oh what a bummer!!

Thursday started out as a really pleasant day, sunny and warm, so it seemed like the perfect day to lay the concrete base for our mosaic. We called Stuart to see if he was free to assist, and to our relief he was. Then we proceeded to prepare for the job, getting out tools, premixing some cement and laying some metal ties in the circle. When Stuart and Pat arrived, we set to and layed the most level and flat pad ever in the history of building. Once finished, we repaid the favour by washing Stuart's car for him, which had arrived covered in dust from a building site not far from their villa. Then we sat and had a cuppa and a slice of Christmas cake in the sunshine.

As the sun descended, and the day grew cooler, Pat and Stuart took their leave and I decided to do one more job before dark. I wanted to tweak the satellite dish to get better reception. So, with Sue observing the TV, I climbed up onto the roof to do the necessary. Unfortunately as I was stepping onto the roof the ladder slipped and I tumbled off the roof and down onto the very hard tiles of the top terrace. The thud shook the house and Sue came running. I was in agony. She called the builders from next door, and between them they managed to get me into a car and off to hospital where they discovered I had split the humerous (upper arm bone) from the top downwards and extensive abrasions and bruises on my face. The hospital were excellent. They took bloods and other samples, x-rays, cleaned me up and then sent me to the trauma clinic, where the doctor assessed the x-rays, and said that I wouldn't benefit from a plaster, and they strapped my arm to my body, and there it must stay until it starts to knit back together. With an injection in my bum for the pain, pills for on-going pain relief I was released, just an hour and a quarter from accident to return home. We are amazed at the many offers of help we have had, and must thank everyone for their kind wishes. We must especially thank Mevlut, Mustapha and the other builders who assisted, Pat and Stuart who immediately came up to the hospital to give Sue some moral support, Erdi from the Blue Restaurant who transported us back home, Mary who got in essential supplies, and Graham and Ann who are taking Sue to market tomorrow.

We would also like to thank all of the blog readers who sent us Christmas and New Year greetings.

In the new Year we will start a new blog, hope you will all keep reading.

Until then ..... Byeee!

Christmas in Yesilkent

Saturday 15^th should have been market day, but it was pouring when we got up. We checked the weather on the web and as it said it should clear in the afternoon, we decided to wait. However, by the time it did clear it was probably too late so we abandoned that idea. As it's Bayram (religious holiday) next weekend, there will be no market, but they may hold it on Wednesday before the holiday instead., so we'll try again then. Otherwise we'll have to resort to the (more expensive and poorer quality) supermarkets. I spent the rest of the afternoon installing software and setting up a computer that a friend had left with me.

Sunday morning the sun was out so, while Sue was making mince-pies and generally tidying up, I cut up wood for the fire and then spread sand over the garden project to level off the land. The next job will be to cover it in polythene and then fill it with stones. In the afternoon friends came over to collect the computer, and have a quick lesson on how to use it. Before we got into that we went for a nice walk along the beach in the sunshine. Then we had coffee sitting outside in the sunshine and then as the sun went down we got down to the nitty gritty. Before our friend got overwhelmed with info, we stopped and had dinner before sitting down in front of our log fire. They didn't seem in a hurry to leave, not surprising really, a log fire is quite unusual around here, but we're glad of it.

As Bayram was fast approaching, Monday morning we thought we ought to get in the heavies .... you know, bottles of lemonade, wine and that sort of thing. We also needed to call at the post office, try to sort out Vodafone with our Turkish friend, but no joy again. We'll have to try a different tack. We had to get back home as Phil and Lorraine were coming round to have me look at their computer, install software ... I should set up a business, shouldn't I?

Tuesday was bright and sunny, perfect for continuing with our garden project, putting down the polythene and covering it with stones (kindly donated by Bob). Many wheel-barrow loads later and we'd run out of stones before we'd run out of garden ... oops. Now we'll have to try to find about ½ m³ more of stones. We also scattered some of the excess sand around the rest of the garden. The remainder we'll keep for the cement to lay the mosaic on and to make more “anchors” for the boats (ours and friends'). We have also put aside a bucketful for Lawrence who has to build a small table on his terrace. Then it was off to see Mandy and Lawrence, before returning, lighting the fire settling down in front of the box.

