Dalyan – 7th to 10th February

When I got up on Monday 7th February I discovered several people I knew, and had been out at the weekend, had either symptoms of, or tested positive for Corona. I decided it would be a good idea to do a lateral flow test despite not having any symptoms, just in case. While I waited the 15 minutes for the result I read in the news that schools in Vietnam would reopen at last, more here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/education/20220207/vietnam-starts-reopening-schools-after-yearlong-pandemic-closure/65605.html
There was also an article about how the people in Vietnam were queuing for Corona tests, following the Tet holiday:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20220207/in-vietnam-people-queue-for-covid19-tests-after-tet-holiday/65601.html
Luckily, I was negative because at 2pm I had a meeting with a decorator. This is when I noticed I was missing a glove and that my boots were a mess from walking through the roadworks after the party at Sofra bar at the weekend. In the afternoon I went to Migros for some shopping, where I bought the following:

Bread 2.50
3 apples 5.31
Orange juice 7.45
Crisps 7.90
Milk 11.75
Honey 18.25
Bowl (for popcorn) 24.95
5 Babybel cheeses 26.95

Total spent 105.06 lira (£5.70)

I was pleased to finally find a bowl for popcorn but then remembered the popcorn maker lid was missing so I didn’t get to use it. I had a very late lunch of bread with homemade baba ghanoush, a Babybel cheese, some crisps and an apple. I also cooked a 3 egg omelette to go in rice for dinner later. I made sweet and sour chicken to go with the egg fried rice for dinner which I really enjoyed. I also marinated some chicken in tandoori tikka paste for tomorrow. Captain Caveman had invited Tatas round to his place in Phong Nha and they were drinking wine, we had a video call and I saw he was cooking bacon pasta for her to try and he was pretty drunk as she had taken wine round. It was good to see them and I missed being there, drinking wine and talking about cave issues. It had been a pleasant day, my 2nd week of doing some work where I had managed 5 hours today as well as being a domestic Goddess! I’d also decided that tomorrow I would try something new in my ‘lunch hour’.

When I woke up on Tuesday 8th February I read the news that a Chinese city near the Vietnamese border was in lockdown due to Corona, more here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/international/20220207/china-locks-down-city-of-35-million-near-vietnam-border/65600.html
In Dalyan it was windy, bad weather and lots of rain was forecast. I didn’t have any breakfast as I had an exciting event planned at midday which I needed to ensure my stomach was good for.
Because I’d clearly found it easy enough to dance for quite a while at Alp’s birthday party, without too much pain, it was time to get more active. I joined Maria’s Zumba Gold class with a few other ladies and I’d gone for the easy session as this group is better for my leg. I foolishly stood at the front of the class which meant I had to keep going and had no chance for a cheeky rest. I actually enjoyed it and I was worn out after dancing for about an hour. Back home I had baba ghanoush, bread, Babybel cheese, crisps and some fruit cake for lunch and had a busy afternoon. I did my Turkish homework and accidentally finished the worksheet because I’m enjoying being on fuller sentences. I made tandoori chicken for dinner with rice and had plenty of leftovers for the freezer along with the rest of the sweet and sour chicken.
I spoke to Captain Caveman who really made me laugh when I asked him if he had any plans for Valentine’s Day. His response was ‘I think the answer you want to hear is no’! Unfortunately there was some sad news; poor Carrot, the Elements Collection dog, had died! Captain Caveman didn’t know the details just that he was gone.
I finished the night off with something on Netflix and some chocolate orange.

At my Turkish class on Wednesday 9th February we learned even more useful sentences. It was a lovely sunny day in Dalyan, although in nearby Köyceğiz there was a big storm which caused flooding, more here:
https://youtu.be/SASXGcrsSM0
When I went to the bank I saw that there was more progress on the road improvements but it still seemed to be taking a long time to finish.
I had more baba ghanoush with fresh bread and a Babybel cheese for lunch (no crisps today) then had sweet and sour chicken with steamed rice for dinner. It happened to be the 3rd day of me not having an alcoholic drink so it was only about right that Ann and I should plan to meet up tomorrow for a cheeky afternoon wine with some of our friends.

