I had a busy day at the start of the week on Monday 22nd November. The lira was at 15 to the English pound so my money was now at half the value of when I put it in the bank, which was disconcerting. I was too busy checking all the up to date rules for my forthcoming trip to England that I completely forgot to have any breakfast. I found that I was going to need all of the addresses of where I would be going in the first 10 days of my stay so that I could put them on the PLF, I also needed to decide on at least 1 address to stay at, for the first 2 days – this was going to be tricky as I didn’t really have a plan as yet, but I needed one before I left Turkey. I decided to have a bit of a clear out so that I could donate any bric-a-brac to the white elephant stall at the Christmas fayre this year and I came across a lamp without a working bulb. I had a walk to the Millennium shop to buy a replacement to see if it worked and the weather outside looked like it might rain at any time. The forecast had said to expect a lot of rain this week and so I decided to go to the new A101 supermarket on the high street and Migros to stock up on essentials.
Here’s what I purchased, I will let you decide what was actually essential:
A101 Supermarket
1 packet of chicken noodles 2.20
2 bottles of soda water 2.70
1 pack of sigara böreği 6.90
2 packs of crisps 10.40
Total spent 22.20 lira (£1.48)
Migros Supermarket
1 plastic bag 0.25
1 pack of biscuits 2.50
2 simit 4.50
1 Bounty 4.95
1 packet of bechamel sauce mix 6.45
1 toastie loaf 9.95
1 jar of tomato paste 9.95
1 pack mushrooms 11.49
3 probiotic drinks 12.75
1 pack lasagne sheets 13.95
1 can baked beans 17.95
1 jar of pesto 22.95
1 pack of beetroot 24.90
1 bag of chestnuts 24.95
Total spent 167.49 lira (£11.17)
While I was packing my shopping I saw Maria from Askins estate agents and we had a little chat, then I paid and left to go home.
The lamp bulb was replaced, it worked so I decided to keep it and, after dropping off the shopping and eating a simit for a quick lunch, I decided to go for a walk to the doctor’s. I got a message from Maria to say I had left my Migros card at the supermarket but she had it at work and I could stop by to collect it, which I did – it was really kind of her to do that. My app said I could go for my 2nd Pfizer jab now so I thought I’d make sure that I was still booked in, especially as I needed to have 14 days clear before I landed in England. It was a nice walk along the river but the streets where the road was being taken up was a mess. The doctor confirmed I should come at 9.45am on Wednesday for my next Corona vaccine so that was good as it gave me 2 days spare. On my walk around town I bumped in to Viv who had just been to Alp’s Balıkcim for sausages, which made me want some. Alp has a section of English stuff so I made a few purchases as a treat:
Alp’s shop
1 bottle of HP brown sauce
1 can of baked beans
1 jar of tandoori paste
6 pork sausages
1 Cumberland sausage wheel
This came to a total of 150 lira (£10) but the beans were on offer at 12.50 lira so I couldn’t resist buying another for 5 lira cheaper than in the supermarket.
While I was out, Ann had messaged to ask if I fancied meeting at Heybe’s for an early dinner so I did. She had wine, I had tea and when she ordered her usual chicken schnitzel I decided to go with the potato skin starter. When it came it had a jacket potato with it and was gorgeous but I couldn’t eat it all so I took the jacket potato part home to have with my leftover Sunday dinner tomorrow.
By the time I got home it was dark, had gone quite a bit colder and I saw that the Vietnamese Corona cases were on the rise again.
It was probably the coldest day so far on Tuesday 23rd November and I was wearing a fleece indoors as I ate my simit, cheese and olives for breakfast. I decided I still needed provisions for the massive week of rain that was forecast so I togged up and ventured out to the shops again;
Şok Supermarket
3 red onions 3.22
1 packet of roast chicken bags 4.15
4 carrots 7.16
4 probiotic drinks 19.80
Total spent 34.33 lira (£2.29)
Migros Supermarket
Bread 2.00
Flour 6.35
Quark 6.90
2 cans of grapefruit drink 7.90
Milk 8.75
Eggs 9.95
Chicken pieces 12.95
Cornflakes 12.95
Cheese slices 16.70
2 Glass containers 19.74
Red cheddar 37.95
Total spent 142.14 lira (£9.48)
Selçuk Market
Washing powder 21.50
4 Efes beers 56.00
Total spent 77.50 lira (£5.17)
I also picked up a bottle of wine from Tolga’s wine shop for 45 lira (£3), never mind the rain I was ready for a blizzard!
I had a late lunch which consisted of my leftover Sunday dinner and yesterday’s leftover jacket potato (both from Heybe’s) which was absolutely gorgeous. My next mission was to make a lasagne from the bolognese that I had bubbling away in the slow cooker and could use my new glass containers for batch freezing some of it. I got peckish while it was cooking and ate a Bounty and then some chicken pieces with BBQ sauce. When the lasagne was ready I had to taste some so I cut off the ends and ate those, it was really good and I would look forward to more of it in the next couple of days. I’d been watching a series on Netflix called Cuckoo, with comedian Greg Davies in, and was finding it quite entertaining so I watched more before bed and set the alarm so that I didn’t overlay for my important appointment tomorrow.
joloyolo 