The last day of the month, Monday 30th September, started with a trip to the bank to pick up my new bank card which had arrived. I also tried to change my phone number so that I could use the online app but couldn’t and even the woman working there couldn’t sort it out. I bumped in to several members of the number 2 club and I had a couple of ciders with them in Jiks after a quick stop off at the supermarket.
In the evening it was my turn to pick where we ate so I chose off my list for one we hadn’t been before. We went for a cocktail at Dalyano first and I told ma and pa my choice was either Mai or Natural Paradise. Dad said he didn’t want to go to Mai because it wasn’t very busy and so we carried on to my second choice. When we got there Dad didn’t like the look of it and so we ended up going back to Firat’s, the place I got accidentally glutened.
He was happier there and I stuck to having a chicken shish with rice and salad and we shared a bottle of wine. After dinner we had a nightcap at Bistro Blue and I bought a new top from the clothes shop next door, where they had a sale on.

Tuesday 1st of October was my first visit to Itsuzu beach this year. I arranged to meet my parents at the bus station and we planned to take an early bus, walk along the beach and get a boat back. I’d ordered some gluten free bread to collect from Bakery No10 when I got back, too. The bus fare for one way was cheap and only takes about 15 minutes to get there however we hadn’t planned for it being the start of the new ‘winter’ timetable. We got to the beach and had a Turkish tea each then strolled along the water’s edge to the other end of the beach. We had an ice-cream and even though I normally avoid them, I had a Magnum. Mom was sure they didn’t have gluten in but it turned out the Turkish ones probably do. Ma and pa had pancakes and we eventually got a boat back at 1pm. By the time we got to Dalyan and picked up my loaf I was starving so we headed to Jiks for a drink and some lunch. I had a lovely prawn salad, a cherry juice and a cider followed by a gluten free savoury muffin back at home. Bakery No10 had excelled again as the ‘salty muffin’ was fantastic.
In the evening I stayed in and just had gluten free bread because I’d been glutened by the Magnum and felt rubbish.

I’d already planned for October to be a month for catching up with friends and so Wednesday 2nd October was one of those days. After a breakfast of gluten free toast and a few little jobs here and there I had arranged to meet a friend for lunch.
We met at Yummy’s and it looked like a lot of other people had the same idea as it was very busy. I had a lovely halloumi and roasted veg salad which was massive (I took half of it home) while my mate enjoyed a bit of quiche. We had a good catch up and spoke about me applying for residency here in Turkey so that I can spend more time here in the future.
In the evening it was back to Dad’s turn to choose where we went for dinner and he decided we would revisit the choice of the previous evening, Mai steak house, where we had avoided in favour of Firat’s. We all had steak and a bottle of wine and it turned out to be a good choice as the steak was excellent. It came served with veg which had sprouts in and even they were nice.
On the way home I bumped in to a couple of friends so I had a nightcap with them at Lukka bar and discovered that one of them does a good Elton John impression. They suggested more drinks but I decided I’d better not as I was on an early start with ma and pa the next day.

At 07:44am on Thursday 3rd October there was an earthquake in the area and I experienced the ‘earth move’ while in bed. It felt like I was on a water bed and only lasted a few seconds but the whole place moved and it felt very odd. That morning we decided to get the bus towards the beach and get off at Ekin restaurant for a Turkish breakfast. The place is lovely and beside a big lake where they serve fresh food in the gardens. It was really good and although we could have tried to work out what time the bus went back we got a taxi for only 40 lira.
For lunch I had the left over halloumi salad (from Yummy’s) with gluten free chocolate cake from Bakery No10, before popping out for some shopping. I bought a nice blanket/towel as a table cloth to cover the bright green balcony table and I decided to cook a chicken dinner and some bolognese so that I would have spare for the next day or so. A night in was had and I finished watching Unbelievable on Netflix before starting on the latest series of Designated Survivor.