I was at King Emlak to see Leanne at 11am on Thursday 10th February. Captain Caveman had asked me to pay the council tax and it was proving difficult without any paperwork so Leanne was helping me sort it out. We had a good chat and then I went to my Zumba Gold class. I had leftover sweet and sour chicken for lunch, then popped to Lukka bar to meet more decorators. It was a sunny afternoon, Penny and Phil were there so I sat for a chat but didn’t get a beverage, until after the meeting. I joined Penny and Phil for a white wine and soda while sat outside in the sun. I’d arranged to meet Ann, Sarah and Debbie (Darling) at Wonky’s but Ann came to join us at Lukka for one.
We got to Wonky’s late, Debbie (Darling) had decided not to join us and Sarah was working and on the phone. After one wine we decided to go to Porta Dalya for some dinner and more wine, the place was busy but welcoming. I should have stuck with having the pasta, like Sarah did, but I opted for the chicken shish and Ann had the chicken schnitzel. Mine was fine but I do prefer the chicken and mushroom Alfredo from there. While we were eating Ann said that she had seen Mal earlier who mentioned meeting up with a few of the other expats so we went to a new bar. It wasn’t officially open yet but in we went and had a jolly good night.

Dalyan – 4th to 6th February

My first emotions on Friday 4th February were excitement then disappointment, within the first 5 minutes of waking up. On seeing the Vietnamese news that international travel was going to be a allowed again next month, I hoped it meant I would see Captain Caveman sooner.
Unfortunately, this news was misleading as it didn’t mean general visits for holidays just yet. They would recommence international travel for Vietnamese people coming back from abroad and for people who were married to or related to Vietnamese living in the country already – definitely not me! Tourist visas were not being agreed just yet so it did mean I may not be able to have a visit to see Captain Caveman in Phong Nha this year, after all.
There was more disappointment as it was weigh day and I had put on 0.5kg – and I’d not drunk any booze for 4 days!
I didn’t have any breakfast but I had got a nice portion of gluten free Lancashire hotpot out of the freezer. I make it with lentils instead of thickening with flour and I had that as my meal before going out for an afternoon tipple. I met friends at Wonky’s after I put the laptop away for the weekend, they were already on their merry way. We’d all been invited to Alp’s birthday at Sofra bar but only Debbie (Darling), Ann and I went, from Wonky’s, and said we would meet some of the others there. Ann and I had said we weren’t staying out long but before it had gone dark I was having a slippery nipple with Debbie (Darling) as a chaser to my glass of cider with ice. Debs left early as Roy had already gone home and we moved upstairs in Sofra bar, where we caught up with some of the usual party goers. I find that the thing I miss most about my friends from back home is sharing the same sense of humour and banter. For most of the night I stood talking (and drinking red wine) with Andy, Kaye and Mark who are all a good laugh and share my quick wit and ready repartee. It probably comes as no surprise that we all ended up giving the ball a right old kick for Alp’s birthday with karaoke, lots of dancing and, for some of us, tequila shots.

I’d arranged to meet Ann and Nanny Kay on Saturday 5th February but when I woke up I couldn’t find my phone. As I was running late, I decided I would just go without it then look for it later. I headed to Maizie Moo, next door to Lukka bar, to meet as arranged, at 12.30pm. Due to a miscommunication and hangovers our original plans didn’t work out and I suggested Nanny Kay and I should go to Sofra bar to look for our phones and get a bacon sandwich. On arrival at Sofra it seemed there were a few people who had left their phones there as the bar man showed us the selection and I retrieved mine and Ann’s! The orange juice went down very well but the fantastic bacon sandwich took much more effort than I expected and I was hoping to get back home for another rest. We rescheduled today’s outing to tomorrow and I walked back home feeling a bit delicate. Captain Caveman had sent me photos of another day of him celebrating Tet holiday, this time in Dong Hoi, and I felt like I was joining in from afar. I was getting in to Wordle now as I do love a word game and a night in was definitely on the cards. The Corona heat map was now showing that I was in the middle of a high risk area and so I needed to be careful not to catch the virus. I cancelled our meal at YOLO on account of at least half of us not being able to attend and hoped to reschedule for later in the month. As I chilled out on the sofa I notice Alp had posted loads of live video of us all enjoying his birthday party last night and I’d definitely had a good dance.

