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.

Fireworks et al

Friday 2^nd November we picked up a car from Maxitours. Bulent, the owner, asked us where we were going. We told him we were off to Izmir, to which he asked if we were going to the airport. We said we were going shopping. As Maxitours do airport pickups we didn't want to upset him by telling him we were collecting our friends later. We met up with Annette and Kevin and all made our way to Izmir once again. This time, as Sue and I were picking up Pat and Don from the airport, but going via Ikea, Kipa, Carrefour, Praktika and the Ege centre. A & K were going to find their own way home on the dolmuş and the bus.

We managed to keep to the plan and had a good day out. Do you remember our trials and tribulations when we tried to import a hot-tub into Turkey earlier this year? ... well guess what we found in Praktika (a huge DIY store)? .... Yup, the very same, and for less money than we paid in the UK. Oh well!! Kevin and Annette left us at this point to get the dolmuş back to the bus-station. We heard later that they had no problem and in fact everyone was so very helpful to them, and their dolmuş driver treated them like celebrities. They didn't think he got many tourists on his vehicle.

We found our way to the airport to wait for the BA flight to arrive. The first person we bumped in to was Bulent from Maxitours .... oops, how embarrassing. But he didn't seem to mind and we spent a pleasant hour or so chatting in a cross between English and Turkish The flight was only 10 minutes late, and Pat and Don were so pleased to see us. Then it was straight back home.

We kept the hire car for Saturday. That allowed us and P & D to use it to pick up the veg at the market, and to show them just how extensive the building is around here, before having a drive to Akbuk to show them the changes down there. We stopped at a few of the pretty bays on the way, such as Konya and Zongulduk. After Akbuk we called at a garden centre and then shared our transport with a rather large bamboo which we will use as screening between us and the new building going up behind us.

Monday, and we started by checking our bank accounts. All the interest rates have gone down by ½ a percentage point this month, and some had already gone down last month by a ¼ point. We are going to check out the rates being given by Finans Bank and TEB bank later in the week, to see if we can better what we are getting at the moment. We also heard that the customs allowance for spirits coming in to Turkey is 5 litres and wine 7 bottles, so we checked that out as well, and according to the Turkish ministry web-site that is indeed the case. We, like many other Brits, have always assumed that it is 2 litres. As booze is so expensive here, that's a welcome discovery.

We also had a few jobs to do, fitting all those bits and pieces we bought in Izmir. Pat and Don had brought us a weather station from England, which also records wind speed. That'll help when we're trying to decide whether or not to go out on the boat. We fitted that to the solar heating frame on the roof. We also planted the bamboo and re-arranged a few plants in the garden before going for a very welcome and refreshing swim in the sea (still 20.4C). We finished the day off at a bonfire party with a few friends ... a very pleasant evening made even better as we could sit outside till nearly midnight enjoying a light supper and convivial conversation ... unlike the UK where we used to have to wrap up in 3 or 4 layers and rush to get in the warm as soon as the display was over.

Thunderstorms and rain dominated Tuesday. We had a visit from Ilhan to discuss projects he may be doing for us and for friends.

Wednesday Ilhan came to put a hatch in our chimney so that we can remove the soot. Although quite cool, we decided conditions were OK to sail. We managed about 2 hours, but were frozen by the time we came in ... silly really as day time temperature is till 15C. However the wind was coming from the north and had a real edge to it.

Thursday was a bit of a non day, in that, although we seemed to be busy, nothing specific seemed to be achieved apart maybe from the fact we opened a new bank account with Finans bank, as they are currently offering the best interest rate around town.

Which brings us to Friday, which proved to be very busy, as we tackled the garden. We are just amazed at how well plants here grow in what seems to be poor soil. We had a massive heap of organic matter when we had finished pruning. We also moved our citrus trees (protecting our entire crop of one as we did so) as they weren't performing in the “wind tunnel” down the side of the house, and we also think they need to be in an “open” situation not surrounded by other shrubs. We also moved the canoe to the patio next door (thank you Nicky and Mary for the offer), in readiness for the return of our sailing boat, which we will remove from the sea shortly.

Oh Boy!!!!! What a storm we had on Saturday!! It started of with the odd shower but as the wind increased, so did the rain. It lashed down. The weather station we had installed got up to gale force eight before it lost it's marbles, and still the winds and rain increased. We had a phone call to say that our boat was listing to one side, so we donned our wet weather gear and braved the storm to check. It wasn't too bad but we decided to bale the water out, and proceeded to pull the boat in. Well the wind nearly pulled us in, but we managed to get the boat to shore, and empty the water from it. We were beginning to think that we should have brought the boat home on Friday. We were just putting it back on it's mooring when an absolutely massive gust took me (David) clean off my feet, and Sue grabbed to ensure I wasn't washed away When we turned around, Mandy and Lawrence's boat had capsized. A quick phone call brought them hurriedly down to the beach, where we all set about trying to right it. Lawrence pulled himself out along the mooring rope and managed to free a halyard and pass it over the hull. He was hoping to use the halyard and dagger board to lever the boat upright, but to no avail. So David joined him in the water and with David standing on the dagger board and Lawrence lifting the mast, they finally managed to bring “Turkish Delight” upright again. The wind strength had started to diminish, so we thought it would be OK to leave the boats overnight, but all four of us agreed that we would take the boats out of the sea on Sunday.

