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.