I had a rather interesting day on Sunday 6th February and did something new.
I woke up late and without a hangover, having had a lovely sleep once I’d finally nodded off. The Jazz bar had gone on rather late and I felt like the band were outside my bedroom window at one time.
I met Ann and Nanny Kay at the Kordon tea garden and we walked down the river towards the rowing boats. We had arranged to go across the river to visit their late husbands in the Çandır cemetery. This was my first time getting in and out of the rowing boat since my leg injury, as well as my first visit inside the cemetery. It was a lovely sunny day and the first time I’d not worn boots or wellies this year.
The cemetery was lovely and both husbands’ graves were in a nice peaceful corner spot. After our walk there and the rowing boat back, which I was proud to have managed to do, we headed for lunch.
We had booked in for Sunday dinner at Lukka bar and it was definitely the best one I’d had yet. I had beef which was so soft, broccoli, carrots, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and gravy. I didn’t touch the mash potatoes, as I don’t eat them, and the cauliflower came out later as it had been accidentally left in the oven. It really was very good and the Yorkshire pudding was huge. I had just 2 ciders as I was determined to not get carried away with drinking too much. We all left after eating our apple crumble and ice-cream which was really nice. Despite the sun being out all day, and us even having been sat partially outside for our lunch, it was still feeling cold in the evenings and I looked forward to a sensible, early night.
I was quite hungry later on so I whipped up a bit of veggie pasta with melted cheese spread and black pepper for dinner.

Dalyan – 1st to 3rd February

On Tuesday 1st February I was up early for my breakfast of cornflakes. Rain was due but it didn’t come until much later when I decided to go to the shop. I had chicken chasseur with steamed rice for lunch and a Double Decker chocolate bar but I forgot to get something for dinner out of the freezer. By the time I got home with the shopping I was absolutely soaking wet and decided to make myself some potato wedges to eat with a glass of rosé wine.
I made arrangements to go out on Saturday night with Ann, Nanny Kay and Sarah to a new restaurant in town called YOLO. I stayed up late doing my Turkish homework then watched a bit of TV before bed.

Wednesday 2nd February was another good day in Dalyan; I was awake early and I got some updates from Captain Caveman who was with Andrea on day 2 of celebrating Tet, in Phong Nha, so he sent me some photos of what I was missing. I really was feeling bad that I couldn’t be there with them, eating and drinking copious amounts of mystery produce. In Dalyan the weather forecast was pretty bad and we were told to expect floods and storms in the Muğla province. I had cornflakes for breakfast and went to Turkish class at Lukka bar. The class was great today as we started to learn some fuller sentences, ones I would later find out needed to be used with caution! After class I popped back home for a light lunch of a simit with cheese spread before heading to the hairdresser’s. This was the first time that Mehmet had done my hair instead of Emrah. When he asked me if I preferred my hair to be cut when it was wet or dry I thought I’d try my Turkish out and told him I wanted to take a shower instead of saying I wanted him to wash my hair. Apparently, that could definitely get a girl in trouble and he told me to be careful who I say that to. Usually, after having my hair done I like to go out, while it still looks good. As the weather was so bad, I just went home via the off-licence where I bought 2 bottles of Tılsım red wine at 55 lira (£3) per bottle.
I don’t know who cancelled Wine Wednesday but I had meat and potato pie with mushrooms, carrots and gravy for dinner but completely forgot to open the wine. Both the Dalyan Corona cases and the storm were getting progressively worse and it proved difficult to get to sleep.

The storms had been the worst I had experienced in Dalyan so I’d not had much sleep when I woke up on Thursday 3rd February. The electricity and WiFi were hit and miss for the morning so I just had simit with homemade Baba Ghanoush for breakfast. I was meant to be meeting a friend for lunch but I cancelled due to the weather. Captain Caveman had been walking with Andrea and new caver, Darren, on the third day of Tet in Phong Nha and was having wine and steak with Tony at the Lake House – it felt like ages since I’d been there. I had a hot chocolate with a chocolate spoon for lunch, then Leanne popped round to have a look at the ceiling cracks and collect her IKEA candles. For dinner I had smoked turkey with red cabbage, beetroot, gherkins, bread and cheese and had my 4th day of zero alcohol! I finished off the night by opening the last one of my chocolate oranges from Christmas and ate a quarter of it.