So Sunday we reconvened on the shore, complete with launching trolleys and a few helping hands, and between us we brought the two craft out of the water. We had several months of barnacles and algae build up to clean off. That took a lot of elbow grease and about 2 hours. Once clean we called Kevin and Annette to give us a hand to lift in to it's winter storage position. Then we had to clean and stow all the accessories like the sails, mast, boom, and all the ropes.

That complete we had to set to and clean up after the night before. Mandy and Lawrence had water through every South facing window. We had water forced under the roofing felt and down the walls of our office. Our satellite dish had also been blow off it's setting, so we had to call Digiturk to rectify that. They couldn't come till Tuesday they said. We had some plant damage, as well as a drain pipe blown from the roof to the patio, and smashed. In the evening Pat and Don came round and we dined together ... a pleasant end to a fraught day.

First thing Monday morning we went back to the shoreline to recover our mooring gear from sea. Once home it all had to be cleaned and put away. Then it was up to the roof to stick down the roofing felt with black mastic to try to prevent further ingress of water. While I was up there I thought I would check the satellite dish and discovered the support pole was split and bent. Don took us to a nursery to buy some more plants for Nicky and Mary as well as a mimosa and a lemon tree for us. Planted all those before going for coffee at P & D's. Digiturk called to say they were on their way (one day early) and would be with us shortly. However, before they could make it the evening culminated in another long power cut together with thunderstorms, so they had to curtail their one hour journey from Söke.

Tuesday gave us the opportunity to go to the new Kipa at Kuşadasi and browse it more thoroughly. Kevin and Annette came with us, and we met up with our friends from Davutlar when we got off the Dolmuş at Kipa. We all headed for the restaurant area to have a catch-up chat over a coffee. Then we split up and hit the shops. It took a couple of hours to browse the main store and the other shops in the complex, and then we all met up for a late lunch, and compared purchases. As the recents storms had destroyed the covers we had over the canoe, we had found a good quality car cover to do the job. Annette had a clothes airer, which we were going to have to transport back to Didim on the Dolmuş. One very spooky encounter we have to mention though. As mentioned before, Digiturk had aborted their visit the previous evening, and we had received a text in Turkish from them giving us instructions on what to do next. Well needless to say we couldn't understand it, so, having seen a sales point for Digiturk in the complex, we thought we'd ask them what the message said. We walked up to the booth, but before we could show the guy anything, he said “You're from Didim aren't you? You have problem with your dish. My friend is coming to fix it tomorrow about 4 or 5 o'clock”. We were gob-smacked. We had never seen this guy before and we were an hour and a quarter from home in a busy shopping complex, with a broad mix of nationalities, and yet he knew exactly why we were there. We still can't fathom how he knew. Scarey or what!! We parted company with Margaret and Ted, and we and Kevin and Annette went off to find the Dolmuş stop. We all made it back home to Yeşilkent just as the heavens opened and we had more thunderstorms.

Wednesday was a nice bright day and, as it was the 14^th, it was earmarked for paying our bills. It was also interest day at Akbank, so our first port of call was there to close the account, and shift the money to the new account at Finansbank. That I would do later on the internet as it's much, much cheaper than letting the bank do it. The bill paying proved to be very stress free as there was no one in either office, no queues, miracle of miracles!! Digiturk turned up in the afternoon, just as the young man at Kipa had indicated and fixed our dish. We now have better reception than before. They'd just left when the power went out again during yet another thunderstorm. Sue decided she would prepare soup on the gas (a dual fuel cooker is a must here). Then, with a bit of luck, the power would be back to cook the rest of our meal in the oven. Well it couldn't have worked better, as the power did come back, and stayed on just long enough. We had just served up our meal, when another massive thunderstom arrived with a bang. We had pulled all the plugs around the house, but we heard a bang upstairs, and one particularly vicious bolt of lightning had hit the phone line and wiped out our modem and phones.

Thursday, I checked out the damaged phones, they unfortunately were not salvagable, but the modem was undamaged, only it's transformer was blown. This meant we couldn't transfer the rest of our money to Finansbank. However, we knew Akbank have an internet terminal, so off we went. The only problem was, unlike the internet at home, there was no “English” button on the bank's terminal. Most of the website we could manage, but as usual, there's always one or two questions that we couldn't understand, so we enlisted the help of another customer and the security guard. Job done. Up to Finansbank to complete the transaction by opening the new interest account. We had read on the internet that they offered an account where you leave the money for a year, but they paid interest into a current account each month. However, the young man at the bank said they didn't offer such an account. We insisted, and he started to make phone calls. ¾ hour, and a cup of coffee later, and he had the information. However, the interest rate was not good enough, so we chose a different account. Bet he loved us. However, he did learn a bit more about his own bank's products didn't he? We hunted round the local electrical shops for a transformer for our modem and finally tracked one down .... in the fishing tackle shop ... well this is Turkey! We popped round to Pat and Stuart to say hello and spent a lovely afternoon with them catching up, and then we had a text from Pat and Don inviting us to eat with them at Café More ..... they didn't have to ask twice.

With Friday being a lovely sunny day, and with the builders behind us having the day off, we were able to have breakfast on the terrace. Then we ambled down to the seafront on Gaye 2 and just sat and gazed at the water for a while ... so peaceful. Wandered back home to do a few things but we were pleasantly interrupted by Kevin and Annette who had brought the pictures from bonfire night to show us. We had another pleasant interruption a little while later, when Graham and Anne rolled up to deliver an invitation to their ruby wedding celebration.

