank had not been fixed either. Followed by no hot water as the immersion heater that backs up the solar wasn't working and finally the kitchen caught fire because someone had used a cheap adapter to connect both a kettle and a dishwasher to one socket hidden behind the kitchen units. Needless to say it burst into flames, set fire to the kitchen units and the wiring. Fortunately they used the powder fire extinguisher, but of course that left an awful mess, which, as the agent refused, they had to clean up. The poor things were then left with an intermittent electricity supply, which meant they could only run one appliance at a time. Not good with eight people in the house. You'll probably see it featured on "holidays from hell".
Although Easter is not celebrated here for obvious reasons, we held to tradition by having home made hot X buns for breakfast and then having fish and chips in the evening at a newly opened restaurant called the Blue Ocean.
We went to the PTT to get our post as usual, only to find the boxes had been moved. They are now embedded in a wall outside the office, and so are accessible at any time of day or night. So things improve slowly.
We continue to negotiate with the Customs for the hot-tub, but by the middle of the month we have got no-where. We tried to get them to return the goods to England, but they wanted a more detailed invoice and when they had that, they wanted our supplier to send a form both in Turkish and English and stamped by the Turkish Embassy in London to say he would accept them back ... fat chance!.
We continue to act as project managers for friends and neighbours, supervising patio laying, painting and decorating and other maintenance programs. We have also been maintaining the road by weedkilling as necessary, and doing the same for next doors garden as the weeds are coming through their stones big-time.
During the month we have also been preparing the canoe for the summer months by taping up the seams with fibreglass tape and giving it a couple of coats of epoxy resin. Unforunately we ran out of resin, so another trip to Bodrum was called for.
So on the 17th we hired a car, and set off. We stopped off at Güvercinlik, a pretty little fishing village for coffee. From there it was a short hop to İçmeler, to the boat chandlers to pick up the resin, and have a quick browse of the boat-yards.
Then it was back into Bodrum for a walk along the sea-front, and then of course the obligatory retail therapy. Kipa (Tesco) was our last stop, where we stocked up on a few things that haven't reached Didim yet.
Now we had all the materials, we completed the preparation of the canoe, and took it for it's maiden voyage for this year to Konya. No leaks, but very tired arms, as the wind got up, making the return journey very arduous. We should have expected it really as this month has been particularly windy.
Mandy and Lawrence arrived back from the UK and to save them having to worry about shopping and cooking we invited them round for a meal that day. Strangely, Pat and Stuart phoned to invite us to theirs for a meal, so we got them to come and join us instead and a good time was had by all.
Having mentioned the wind we suppose we should mention that rain has been sadly lacking this year and so, even as early as this month, we have had to water both our garden and those of one or two friends. Suppose it's global warming.
Yo and Nigel have settled into their new house now and so we went over to visit and see how they are getting on. Virtually everything is done now, so they'll have a more relaxed summer this year and be able to cool off in their pool.
We expect they'll find plenty to tittivate and that will keep them busy for some time to come, and with many new neighbours to visit, we probably won't see anywhere near as much of them as we did last year.
The motorbike papers were finally returned, much to our relief and so they are in order now, should we get stopped, which is inevitable as the Jandarme have frequent roadside checks.
We've taken more friends up to the police academy restaurant for a meal .... well the view is so special, and the food is good and so reasonably priced.
So on the 17th we hired a car, and set off. We stopped off at Güvercinlik, a pretty little fishing village for coffee. From there it was a short hop to İçmeler, to the boat chandlers to pick up the resin, and have a quick browse of the boat-yards.Then it was back into Bodrum for a walk along the sea-front, and then of course the obligatory retail therapy. Kipa (Tesco) was our last stop, where we stocked up on a few things that haven't reached Didim yet.
Now we had all the materials, we completed the preparation of the canoe, and took it for it's maiden voyage for this year to Konya. No leaks, but very tired arms, as the wind got up, making the return journey very arduous. We should have expected it really as this month has been particularly windy.Mandy and Lawrence arrived back from the UK and to save them having to worry about shopping and cooking we invited them round for a meal that day. Strangely, Pat and Stuart phoned to invite us to theirs for a meal, so we got them to come and join us instead and a good time was had by all.
Having mentioned the wind we suppose we should mention that rain has been sadly lacking this year and so, even as early as this month, we have had to water both our garden and those of one or two friends. Suppose it's global warming.
Yo and Nigel have settled into their new house now and so we went over to visit and see how they are getting on. Virtually everything is done now, so they'll have a more relaxed summer this year and be able to cool off in their pool.We expect they'll find plenty to tittivate and that will keep them busy for some time to come, and with many new neighbours to visit, we probably won't see anywhere near as much of them as we did last year.
The motorbike papers were finally returned, much to our relief and so they are in order now, should we get stopped, which is inevitable as the Jandarme have frequent roadside checks.
We've taken more friends up to the police academy restaurant for a meal .... well the view is so special, and the food is good and so reasonably priced.
A lot of the month has been spent catching up with all the returnees, and just generally socialising.
The Turkish language course finished with 2 exams, one of which David passed, but the result of the other, as yet, hasn't been announced. Sometime in the future there will be a presentation of the certificate at the town hall by the Mayor of Didim.
The hot tub saga finished at the end of April .. we gave in. The final straw came when we had decided to pay up the extiortionate sum demanded, 700€, only to be told we had to get a document from the Aydin Agriculture Office, a proxy form stamped by the notary and register with the appropriate Ministry for VAT. We abandoned the pool to Customs. The deal is they get the pool, we don't get a bill. Expect someone will get to enjoy it, but it won't be us.
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