Dalyan – 30th & 31st January

On Sunday 30th January it was raining in the morning, I still had washing out but it started to fine up by the time I had to go out. I thought I had set my alarm so that I could get up at 7am to go over to say bye to Jamie but I never heard it, or I had forgotten. I hate goodbyes anyway but I really was going to miss Jamie and was already looking forward to when he would next be coming back.
In the afternoon I had arranged to have Sunday lunch with Sarah and Katrina at Lukka bar. Sarah messaged me an hour early to say she was waiting for me at Tez bar and when I got there she was sat with Brian, who had suffered a recent pet bereavement. Brian is a lovely bloke who usually has some fascinating travel stories so it was sad to see he was quite upset about his poor old Bruno. Mark then rocked up and came to join us and when he heard Sarah and Brian talking about Brian’s 22 year old cat he made an animal joke which was so inappropriately timed that even I was shocked. I’d already drunk my cup of tea while listening to Brian so I ordered a red wine. I invited Brian to join us at Lukka bar but he had to get back to the rest of his menagerie. The rest of us joined Katrina and we were really looking forward to trying the new chef’s Sunday dinner. The food was good, the Yorkshire pudding was plentiful and the meat as soft as butter. There was a choice of meat, I had beef with Katrina, Sarah and Mark had lamb and Sarah was keen to share a bottle of red wine. I had quite a bit of Sunday dinner left and took some home, as did Mark, Katrina left her’s as she hadn’t been well but Sarah was on a mission to eat it all. At 6pm Katrina and Mark left and I didn’t get home until 9pm, having missed speaking to Captain Caveman. I’d had messages from him to say he’d been to the airport in Dong Hoi with customers and picked up our friend, Andrea, who was going to be in Phong Nha for a few days. They had already had lunch at Karst Villas, where she was staying, and then had a bike ride in the afternoon.

Monday 31st January, was the New Year’s Eve in Vietnam, Captain Caveman had a busy day and when he messaged me he was at Oxalis with members of the BBC and my favourite photographer, Ryan De Boodt.
I’d been keen to know what the electric bills for the apartment in Dalyan would be like, because lots of people were talking about the massive increases. When Captain Caveman sent me ours, it was very low. Granted, I had been away in England for 18 days of the previous month but it was looking ok even if it was triple the price, as others had found it. The next bill was due on the 5th February so we would find out then and, as January is generally the coldest month in Turkey, I was not unduly worried.
I had one of Sara’s Chelsea buns for breakfast and then decided I would make a slow cooker chicken chasseur which I could have with rice later for dinner. After getting most of the washing dry I went to change the bedding only to discover that the duvets on the beds were the summer ones! No wonder I had felt cold, but it looked like the cleaner had got mixed up when she had last changed the bedding and put the lower togged quilts on. The builders were back working on the new villa next door as they had started to put on the roof.
I ate my delicious dinner with a couple of glasses of chilled rosé wine (a gift from my friend, Janet) and was watching old episodes of Below Deck on Netflix when there was an earthquake in the nearby town of Ortaca but it wasn’t a bad one. As Tet approached, Captain Caveman and I had a video call and we both drank wine, he got peckish and snaffled down some reheated bangers and mash. I told him how much I would miss celebrating Tet with him and our friends this year. I’d not been in Turkey this late in to January before and, while I was enjoying it, I would have preferred to be in Phong Nha for Tet holiday – maybe next year! It was also the first call we had in the 4 months apart where he said he loved me and missed me. We still had 7 months to go until our planned reunion so it was going to be a tough year!