Don was kind enough to offer to take us to the market on Saturday in his car he'd hired, so we were able to pick up all the veggies etc. and travel home in comfort. That was a luxury we don't often experience. The afternoon was warm enough for us to relax and read up on the top terrace. Although we are having a lot of rain and thunderstorms at the moment, the temperatures are still holding up, and when the sun does appear, as it did this day, the temps are up in the middle twenties.

A Sad Loss!

Well this short epistle brings with it some sad news. Peter, a well known and popular figure down at the Blue restaurant, who lived up at Renkli villas beside the Police Academy, and a neighbour of Dave and Lynn, died suddenly on Saturday (27th Oct). He had taken his wife to the market and then, as he wasn't feeling well, returned home. A short time later he was rushed to hospital, but passed away. He is to be flown to the UK for a cremation. He'll be sadly missed in the village. A wake was held in the Blue Restaurant on Wednesday (31st) evening, coincidentally his birthday, and was attended by many of his friends and neighbours.

A short October Supplemental.

On Monday 22nd we had friends over, and spent most of the day with them, walking around the village and exchanging news. Stuart had discovered and wanted to tell me about a company in Didim who were installing satellite internet connectons. We will be following this up for any one who isn't able to get a phone line put in. As the evening approached, so did a VERY black cloud. Stuart and Pat beat a hasty retreat back to their home and we battened down the hatches and waited for the storm, which duly arrived in all it's fury. Sue put our only surviving houseplant outside for a welcome drink, but when we fetched it back in an unwelcome visitor had hitched a ride. We noticed it later on in the middle of the living room carpet ... a three inch long scorpion. It was unceremoniously swept up and disposed of outside.

Tuesday was fine, if a little windy, and we were woken by the merry hammering on the plot next door .. the builders had started. That was our cue to get up and go out, something we will have to do on a regular basis for the next few months. We collected our post from the PTT, and then went to Isbank to close all our accounts. On to the plant nursery to get a few trees and shrubs to screen our garden and that of our neighbours from the builders. We managed to get them planted, but discovered a leak in Nicky's garden. We arranged to have a plumber come to fix it, but he wasn't available straight away, not that it was a real emergency at that time. It had been caused by one of the builder's lorries churning up the road so badly, that he'd hit the water pipe and pulled a connector off further down the pipeline in the garden.

More torrential rain and thunderstorms overnight gave the trees a good start. We went walking to escape the noise from the builders, and ended up down Ladybird Beach (in front of the Blue Restaurant). Low and behold it's been dug up again. We think it's an attempt to stop the sea taking away the new sand but it doesn't look very nice. The swimming platform was still there but has since been taken away.


Even more torrential rain overnight, and the morning saw Nicky's leak had turned into a flood, so much so that the builder decided to get his own plumber in. He took a look, made a temporary fix to stop the water flowing, and then left saying he would be back the following day. Meanwhile we had to cancel our plumber, who was on his way (not a happy chappy).

What happened on Friday when the plumber finally turned up to fix the problem was like something out of "Some Mother's do have 'em". A total fiasco. He cleared the pipework back to the garden wall and as the pipe looked a little worn, decided he would replace it with a new section. Well that would have been fine if he had started attaching the new pipe to the dry end, but no, he cut the pipe, the water shot 20 foot into the air, fittings flew everywhere, the garden filled with water, he was wearing wellies, but they were under the water level and filled with mud and water. He finally managed to attach one end only to find that he'd lost the fittings for the other. They were scattered all around, and under several inches of gloop. So he had to bend the pipe to stop the water flow, and go off to town for some more fittings. And the chaos continued as he tried to join the pipes together with the full force of the water coming down the pipe. Sod's law dictates that we have very high water pressure at the moment. It was dark before he finally had it all under control, but it had to be left for two days to let the water subside and allow us to make sure that there were no leaks before the garden could be restored to some semblance of order.

Saturday, market day, but before we could shop, we came across Annette and Kevin drinking tea at a pavement café, so we joined them and planned our trip to Izmir on Monday. Saw many other people in the market .. it becomes quite a social event. We hadn't been back long when we had a text telling us the sad news about Peter.

Later that day, I (David) decided to attempt to restore some of the lost files from my back-up hard drive back on to my newly fixed computer. I'd hardly started when yet another computing disaster .. all the files on the hard drive became corrupted ..... b*****y!!!!!!!!!!! For those of you who are not too computer literate let me assure you that this is very bad (so was the language). My mood became very black and Sue evacuated to another room. I tried all sorts to get the files back but to no avail. Eventually I found a program on the internet, and tried the demo version which seemed to be relatively successful. So I gave in and purchased it. I would say that it recovered 3/4 of my fies, including all the music, photos and video. Only some of the office documents failed to survive, so I was very lucky.

Sunday our escape from the builders took us to the boat. There was no wind, but we couldn't face the noise back home, so we motored out about 300 yards, anchored and then used the boat as a swimming platform. We had a lovely long swim in crystal clear water. We had taken the digital thermometer with us, and it read 20.4C in the water, really warm for the end of October. Just as we got out a breeze sprang up, so we dried off, hauled up the sails and spent the next two hours zooming up and down the bay. Very peaceful as we had the whole bay to ourselves.