On Wednesday we had to go to the market ... I know, we're always going on about market day being Saturday, but as Bayram starts Thursday, there won't be a market on Saturday. In fact it's a bit like Christmas Eve as all the shops and banks closed at lunchtime and everything winds down ready for the holiday. This festival is known as the festival of sacrifice, and to that end, there were several vehicles transporting sheep and cattle around. Tradition has it we're told, that a third of the meat goes to the relatives, a third to the poor and the rest to the family. So off to the market, post-office, then home to prepare for a visit from Yo and Nigel. They were coming in to Altinkum from Akbuk as they needed to get money from the bank before it closed for the holiday, and were going to pop over to see us. I just had time to chop wood for the fire before they arrived. We spent a few hours chatting over lunch and coffees, but, as it's Bayram, we had to make sure that they could get home before the Dolmuş finished.We didn't want to find that the Dolmuş had stopped leaving them stranded. Not that it would have mattered that much .. we have got plenty of beds after all, but they were supposed to be entertaining guests themselves in the evening.

Bright and sunny again on Thursday although a little on the cold side in the northerly wind. I'd had a cry for help from Wendy, another computer owner with problems, so while I went to help sort those out, Sue baked some mince pies and took the opportunity while I wasn't getting in the way to have a massive clean-up. In the afternoon Phil and Lorraine appeared, needing guidance with their laptop, so as we helped them we consumer tested the mince pies ... delicious!!

We took advantage of the sunshine, and the peace and quiet (no builders next door because of Bayram) to have our breakfast on the patio. Out of the wind it was quite pleasant. After breakfast Mandy and Lawrence came round and we all went for a walk round Marti Sitesi, and along the sea's edge on the other side of the peninsular. We had an invite to spend the evening with Mary, and her parents, who are over here from Ireland for Christmas. Mary had really gone to town with the decorations and it was very cosy and Christmassy.We spent the evening sipping mulled wine, eating Christmas nibbles and enjoying the craic (I think that's how you spell it!).

Saturday, without the market, proved to be a quiet day. Gardening in the morning and reading on the top terrace in the sunshine in the afternoon.

Sunday we again made the most of the sunshine and after a bracing walk down by the sea we breakfasted on the back patio. Then we utilised the sunshine to read in the garden until the builders turned up unexpectedly next door (it's Bayram!!) and started to break bricks. Fortunately, by then the sun had made it's way to the front of the house and we were able to lay on the top terrace and continue with our reading.

And so to Christmas Eve ... and it was up town for essential supplies and a quick visit to the PTT to see who had sent us Christmas Cards. Then we thought we'd spoil ourselves and take a walk along Altinkum seafront, sit in a sea-front restaurant and have lunch looking out over the sea ... beautiful, or as it's Christmas perhaps it should be “bootiful” á la Bernard Matthews advert.

And what happens here on Christmas Day? Well this year Brian was the first to phone us to wish us Happy Christmas. We really do appreciate those calls we receive. Then we met up with Pat and Stuart and walked the prom again at Altinkum, before taking a pre-dinner drink or two at a little bar, where we met some new friends, who apparently are just spending Christmas and New Year here. They've really been lucky with the weather this week. Then it was off to P & S's for our Christmas meal. We spent a lovely afternoon with them, before returning home to ring our daughter and grand-children to wish them a Happy Christmas.

Boxing Day we lazed about reading until lunchtime. Then we decided to walk the beach path here in Yeşilkent, from Gaye 2 to Pine Beach and back through the village. We met up with Lynn walking her dog and the three others she'd picked up on the way. As we walked we compared Christmas notes on how things had gone. Then it was back home for a lovely Boxing Day meal of gammon (thank you Gavin and Tania), and a few phone calls with friends. So that's Christmas over for another year.

The run-up to Christmas

And so into December. At the start of the month it was quite warm still and on the Sunday 2^nd we visited Lorraine and Phil and sat in front of their villa in t-shirts drinking coffee and chatting in the sunshine.

Monday was a day of work as we completed digging up our lawn, and made a few running repairs to the rockery/water feature. Bob returned home .. it hardly seemed any time at all since he arrived. No sooner had we waved him off than Mandy and Lawrence came to visit, so we downed tools and spent a pleasant couple of hours chewing the fat. Not surprising we don't seem to get very far, very fast with our projects is it?

The weather changed for the worst on Tuesday with rain, thunderstorms and power-cuts. So indoor pursuits were the order of the day. We packed ourselves off to Mandy and Lawrence to help with their computer.

Wednesday saw no change in weather or power-cuts, so, between the electricity “outages” we booked ourselves a flight to the UK (Feb 29^th 2008). For the rest of the day we prepared some comfort food and just lazed around reading etc.

Thursday the rain stopped .. hooray!! Got out the trusty (oh yeh?) steed, and went into town to order the materials for our garden project, the sand, cement, bricks and so forth. Had a bite to eat in town and then returned home to wait for the materials to turn up, which they duly did. The cement and the bricks were OK, but one cubic metre of sand seemed to be a small mountain. Last year when we needed sand to break up the clay in the garden, we ordered 3 cubic metres and the pile was of a similar size .. think we must have been diddled the first time .. well this is Turkey. We were shifting sand round to the back of the house until it was dark. 27 wheelbarrow loads. (Yes Don, it was your wheelbarrow .... thanks!!).