Dalyan – 28th & 29th January

It was surprising to find that I had not put on any weight when I got on the scales on Friday 28th January. I was now back to my pre-Christmas weight, having lost 0.5kg this week. I had one of Sara’s Chelsea buns for breakfast, as I read that the Corona cases in Phong Nha were on the rise and testing was being carried out in the local area. Dalyan still had some hotspots but for now I was in a low risk area. I met Ann at Jiks for a second breakfast and a bit of a chat about our plans for leaving drinks with Jamie later – we were definitely going to miss him! After saying I was going to dress up I realised I didn’t have that many dressy winter clothes here in Dalyan, so I got the options out and sent photos to Ann for her to help me choose. She came to mine before the night out and even lent me a cardigan to go over my poppy dress and thermal footless tights.
At Sofra bar, as well as it being a leaving party for Jamie, it was Şükrü’s 40th birthday party so the place was busy. The dancing started with Şükrü, Natalie and friends getting everyone up for songs like the ‘Cha Cha Slide’ and ‘Follow the Leader’ and of course I joined in. By 10pm there was a full dancefloor and a couple of rude aprons were out. The female apron had a body of a woman with a large bosom and sexy lingerie while the male one was naked but holding his fishing rod! I put the woman one on and gave Şükrü the other one to wear, then everyone wanted to swap the pinnies as often as the songs changed and it was hilarious. By this time Ann and I had got a bottle of prosecco on the go, we were sipping it on account of it costing 250 lira (£13.60) but we were mainly dancing. There isn’t actually a specific dance floor in Sofra bar so it was busy and we just danced wherever we liked. My leg was definitely getting better and I had missed dancing so much. By the end of the night I was downstairs doing tequila shots with the girls for our belated birthday celebrations, having a right old laugh!
You know it’s a good night when there is only 2 photos on my phone and I didn’t leave until after midnight!

When I woke up on Saturday 29th January I was pretty hungover but I did still have my phone. I had a vague recollection of agreeing to go to Jazz Bar last night but by the time we were all leaving Sofra it was closed anyway. I ate a Chelsea bun for breakfast and texted the girls from last night to check everyone was ok – we were all as hungover as each other it turned out! I decided I was definitely staying home today and I got a pasta bolognese out of the freezer to have for dinner. I thought I would hear from Captain Caveman as he was due out of Son Doong today but he went straight to Chay Lap for the after party and forgot. After dinner I was sat watching TV and wondering why my legs ached so much when I got a message to ask if I was coming to Sofra tonight. No! There was no way I could go out again so I politely declined the kind offer and had a quiet night in.

Dalyan – 26th & 27th January

On Wednesday 26th January I planned to have a quiet, more sensible day!
In the morning I went over to my parents’ place to measure up the windows and check on things there. It was freezing cold and I could hardly hold the tape measure, so I tried to hurry along. Captain Caveman had gone to Son Doong today and would be there until Saturday. On my way back from Ma & Pa’s I went to the corner shop to order more water, then went home to eat left over roast dinner from last night, my only meal of the day as I was full from yesterday and I had a big portion.
I arranged to call my parents to run through some decorating plans that they were wanting to get done and ended up on the phone for ages. At 10.10pm I was putting my pyjamas on when I got a call from Jamie who was at Lukka bar so I put my jeans back on and went to join. A bottle of wine or 2 later we were back at my place for even more wine and some random music.

I’d completely forgotten that Jamie had stayed at mine last night so when I was woken up on Thursday 27th January with a knock on my bedroom door, Jamie said my first words were “What? No!”
We found that more hilarious than it should have been but we decided it was probably time to put the spare room on Airbnb. For breakfast I had a sausage roll with brown sauce and started doing the washing. In the afternoon Sara from River Terrace popped round with a delivery of delicious Chelsea buns and I had one with a cup of earl grey tea before getting ready to go out (again). We were meeting at Balıkcim to try out the fish and chip night there as Nanny Kay had already been and recommended it. Jamie and I joked that he and I needed to have a fall out so that we could stop going out so much but he was only here until this coming weekend and then he would be back in the UK, so we may as well make the most of it! Ann wasn’t wanting to drink so she and I both had soft drinks with our fish and chips which was very nice. The portion size was good for the 120 lira (£6.54) but I did take the batter off mine as it was quite thick and I didn’t want it to affect my stomach, as I’d been doing well recently. It was a rather pleasant evening with Nanny Kay, Ann, Jamie and 3 more friends so after the meal 4 of us decided to ‘go for one’ at Lukka bar and technically we did just have the one each – one bottle of wine! As I was leaving Alp and some of his Turkish friends came in and were playing pool and cards with Mehmet so I got to watch them do a card trick, which was amazing. We also planned Jamie’s leaving drinks for tomorrow, which was going to turn into one hell of a party!