Monday we were up early to catch the 9 o' clock bus for Izmir with Kevin and Annette, it was their wedding anniversary, and to celebrate they wanted a guided tour of the city (as much as you can do in one day anyway). We started in Basmane, and then we went through the Souk. Many of the shops there were shut, very unusual, but when we enquired we discovered it was the 87th anniversary of the creation of the Turkish Republic, and so was a public holiday. Down on the seafront there was a huge rally, with parades and flags and noise and razamataz. Thousands of onlookers and participants, Tv crews, the works. We watched for a short time before boarding a ferry to Karsiyaka. There the shops were all open and it was bustling. We found a little Pideci (Turkish pizza shop), and had a bite and a drink before hitting the shops. Once we were all shopped out, we got the 7 o'clock bus back to Didim, an excellent day.

Tuesday was another day we had to escape the noise by sailing and swimming, and on Wednesday we went over to Akbuk to visit Yo and Nigel. They've settled in well and made lots of friends over there, some of whom we met as we wandered along the seafront and came across them in various cafes. Well of course it's only polite to sit down and sup a coffee or whatever with them isn't it? We had a good day with them and as the road back from there is so bad, this time we took them up on their invitation to stay the night, so that we could tackle the pot-holed road in daylight.

October

We've had a few comments from people recently that they haven't heard from us for a while .. well there is a reason for that which we'll come to in due course. We were up to the 28th weren't we. So, the 29th being grand-daughter Hayley's 18th birthday, we just had to ring her to wish her a Happy Birthday. We also managed a little sailing but as soon as we saw mini whirlwinds forming over the sea, we decided to call it a day and scurried back home.



Sunday we woke up to a power cut... one of the many we are suffering at the moment. This one lasted for six hours. Very inconvenient as we had invited Eric and Diane for brunch as it was their last day here in Yeslkent till next year. Fortunately we have a dual fuel cooker and were still able to feed them. That evening we met Don and Anthea at Sabila restaurant for their farewell meal. Everyone is leaving.



We needed a day out, so on Monday we joined up with Phil and Lynn, hired a car and went off to Bodrum for the day. Sue and I needed bits for the boat, and our friends just wanted a look round. We weren't very successful with our boat bits. The chandlers in Icmeler cater mainly for much larger boats, like the gulets and million pound yachts. So, for a change we went off to Gumbet and Bitez to see how they had changed in the last few years since we holidayed there. It's funny isn't it how you remember a place one way, and when you return, although nothing much has changed, it seems quite different. Gumbet was so much more brash than when we stayed there; perhaps it was because it was a different time of year, or perhaps we have mellowed since. Bitez on the other hand, although more commercialised than when we last saw it, was still a very tranquil little place but probably not in July and August.



We reluctantly gave them their car back on Tuesday, the motorbike always seems so much worse after we've treated ourselves to a car for the day. We picked up the post, found a bill from Isbank, out of date of course as Turkish post takes so long to arrive even in Turkey, and then had to go to Isbank to dispute this. As always, a 2 hour queue in the bank before we eventually lost patience and knocked on the manager's door and got him to sort it out. We did see our new neighbour, the one who moved into Mike and Doc's house. She's the cashier in Isbank, and, as she speaks good English, the manager left it to her to sort out, which we are pleased to say she did. Near to Isbank is a furniture/white goods shop, and unfortunately we popped in there to see the owner who we know, and came out with one of those water cooler/heater things. We thought it would be useful when Christie and her brood descend upon us next August .... premature or what? Money spent we had to go sailing to cool the collective brain. Didn't stay cool for long though. As we packed up and were chatting to a couple of neighbours a fight suddenly erupted nearby between some residents and a young Turkish couple. The young couple had been on a bench, relaxing young man lying in lap of young lady, as they do. The old men in the nearby café took great exception to this, as it is Ramadan, and if you are Muslim, one of the things you are supposed to abstain from is sex, which seems to include any outward signs of affection. Punches were thrown and the young man went for his gun tucked in his belt. At this point, a man (Sargestine), who was once a chief of police, intervened and slowly seperated the warring factions and calmed things down. Got a bit hairy for a while though. We later heard of a similar incident a few days previously, this time over leaves falling from a tree into a neighbours garden, and each combatant had a gun pointing at the other. Guns are too easily available here, not for aliens like us though thank goodness.



Wednesday was a non day when we did all those little jobs that build up during the periods when we're having fun.



And now we come to the reason for our lack of communiction recently. My (David) computer went wrong. Oh what a calamity. It's at this point you wish you'd backed up more frequently. I tried everything to get it to work, but to no avail. With the help of Melih, a good neighbour, we went in search of a computer engineer. Well he just went through everything I'd done and then said we should contact Hewlett Packard and gave us the number. When we contacted them, we were told that they couldn't service my machine as they don't sell that model in Turkey. So much for the world-wide guarantee. We looked for a good service agent and decided upon one in Izmir, but before I sent the computer to them, in my own mind I was sure it was the hard-drive, so on Saturday, I scoured the internet for a supplier in Turkey who had one in stock and finally found one in Ankara. With Melih's help I ordered one. It was also market day, and while we were there, we purchased some plants which of course had to be planted as soon as we got home.