Friday was yet another sunny day, and although it felt cold we got on with the project. Sue learned to mix cement (she says it's like mixing a cake), and I layed bricks for the first time in my life. A steep learning curve for us both. We must admit we were quite surprised that when we got to the other end, they had stuck firm and were still level .... 5 gold stars for us!! Yet more computer problems arrived at our door in the afternoon, when Marge and Ian turned up wanting help. As soon as we had finished our brick laying we hot footed it over to theirs and did what we could to help. As with anything to do with computers, it took much longer than we thought and three hours drifted by very rapidly.

Saturday, as usual, was market day, and, as the weather was still holding we took advantage to finish the rest of our brick laying. Just the stones to lay, and a mosaic to put into the centre circle now. What do you think? Should look nice shouldn't it? We got chilled outside, so at the end of the day, we indulged ourselves, by lighting the log fire and roasting chestnuts. Funny how just looking at a real fire makes you feel warmer.

Storms, powercuts and fearsome rain stopped play on the garden Sunday, so we tackled a few indoor jobs like putting in a few extra electric sockets and Sue did her domestic science bit (making cakes and cleaning). Think I got the better end of the deal.

We had a text message over the weekend to say that our vodafone mobile was about to be cut off, so on Monday we hot-footed it up town to find out why. If you were not aware, in Turkey all mobile phones using local sim cards have to be registered. If you try to use a phone from abroad (UK), then within a week or so it is blocked. We had our phones registered nearly 2 years ago, but for some reason, this Vodafone one has now been de-registered. Well we met a language brickwall when we tackled them and were told we would have to buy a new phone. Doubting this, we enlisted help from the wife of our electrician. Even so, we couldn't break through the bureaucracy. She was told they could do nothing until the phone was actually disconnected. Probably not true, but they were adamant. We will see. We did a bit of shopping, met a few friends along the way and finished off the day going to Za Za's, a new bistro, with Pat and Stuart. The good thing about Za Za's is that they will send a car for you and return you home after the meal. If you think this means it will be expensive you couldn't be further from the truth, and the food was very good.

More rain on Tuesday, so, Sue made some scones and we had afternoon tea with Phil and Lorraine to cheer ourselves up.

Wednesday and still it rains. However, as Yo and Nigel were coming to Altinkum from Akbuk, we made the effort, got out of our armchairs, donned the wet weather gear and caught the Dolmuş (minibus) to town ... motorbike? ... you must be joking!!! The four of us spent the next four hours catching up over coffee, some lunch, some more coffee and yet more coffee. Then we all made a dash for our respective Dolmuş to get home to get dried.

Thursday started wet, no change there then. We picked up a hire car from Maxitour and collected Pat and Stuart for a day trip to Izmir. We all had a long list of items only to be found in the “big city”. By the time we got there the rain had stopped .. not that it mattered as we intended to be in the big shopping complexes all day. We started at Praktiker and Carrefour, and then moved on to Ikea, Kipa and the miriad of UK type stores (Next, Topshop, Pull and Bear, M & S, Accessorize, Claire's). By a miracle, we got everything on our lists (and lots more besides ... that's all the exercise my credit card needs this year!). Finally arrived back in Altinkum at midnight, got good use out of our hire car didn't we!

Friday after we had returned the car, we paid the utility bills, got our post and then checked on the two projects we've been overseeing for friends. Both projects had been completed satisfactorily, so we were able to make the final payments on their behalf. With Christmas fast approaching, we decided to put up some decorations, and get into the festive mood. It's not so difficult this year as a Moslem festival is also taking place (20^th - 23^rd ), so the shops are full of decorations, sweets and luxury goods not normally seen, even the alcohol is on special offer in the supermarket, so that's useful.

We may have time to fit one more update in before Christmas, but if not, we'd like to wish you and yours a very

Happy Christmas and a New Year that brings you all you could wish for

Projects

Monday was the day Pat and Don had to depart. We spent the morning with them just chewing the fat. They hadn't been gone more than a short while when we had a text saying could we check the back door as they had problems locking it. Guess who'd been so enthusiastic with the paint brush that she'd glued the lock together? After we'd fixed that with our “Irish screwdriver” we popped round to see Kevin and Annette for coffee. Spent a pleasant afternoon with them which was only broken up when yet another thunderstorm threatened. We made a dash for home. This thunderstorm brought huge hailstones which lay almost like snow, and of course the obligatory power cut. We've had so many of those this year that we wonder if we should have our own generator.