Dalyan – 24th & 25th January

I have no idea what time it was when I went to bed in the early hours of Monday 24th January after the frivolities of the night before’s Comedy night at Lukka Bar. The initial CSI style evidence check downstairs showed that we had drank whiskey, white wine and red wine, there was a coffee cup but I don’t have coffee in the house. I found soda water and Coke zero in the fridge, the apartment was very tidy still, there was a nice scarf on the sofa, a pair of black leather gloves, a couple of blankets and lots of glitter! I checked my phone and gleaned information from the other ‘party people’ that when we got back I had put Rod Stewart on the music channel, which was great as I didn’t even know how to, and it must have been a request as it would never be my choice of artist. I messaged the rest of the gang to all meet in Jiks at 1.30pm for a ‘post-piss-up’ debrief over much needed food, not realising at the time that most wouldn’t make it.
At Jiks there was a glimmer of sun so they had all the doors open and it was freezing, I was the first to arrive and ordered an orange juice and a cup of tea. Due to hangovers it was a slim turn out, I had a bacon sandwich and another juice, I could hardly eat it and was about to go back home to bed but the sun was out and a window table became free so we moved.
I was about to go home, after leaving most of my breakfast, when Roy had the bright idea to have a wander round to Tez bar for a bit more sun as it was really warming up a bit now. As it was on my way home we decided to join some others there and this time I had an IPA blonde beer, a hair of the dog at 3pm. Captain Caveman got in touch, he asked how my comedy night had gone but I didn’t get to speak to him as I was still out. I made my 1 beer last until 2 more friends arrived then had one more beer. I’d almost forgotten that I’d agreed to go to the Wonky’s quiz but I couldn’t do it alone so messaged Jamie for reinforcements.

At Wonky’s I ordered a mini burger which came with chips for just 50 lira (£2.71) and decided the only way to get through a quiz with a hangover was wine. Jamie commented that it looked like I had got dressed using a charity bag as I was wearing Christmas patterned trousers, a pink t-shirt, a camouflage hoody, a multicoloured scarf and a black coat – fetching, but I had only gone out for breakfast! Everyone enjoyed the quiz but most of it was way beyond me, even The Beatles section which I thought I would be good at. It turned in to a mental Monday evening and Jamie got told off by the quizmaster for having his phone out (he was reading an email) and people were smoking indoors which I didn’t like as it made my cough come back again. As another bottle of wine was ordered to get us through the rest of the quiz, we made friends with a new couple in town who had just moved to Dalyan. Debbie left first as she still wasn’t feeling well, then Sarah as it was a school night, then Roy. As the rest of us were about to leave, it started to snow so we had another drink thinking it would stop but it just got worse. It was definitely after midnight when I went outside to check how bad the snow was for my walk home and saw that it was settling and coming down very quickly. I did have my boots on, but not my wellies, and I certainly had enough layers of clothes to be warm enough but I knew I was drunk and shouldn’t walk home alone.
I was walking (actually drunkenly skipping) down the newly concreted bar street while sticking my tongue out to catch snow on it. It felt so strange but fun until I put my hands in my pocket and noticed I didn’t have my phone. I was suddenly stone cold sober – not my phone!!
I went to bed, as I went to turn the light off my glass of red wine from Sunday night still sat in my Jacqueline De Plonk glass on the bedside drawers!