Sunday - sailing, swimming, sun-bathing

Monday - We discovered that the sail had started to tear. This was because a loop that should have been on the boom to tie the foot of the sail to was missing. We bought some stainless steel fittings at the local fising tackle shop, and adapted them to the task in hand. Sue then sewed up the sail and we fitted the adaptations, and then went out on the boat to check them out. Worked well. Back at the quay-side we met a young Turkish friend we hadn't seen all summer. Apparently he's been in hospital having further operations to correct the damage caused by a bad car accident he'd had a couple of years ago. It was nice to see him back.

It had to come, but it's always disappointing when it happens, but they dug the foundations of the plot behind us on Tuesday. As always they cleared the plot first and of course they dumped the rubbish behind our wall. After remonstrating with them, they were persuaded to move it elsewhere. Then we met the estate agent who sold the plot. His first comment was that he needed to speak to our neighbours Nicky and Mary and us, as he was going to raise our back wall as his client wanted her privacy. We left him in no doubt that he would be doing no such thing. It would have been nice if his client, who was there, had been more amenable, but she was not willing to compromise, so our wall will stay as it is. If they want a high wall, she will have to have it built alongside ours on her own land.

It was a very calm sunny day on Wednesday, perfect for the canoe, so we paddled across the bay and beached at Konya. Had a look around before paddling back to Ladybird beach (in front of the Blue Restaurant) where we saw Ken and Betty. That was handyas we needed to see them to get their English contact details. Then on round to Pine beach The canoe raises a lot of interest wherever we take it , and today was no exception. After a cooling swim we paddled back to Gaye 2, swapped boats as the wind had returned, and sailed off. While we were criss-crossing the bay we had a phone call from Mandy and Lawrence to give us the good news that, after a year of trying they had finally got the phone. They also asked if, when we had finished on the water, we could go round and set up the modem for the internet for them.

Nigel and Yo's relatives have returned to England, and so we arranged to meet them on Thursday at Pine beach for a picnic. We had prepared enough food for 6 of us, but Phil and Lynn had to cry off at the last minute as they had suddenly realised that it was a 4 day public holiday starting at lunchtime, and they needed to pay their bills as they were returning to UK on Monday. We had a good time with Y & N, and after we had finished at the beach we returned to our place for refreshments, and a look at the photos they had accumulated during their visit to the UK. It was nice to see them after such a long gap.

Friday was a very windy day so we set off to catch up with a few friends. Kevin and Annette had been to the Lebanon for their daughter's wedding and they had several pictures to show us. What an eye opener. If you expected to see a war-torn city, then you, like us would have been surprised. It's actually very smart and quite beautiful in places. There are big shops with all the products you could buy in Tescos (whisky £1.40/litre) or Debenhams, six lane motorways (petrol 20p/litre), amazing churches and a cathedral reached by cable car. The only part of the country that is war-torn is the Muslim quarter.

Saturday there was no market as it was Bayram (religious public holiday), there had been a smaller version on Thursday, but we missed it, so it was off to Migros supermarket for a few essentials. We met up with Pat and Stuart who invited us back for coffee, which turned into lunch and tea. They had recently returned from a trip around the Greek islands and we heard all about their adventures, illustrated by all the photos they took. During the night we had a violent thunderstorm and the first rain since May.

By morning it had cleared up and was a beautiful day for sailing. In the evening we had invited Phil and Lynn for a farewell meal. They were going back to the UK the following morning. And what a shock ... the temperature dropped to 10 degrees that night, time to replace the single sheet on the bed for a summer weight quilt.

Monday was cold (19C) and windy, so we started on some home maintenance, during which Gary came to adapt our boat trailer by welding a wheel to the front. Should make life easier when we take the boat out of the water in the winter. He also fixed the arm-rest on the sofa. He and his welder are jolly useful .... cost? a bottle of wine ... bargain. Recommenced our cleaning only to be interrupted again (thank goodness) by Kevin and Annette, who wanted to look at our boat catalogues. Then it was off to Mandy and Lawrence to add a few programs to their computer so they are protected on the internet, and so they can use the computer to phone home.

Tuesday, too much wind to sail, which was lucky as it was also bill paying day (means we don't waste a day's sailing doing mundane things). Checked the meters and boing!!! Electricity meter not working. Went to Tedas (local electricity board) only to be told WE had to buy a new meter, take it back to them and they would fit it when they could. Where do you buy a meter? What sort? No idea, but we knew a man who might. Remember, all these conversations are in sign language and sprinkling of Turkish, not easy. Our man not only knew, he could supply and his wife filled in the obligatory Turkish form we had been given. Back to Tedas who said they would come sometime during the week. It's a year since we had all the problem with our post and had decided to have a PO box to resolve the issue, so it was time to renew the payment, 6 YTL (£2.50) for the year. Went to the main PO, but were redirected to a smaller PO on the seafront, well this is Turkey after all. We also called in at the Cargo offie to see if the part for the computer had arrived .. no. So, with the day totally ruined, we had a drink (non-alcoholic) with some friends in Sabila, before taking the motorbike for it's yearly service.

Wednesday we waited in for Cargo and Tedas. no joy on either score, so we gave up and went sailing and swimming.

