Spring Bank Holiday (nearly)

The weather has been very changeable, one minute sunshine, the next, thunderstorms .... very unseasonable. Last Saturday we even had a sand storm. The sky turned orange/yellow and then it started to rain sand. What a mess. All the swimming pools turned brown and they are still trying to clean them.

We have been quite busy here, as more friends return to their respective villas and find problems, and they turn to us for help.

We were promised our sailboat in three weeks and we took delivery to the day. We called them on Wednesday, just to see how it was coming along. They said it was complete, barring one or two small jobs, so we told them we would hire a car and drive over to Izmir on Thursday to view it. We took Nigel and Yo with us for a second opinion, and when we turned up, there it was fully rigged ready for us to check it over.

Once they had made a couple of refinements for us, they asked us what time we would be home. We asked why, and they said it was being delivered that afternoon. We weren't expecting it till the Friday afternoon. We had intended to browse the Izmir shops, and have a leisurely day, but it wasn't panning out that way. We said we'd be back at 8pm, so they phoned the transport and agreed to that, so we went for lunch on the seafront, and a quick look at the shops, and left Izmir just before 6pm. As we were leaving, we had a phone call from the guy delivering the boat to say he was in Yesilkent. Fortunately he was quite prepared to wait for us, so 2 hours later we took delivery of our new acquisition.

A couple of friends came over to help us unload it, and we parked it up in the drive overnight.

Yesterday morning we tied it to the back of the motorbike, and towed it down to the beach. Another friend, who has a similar boat to ours, helped us rig it, and launch it. A few final touches at the mooring and we were ready for it's maiden voyage.

We took it out using the electric motor, so that we had plenty of empty ocean around us while we struggled with the sails etc. Being new, nothing runs quite as easily as they will once worn in. We also had to tighten up the mast stays and make adjustments to the rigging, so we needed plenty of open water to play in.



Once we'd got the hang of things, we spent an enjoyable hour and a half just sailing up and down the bay. The wind was very kind to us for our first day out, not too strong, but enough to get going. Having said that, it would have been much too strong to have had the canoe out there, especially in sailing mode. This boat, being constructed for the sea, is more stable and better suited. It's double skinned, which means it can't sink, and is more easily righted should it fall over, which we will try to avoid. As you can see from the picture, we also have a little ladder to climb back into the boat in deep water should we need to. The idea is to anchor off-shore to swim sometimes.

Our friends Pete and Ed were also out sailing, keeping a tactful eye on us, just in case we got into difficulties, but we managed to impress them by jybing on our first run. We feel it's like windsurfing for the aged, you can sit down while you sail.

Then we took it to it's new home, the mooring we had spent a couple of weeks preparing, and put it to bed under it's new cover.

Oh, haven't told you it's name yet have we?

GREMLYN

it's better behaved than it's namesake ever was!!

Decisions, decisions

We decided that we needed extra lighting in the kitchen, as Sue was standing in her own light when she was making pastry etc. We had toured various lighting and Diy shops, but couldn't find exactly what we were hoping for, no in our price range anyway, so eventually we decided we get our favourite carpenter, Ali, to build us one. It was done overnight, and this is the result.

We also decided upon the boat. We found a Rotaboat Kirlangic that we could look at, and, believe it or not, it was just down the road. Once we'd spoken to the owner and had a good look at it, we took the plunge. Well if he'd had no problems with it over the last 5 or 6 years that was good enough for us. We ordered it over the phone, and were given 3 weeks as a delivery date .... we'll see!

A phone call the same day informed us that David's certificate for passing his language course would be presented that afternoon at 2 o'clock. A quick change and a dash up to the Belediye to collect that. The press were there, and it's amazed us since, just how many people recognised David from the resulting press photo. We'll put our picture in here, as it's better.

On the 4th of the month it should be recorded that we took our first swim of the season ... a bit later this year than last. Are we becoming wimps? (or maybe we are acclimatising!).

We also took the canoe out, and as the sea was mirror calm, we paddled from Gaye 2 right round the peninsular, past Ladybird Beach, Pine Beach, The police academy, Marti Sitesi and onward as far as Tuntas, which is on the outskirts of Altinkum itself. It took about 2 and a half hours. Having run out of energy, we gratefully resorted to the electric motor to get us back to Gaye 2. During this trip Sue thought she glimpsed a turtle swimming ahead of us, but by the time we had padded to the spot it had disappeared. It is the right time of the year to spot them though, shame we couldn't get closer.

Everybody started to arrive and we were inundated with requests for assistance as friends opened their houses, and found problems after the long winter layoff. We pointed them in the direction of reliable tradespeople and also gave assistance where we could.

We were lucky enough to be invited out by several people for meals at our favourite establishments, such as the Police Academy and the new restaurant that has just opened in Yeşilkent called the Green Park (formerly known as the Medi Pansiyon).

During this time we also had to prepare the mooring for the arrival of the boat from Izmir. This involved going up to Didim Marin to order ropes, chains, shackles, a buoy and various other bits, and making some large concrete blocks, that would be moved into the sea, chained together, and used as the anchor point for the boat. Having made the blocks at home, we then had to tackle the problem of moving them to the sea, and getting them to the place where the boat was to be moored. We scratched our heads and thought about it, and came up with a plan.

We removed the pod from the sidecar chassis, and using a borrowed scaffold plank, we slid the blocks onto the chassis, and transported them one at a time down to the shoreline. Using the plank again we slid the blocks down the steep incline into the water and then dragged them to their final position. Then we joined them together with the vast lengths of chain we had been persuaded to buy and attached the buoy as a marker. Job done, although our sailing friends think we could probably moor the QE2 on our mooring.

Pat and Don kindly invited us to join them on a trip to Bodrum and Turgetries. Turgetries is really beautiful and we had our lunch there in a little restaurant by the sea. We also introduced them to the delights of Koçtaş (B & Q), Kipa (Tesco), Tekzen (DIY chain) as Pat was searching for a barbeque, and we also discovered a large M & S that we didn't know was there. Sue has made a mental note to return later in the year to stock up with shoes and clothes from the Per Uno range.

April showers ... or lack of them!!

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.

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.