We did a bit of routine shopping the following day (including another oil lamp because of power losses), and then had a relaxing walk along the Altinkum seafront. It was the clearest day we have ever seen here we think, and that allowed us to see Kos and many other tiny islands that have never been apparent before. We had a coffee in the Vista Bar where we met two fresh faces who had just bought an apartment over here. As we sat there who should appear but Kevin and Annette. Doing much the same thing.

Wednesday we had a late start, but as the sun was shining, we walked down to Pine Beach. There was a lot of noise just beyond it, and when we investigated, we found huge construction vehicles demolishing the existing derelict holiday village to make way for a brand new 5 star hotel. On the way back we called in on Tom and Linda to say hello, and during our conversation we discovered that a “For Sale” sign had been placed on Nigel's sister's house. We were sure they didn't know, so we took photos and emailed them to Yo. Sure enough the house was being sold without their knowledge ... what a nightmare!!

Thursday after more enquiries we discovered that someone had possibly put a deposit down on the house that's not for sale. More phone calls to Yo and Nigel.

We are overseeing a couple of projects for friends at the moment, and Ilhan had just started on one of them and needed some money for materials, so we had to get to the bank on Friday. Once that was out of the way, and as the air was quite chill, we settled down indoors and did our Christmas shopping on-line. Good old Tescos.

Saturday as ever was market day, and after that, as the air was still chill, we put on some heating and stayed indoors. We did have a few visitors though which made for a pleasant afternoon.

Sunday was much warmer, the cold wind had disappeared, so after having coffee with Mandy and Lawrence, we all decided to try for a swim down on Gaye 2. Thermometer in hand we strolled down to the jetty where there were many of our Turkish neighbours fishing. The thermometer read 18.6 (65F), so we decided to take the plunge much to the amusement of the Turks, who gathered round and cheered .... so no chance of wimping out now!! After the initial shock it seemed quite pleasant and we stayed in for half an hour. On the way back, another Turkish neighbour called to us. He was doing some metal work for his friend. We mentioned we could do with his skills for our boat trailer which had been slightly damaged when we were bringing the boat home earlier in the month. He said he'd be along at 4pm. True to his word, he was at ours at precisely 4, and set about fixing the trailer. While he was doing that along came Kevin and Annette to show us the anniversary cake we had bought between the four of us for Graham and Anne's party. The party was a great success, and everyone had a good time.

Another of the projects we're overseeing kicked off on Monday, the connecting of Hibiscus Villas to the dirty water system, so we spent a while round there. The builder behind our house started to excavate the swimming pool, can you believe it, right up against our garden wall. Apparently there's little we can do about this. This is what they've managed to build in 4 weeks .. glad it's not ours!! To cheer ourselves up we went to Kevin and Annette's for a farewell coffee as they were returning to UK the following morning. As we were leaving they gave Sue the cakes they had bought for her birthday ... really kind eh?

So, Tuesday was Sue's birthday. We had been planning to hire a car and get away for the day, but for various reasons, including a foul weather forecast; we postponed it until a more suitable day presents itself. As it turned out the weather was fine, so we went for a long walk. Later in the day we ordered two beds and a wardrobe in preparation for the visit of the family next August. Nothing like forward planning.

The furniture arrived Wednesday, so we spent the rest of the day re-arranging the bedrooms to accommodate everyone who's arriving next August, carting beds and furniture up and down 3 flights of stairs. More preparation for the visit, fitting extra power sockets in the top bedroom, and while I (David) got on with that, Sue crossed her fingers for no power cuts during the day, and made our Christmas cake. Her luck was in. We were knackered by the end of the day!

It was a good job Sue chose Wednesday to prepare the cake, as Thursday we had a long power cut, which finished just in time for Sue to make cakes for Pat and Stuart who were visiting in the afternoon.

Bob, who is here for a week, came over on Friday morning to offer us a pile of stone chippings he'd got left from his garden project. So we spent the next couple of hours wheelbarrowing them round to our house, with Bob's help. This has now inspired us to get on with our own project. We want to dig up the “lawn”, as it has totally defeated us. We have planted and re-planted it so many times, but, unless we are constantly, and we mean constantly, pouring water onto it throughout the summer, it just gives up and dies. So the rest of the day was spent digging and re-arranging the garden. A long way to go on this project though.

After market on Saturday we checked again on the project at Hibiscus Villas, which is almost finished now. A digger was expected at 10am but arrived at 2 pm to dig the road and make the final connection to the main sewer. Our own project is on hold due to the garden being waterlogged from the previous night's thunderstorms.