Waited in again on Thursday, but with a six hour power cut ,we couldn't tackle anything indoors so we passed the time by clearing up and redesigning the front garden. Cargo arrived with the computer hard disk, and finally, when the powercut had finished, Tedas turned up to fit the new meter ... result! I (David) fitted the new hard drive, and bingo, another result, it worked. Of course, that means everything on the old disk is now lost, but it also means I have a computer, although it will be a long job putting everything back the way it was.

Friday, our neighbour Mary had to go to Kusadasi to pick up her new residency visa, and invited us along for the ride. On the way we called in at a DIY store in Soke, where we managed to get the patio lights we had been searching for during the past year. We needed four, but have never found an outlet with more than two in stock that matched, so we were well pleased. Then it was off to the new Kipa (Tesco) store that has opened on the road to Kusadasi. It's nice to see a few recognisable labels again. It's on a complex with other shops, so will make an outing for us during the winter. This time it was only a cursory glance as we had to make sure we arrived in Kusadasi before the police station closed the visa office. After we'd collected the visa, we had a walk and a meal along the seafront, browsed a few clothes shops and headed for home via Koctas (B & Q).

Market day, and we had to do a big shop. We went early as the weather man had predicted rain for the afternoon. Everybody else had done the same thing as we seemed to meet everyone we know up there. However the rain didn't arrive, so in the afternoon we hopped on the boat. It was a bit choppy, but we stuck with it for about a couple of hours. We were joined by Peter and then by Mandy and Lawrence who were giving their rebuilt boat it's maiden voyage. They are so happy to be out on the water again, but with the winds getting stronger we all had to give up and make for home. The expected rain arrived during the night with a vengeance, accompanied by a thunderstorm, and extremely high winds.

The next morning saw sunshine and the aftermath of the storm to clear up, retrieving patio furniture from around the garden, cleaning up the patios and balconies etc. But once again, although rain was forecast, it didn't arrive. In fact it was a beautiful day, short sail, long swim. More storms during the night.

Late September

On Monday 17^th our friends Eric and Diane were going to Kusadası. They had never been there before, so we invited ourselves along as unofficial guides. Our bus journey there takes us through the cotton fields on what you might call the Söke plain .. a broad flat area with a large river meandering through it. The cotton fields require a lot of water especially when it is planted, very similar to rice. This time of the year it is ready to be harvested, but this year we observed that the itinerant workers who usually nomadically follow the seasonal agricultural work were largely absent, and in their place were large combine harvesters moving up and down the fields. A sad sign of the times. These workers have been employed on subsistence wages for many years, living in shelters made from sheets of polythene and canvas, all along the edges of the fields, parents, children dogs and all, and now, almost overnight, the tradition has changed. Last year it was a novelty to see one of these combines, but this year it has become the norm.

Our day out in Kusadası commenced with a visit to Bird Island, where we unexpectedly met two friends of E & D who live in Kusadası. We had a coffee with them and a long chat, followed by a walk around the island and it's castle battlements. Then it was a bit of retail therapy as Diane was looking for a sparkly top for a “do” she would be attending in the near future in the UK. This was followed by an excellent late lunch of çöp şiş, a wander along the sea-front, more liquid refreshment before returning to the dolmuş station for our journey home.

On Tuesday we had a frustrating morning. We had gone down to sail. It was still very windy, but we thought we might manage it. However, fate took a hand because the electric motor decided not to work. Without it, we won't venture out onto the sea. Our friends Ed and Peter do, they rely on paddles should they get a problem, but that seems like hard work, especially if you happen to be 3 Km away from Gaye 2 when the mast breaks or a stay fails and you have to row all the way back, with the wind against you ... no, not for us. We gave up and returned home to investigate the problem. It wasn't a big problem fortunately. The salt water had eaten into one of the cable clips that attach to the battery, and although it seemed fine just to the eye, it had in fact corroded to the point of not allowing a current to pass. A quick repair later and the motor was fixed, but by this time we had lost the urge so to speak. Anyway, at that point Melih, our Turkish architect friend came round with the plans of his new project which he wanted us to peruse. He's going to build a block of 4 houses in Altinkum, each one having 3 en-suite double bedrooms and it's own swimming pool. He came round earlier in the year, and was measuring our lounge and kitchen, and has incorporated many features of our house into his own. He has taken on board many of the comments of people around, to correct failings of other houses and improve on features incorporated into his previous projects. He is aiming to sell these 4 for around £75,000 each, which is very competitive in the current market. We don't think they'll be hanging around for long.(USD 8.11)

Wednesday we had to collect our post, and was spent socialising and serving our fellow Brits as an information bureau. We seem to do a lot of this ... we ought to have a sign outside with office hours. The sign would read “Information Bureau, estate agents, insurance agents, flight booking office, travel agent, money exchange, banking information, internet café, legal advisers, home services. Opening hours 5pm to 7 pm” (so as not to interfere with sailing or sleeping). Three times this week information seekers have got us out of bed. However the day ended on a very pleasant note at the police academy for a really peaceful meal with Ken and Betty, overlooking the sea as the sun went down. Not many souls there, so even better service than usual, with the waiter giving us a lift down the road at the end of a lovely evening.