On Tuesday 25th January I didn’t even wake up with a hangover, just a snowy Dalyan and a real panic that I had lost my phone and that really upset me – I can’t believe I would be so careless!
I got up and decided I was going to go out to try to find it and report to the authorities. There was no way anyone could get hold of me without it and only Jamie had my new Turkish phone number. I was hungry so I had some buttered toast for breakfast and had just eaten it when there was a knock at my door. It was Jamie with my phone – I was so excited and relieved. He had received calls and arranged a meet up with the person who took my phone by mistake at the quiz. Dave, the new man in town, had mistakenly put it in his coat pocket during the Wonky’s quiz and hadn’t realised until he got home! Jamie and Dave had arranged to meet up this morning to return it which I was very grateful for. I was definitely happy about getting the phone back and was looking forward to a quiet day and night today but I’d already arranged to go to Jamie’s with Ann and Nanny Kay for a Sunday roast – it was all go!
Captain Caveman messaged to say he was off to his Son Doong briefing tonight and would be off in to the cave for 4 days with customers tomorrow and I was pleased he was busy again.
Jamie picked me up at 6.45pm, we had wine and pre-dinner chat with lots of laughs with Nanny Kay and Ann, before we sat down to a roast beef dinner which was fantastic. There was beef, veggies, and three different potato dishes as well as Yorkshire puddings and a full on cheese board for afters. The wine and chat flowed and we didn’t end up going home until almost midnight, after a wonderful night.

Photo credit – snow pics taken from Facebook

Dalyan – 21st to 23rd January

Friday 21st January was weigh-in day and I wasn’t optimistic. It was also 3 months since I had left Vietnam and I had hoped by now to be slimmer and the torn ligaments in my knee and ankle to be back to normal. On the scales I found I had lost another 0.25kg and so I was now only slightly heavier than I had been when I arrived here but, ideally, I needed to lose another 4 or 5kg to be my ideal weight.
I was having trouble buying a couple of items in the supermarket lately and I posted on a Dalyan Residents Facebook group to ask if anyone had seen any chopped tomatoes recently. I also fancied making a sweet and sour chicken dish so I also asked about tinned pineapple. Within minutes I had lots of answers but by the time I read them it was raining heavily again and I couldn’t be bothered to go out in it. I made the beds adding extra throws as I was still finding it a bit cold when I woke up. I had cornflakes for breakfast and watched the TV. I’d not been able to watch English news for some time but now the content was hard to watch so I tended to choose programmes like ‘Homes under the Hammer’ as background watching while on my laptop. In the afternoon I had a glass of red wine and made another batch of Yorkshire puddings with my Mom’s direction (via text) as I wondered if I wasn’t putting enough mixture in for the depth of my new muffin tin. These came out better but I still think it was the milk that isn’t helping. I’d almost forgotten it was Friday Music Bingo at Lukka Bar but this week I’d decided not to go as I fancied a rare Friday night in. The stew and Yorkshires were better today and I really enjoyed them with one more glass of wine and some birthday cake. I lit some candles and got cosy on the sofa while watching TV and thinking I really had better get on with writing my comedy night.

I saw on Facebook that friends were getting in to a game called Wordle on Saturday 22nd January and I wanted to play but couldn’t work out how. Captain Caveman was already posting his answer patterns but I didn’t get it. After having only cornflakes for breakfast I’d started to plan my comedy night for tomorrow when Jamie messaged to see if I fancied meeting at Jiks. It was still fairly bad weather but I needed to buy the tomatoes, pineapple and some baked beans so I nipped to Star Gurme where I bought the following;

4 tins of chopped tomatoes 50 lira
1 big tin of pineapple 70 lira
2 tins of baked beans 30 lira

Total spent 150 lira (£8.30)

This was expensive but the baked beans in Migros now are 27 lira (£1.47) and they didn’t have the other stuff. In Jiks Jamie and I both had Shandies and cheesy chips, we were chatting about our plans for the rest of his stay. When I got home I was going to see if I could have a video call with Captain Caveman but unfortunately for me he was otherwise engaged. He had gone for a mini break to the Vinpearl in Dong Hoi, one of my favourite places. I was jealous that I wouldn’t be there to have a bath and wear the robe that always reminds us of our mate, Josh! I had some more of my birthday cake and started gathering my notes together for tomorrow’s comedy night then remembered I still had an open bottle of wine I needed to drink a glass of. For dinner I had more beef stew and Yorkshire puddings. Captain Caveman had already gone to bed in Vietnam and I was disappointed that he hadn’t wished me well for the Comedy night tomorrow.