Thursday we sailed for most of the day. Amanda and Lawrence's new boat had arrived, but they weren't out in it as they were waiting for the company who built it to come and fix a few teething problems. By the time we finished, the man had turned up and I spent the next couple of hours with them, assisting where I could. It is a very good looking boat and the quality of the fixtures and fittings is second to none. We were a bit concerned about an apparent crack in the hull, but Feridun, the boat-builder said it was just in the gel-coat caused by the journey down and easily repairable. It was almost dusk before they could take it out for a test run, and all seemed to be well. When we got home we had a message from Phil and Lynn. They needed to come round to book their tickets home. They had to be back before Lynn's birthday as the family are organising a party. That done and the rest of the evening was our own ... just time to go to bed!!!

Friday got off to a good start as we got an email from Christie, our daughter. She has passed another module in her HND course in Horticulture. As she fits this in between work and bringing up 3 children, she is doing remarkably well, especially as this particular module, large scale commercial horticulture didn't really interest her. The next module will be plant genetics and should provide more challenge. She has also booked flights for her whole family to visit us next year ... a wonderful piece of news. We can't wait. The rest of the day was spent socialising as it was too windy to sail.

Saturday we were woken early by Phil and Lorraine who were after information on who could build them some kitchen cupboards. We gave them the name of our carpenter and they went off to the industrial estate to find him. It being windy, we lay in the sun on the top terrace and read for the rest of the day. In the evening we borrowed a wheel barrow and collected up several loads of waste wood from a building site we had spied on a walk, in readiness for cool winter nights. We've become scavengers and recyclers since living here.

More wind on Sunday, and still too much for sailing, so we went to Altinkum. If it's windy in Yeşilkent, it's usually not so on the other side of the peninsular in Altinkum, so a walk along the seafront there was very pleasant, and we met several of our neighbours doing the same thing. We returned to Didim in the evening to have a meal at the Sabila restaurant with Diane and Eric. As we weren't sure of dolmuş times, it being the end of the season, Sabila were very good and fetched us in their vehicle and once we had finished our meal, brought us all home again. Not many restaurants in the UK would be so accommodating .... something maybe they should look into?

Another early morning awakening, when Ali, our carpenter woke us. He was looking for Phil and Lorraine to measure up for their kitchen. We pointed him in the right direction and then we packed up our things and went to Tuntaş beach for the day. This is a tourist beach that we normally avoid, but as we are at the end of the season we thought it wouldn't be too busy. Wrong!! However it was interesting to people watch. Most of them should follow the example of the Turkish Muslim women and cover up, as what was on display would have been best hidden. Yewk! Once again with the high winds on the Yeşilkent side, Tuntaş beach was sheltered. It's also a gently shelving sandy beach, so the water round there is still very warm.

Tuesday we went down to Gaye 2 to check the winds. (USD 8.11) It's not always easy to know about the strength of the wind up at our house, as when the wind is from the north, we are quite sheltered. It was much too windy for sailing so imagine our surprise to see Mandy and Lawrence's boat missing. We asked Turkoz (Peter's wife) and she said the boat was gone. We were surprised they would go sailing in such a high wind, but Turkoz said no not sailing, back to Izmir for repairs. Apparently it had sunk the previous day, (the “crack in the gel-coat”) and had to be returned to the factory. It needs a complete new hull. Poor Mandy and Lol's bad luck that has dogged them all year has struck yet again. The only good thing is that the guy is very apologetic and will put it all right with absolutely no extra cost to them. Later, in the afternoon, the wind subsided enough, to around a force 4 or 5, and we were able to get 3 hours of enjoyable sailing in. When we got back Phil and Lynn were on the jetty watching us. Lynn said she had spent the day baking, so I invited us round to theirs for apple pie and cream. Yummy!!

Wednesday, we read, swam and sailed the day away. Gaye 2 seems to have got busier again. More houses are open again and more people are around. Marbuleh (that may be how you spell her name), our 93 year old Turkish neighbour, seems to have a new lease of life since the heat of the summer has subsided. She can often be seen chatting to her friends and walking up and down from her house. She swims from the jetty every day, sometimes more than once, climbing down and up the steps at the end. She's very remarkable. At the moment she is reading Dan Browne's Da Vinci Code ...... the ENGLISH version. She has a dictionary at hand to translate the words she doesn't understand, and if really stuck, asks us. She is VERY remarkable, we know we have repeated ourselves but she IS.

Believe it or not there was no wind at all on Thursday, so we collected more wood, swept the chimney and washed the living room curtains in readiness for the winter. Not something to look forward to. Then visiting, swimming and finished the day off with a meal at Café More.

Peace Festival

It's strange, September 1st came and it was if someone said "right that's enough summer for you lot" flicked a switch and the temperatures dropped like a stone. Last week we were coping with highs in the upper 30s and lows in the upper 20s and this week those temperatures have dropped by ten degrees. This does allow us to get out and about more now though.

Didim holds a Peace Festival every year on the first 3 days of September. There were many events including a mayorial visit to the Greek island of Samos. The original idea was to promote a peaceful exchange between Greece and Turkey. It is now pushing out the boundaries to a wider theme, a more international theme.

We attended some of the events. We supported the fun run on Saturday in which some of our local Brits were running. This is our friend Gary doing his bit as an ostrich.

We also went to some of the concerts held on the beach in the evenings. The star of Saturday's concert was the Turkish Eurovision Song Contest Winner. She was excellent and drew a crowd of thousands, the biggest crowd we've seen since the Lowestoft Airshow. (just a reminder ... click on any picture to see a larger version)

We also went to another beach concert on Monday. This time the performer was the Turkish equivalent of Neil Diamond, with open shirt, long straggly hair and a gold medallion.

The sound system was one of the best we have heard at a concert, and you could hear the music clearly all along the one and half kilometre beach. After the concert they had a firework display ...not up to the standard of the Oulton Broad Regatta, but nice all the same.

Many of our friends have been coming and going during the last couple of weeks. The ones that are coming have been very generous and brought us many luxuries that we still can't get out here or are just too expensive, such as gammon, sausages, Bird's custard powder; and those that are leaving give us the remaining contents of their larders and fridges. We have been given so much we had to divide it amongst friends and it also meant that a trip to the market was unnecessary. We are so lucky to know such generous people. Thank you all.

One of our friends UK side, asked us to check out her apartment for her as she was due to visit soon. When we arrived there was a sheaf of bills hanging out of the electricity meter and two of them were red, so needless to say, she'd been cut off. She pays a company to deal with this but of course they hadn't been near the place since she left in the spring. If her email to the company doesn't have the desired effect then she'll have that to deal with when she arrives.

Wednesday, Peter arrived back from Ankara and we went down to say hello. While we were there we were able to assist him to get his sailing boat back in the water. With Ed arriving back this weekend our sailing flotilla is now once again complete and Sue and I will have company while we are sailing. Until now, through the summer it has just been us, the power boats and the trip boats.

To get to our boat we have been having to take a roundabout route down to the “harbour” which means using an unmadeup road. However a German family have arrived and have been building a road block. She's complaining about the dust, but as we told her, it's a fact of life here and she has to live with it, a road is a road and she can't just block it off. However, it did make us look for another route and we've actually found a better one, so I suppose we have her and her Germanic attitude to thank for that.

Our friends Pat and Stuart had been on a trip down to Alanya for the last couple of weeks to visit their son who was holidaying there, and also to check out their other property that they have down there. They arrived back over the weekend of the 9^th and came over on Friday to tell us of their adventures. They drove 800Km down the coast road to get there and on the way found some really pretty little bays and coves. One they came across was called Olympus. They followed a track down towards the sea. When they reached the end of the track they had to park up the car and walk the rest of the way. When they arrived there was a fresh water lake fed by a waterfall, and the lake, in turn, overflowed into the sea. They were able to swim in the warm sea and then plunge into the cold lake. They said it was magical, and of course, as they had to walk to get to it, not many others were there. We will have to try to get down there some time. They are now planning their next adventure, Greek Island hopping. They want to go from Bodrum via Datcia to Simi, and then maybe to Rhodes, Tilos, a couple of others and then back to Bodrum. Sounds like fun and they have invited us to join them. We will have to see how the funds are holding up and then get back to them.

This weekend of the 9^th has seen a lot of action. Yo and Nigs have gone off to UK for 3 weeks. Yolande's brother is getting married, and her other brother from New Zealand will be there, so she's quite excited about that. They also have a christening to attend as well as many friends to catch up with.

The road opposite has finally been completed, with a layer of tar and asphalt being rolled into the hardcore, so Paul, Tania, Noel and co will be able to reach the main road without tramping through mud or dust.

As the number of unsold properties here builds, and the need for money for the next project grows, so do the scams. We have had agents who have “sold” apartments and villas with fake Tapus (like the deeds in England), and those that have sold buildings and then, before the tapu has been transferred, taken out loans on them. The Tapu office then refuse the transfer until the loan is paid off. Yo and Nig's sister hadn't had their Tapu and discovered that the seller had passed it over to a friend, who had used it to get himself a loan for a new project. Now they have to go to court to get their money back. It can be a minefield buying property here. Mandy and Lawrence were promised their Tapu, but got a letter just last week saying it has been refused by the military. Apparently it has been built too close to military land and can only be sold to Turkish people. Now they are in turmoil, not knowing where they stand, and are awaiting an appeal, but Turkish friends have told us there's not much hope against a military ruling.

Amanda and Lawrence decided they needed cheering up, after all the bad luck that's befallen them this year, so they've ordered themselves a boat. Not a Rotaboat like ours, but a Sasal boat. It's more of a connoiseurs boat, better rigging, fixtures and fittings. They have done a lot of sailing before, and a basic dinghy like ours just wouldn't do it for them. It arrives this weekend. So that'll make 4 sailing craft in our fleet.

There have been so many arrivals and departures this last couple of weeks, it's been quite a job to keep up with it all. So many people to catch up with, or wave goodbye to. It's been a bit hectic. Our Irish neighbours, the ones adjoining, Nicky and Mary, arrived at the beginning of the month, and just last night they returned to Ireland. While they were here they took us to Sabila, where we were met by Pat and Stuart. Sue and I were celebrating our second year of living here (we emigrated from England 12/09/2005). We all had a great meal and a lovely evening there. We think that Sabila joins Café More as our two favourite restaurants in Didim.

We have roller shutters on our windows, and one of the tapes that you pull to raise and lower them broke this week. We went to all the hardware shops looking for a replacement, but no joy, so we tried the industrial estates. We eventually found one, but in the process we also found the man who last serviced our motorbike. Businesses here come and go, or move on to other places, and so we were pleased to have located him, as he'd done a good job for us last time. Even better, he'd moved from near Akbuk to Didim, much closer for us. Our bike is about due for a service, so, as soon as we have a spare afternoon, we'll go and see him.