When I woke up on Sunday 23rd January I saw the Corona heatmap in Dalyan was showing a red area and I was slightly concerned that it might be a bit quiet at Lukka bar tonight for my comedy night, there was also a chance it could get cancelled if anyone involved got the virus. I decided I needed to write the rest of my act regardless. I also needed to find an outfit to wear but first I made pancakes for breakfast with honey and had Earl Grey tea. It was very cold and my TV had a bit of a blip so I messaged Andy and he fixed it remotely within a couple of minutes which lead me to pop in a joke about the guy in my act.
I spent the rest of the afternoon writing and learning my comedy material, which I probably should have written and learned earlier but I knew I would be fine even if I had to improvise as I had enough material.
I realised about 7pm that I hadn’t had any dinner but thought it would be too late to risk getting a dodgy stomach. Instead, I had a cup of tea and a couple of biscuits!

I arrived at Lukka Bar and there were quite a few people in, to say it was winter, so I was surprised and pleased to see some friendly faces. I had taken a couple of props in with me to use and decided I would wear my dressing gown and a surgical face mask to come on. Carrying what looked like a mug of tea, in which I had already stuck the end of the teabag with sellotape to make it look like a hot beverage. It was really filled with wine. I gave Yasemin, the waitress, my special glass to put my wine in which I intended to drink while I did my act. What I didn’t realise was that I was going to have to stand up and move about for everyone to be able to see and hear me. I made a point of going to say hello to every table beforehand just to get an idea of my type of audience. We were all set to have a laugh, I thought. I took the microphone and started the show!
My comedy night, as Jacqueline de Plonk at Lukka Bar, started with me dressed in my pastel green fluffy dressing gown, a white surgical face mask and holding what looked like a hot mug of tea. The act started with the New Year song by Flo & Joan which I particularly like as I think it sums up what a lot of people have experienced during the pandemic.
You can have a listen from 0.50 to 4.01 here:
https://youtu.be/H9JQ23xwfS8
As everyone listened, got a drink, finished their food or generally got settled in I stood at the front of the bar blowing on my hot tea (wine) and sipping it with my mask hanging from one ear.
I did a bit of an introduction, then some warm up jokes, followed by some observations about COVID and my experience of being back home for Christmas. I found it tricky to move about the audience with my mug, my mic and use my notes and other props. I had to move about because, if I stayed at the front, I got feedback from the speakers. In the first half people did laugh, people joined in when asked. There wasn’t any heckling which I had actually prepared for with lots of comebacks, so I was a bit disappointed. In the break I had to take off my dressing gown as I was really warm but audience members were cold, including one who put my dressing gown on, while I was getting more wine.
The second half was more about me and I upped the anti a little on the rudeness scale by including a section on Sex Tips – things not to do. I started this bit of the show with another song by Flo & Joan that reflected what my life could be like if I drank too much:
https://youtu.be/tTViy5WK-EY (play 0.08 to 5.26 if you want to check it out).
The rest of the show was going well until I was given the nod that some people couldn’t hear because another table were talking amongst themselves. This meant I could go over and pick on them a bit, which I did. After I finished my next joke/story I told everyone I’d finished and if those who think they can be funnier and want to take over they can! I joined my mates’ table and started drinking the wine. The people causing the disruption left and then our table (or most of it) carried on drinking until late. All my friends were supportive and I wasn’t upset or annoyed as I didn’t really care. I was glad I could get on with having a drink with everyone. I don’t remember who else left or when, I vaguely remember drawing rude things on the sequin cushions with Nuri which then led to Mark being told off by Appo the waiter, for starting a pillow fight! My solution, at way past midnight, was to get some takeaway drinks and invite everyone back for a party.

Dalyan – 17th to 20th January

I was looking forward to a quiet(ish) week on Monday 17th January as I got on with some chores, including making a bolognese in the slow cooker, ready for dinner later. I had also lined up a few interviews and discussions with various people from my LinkedIn connections about doing some paid work for a spell, just part-time temporary positions until a more permanent opportunity presented itself.
I had leftover Sunday roast for lunch and thoroughly enjoyed it. The pasta bolognese for dinner was so good and it was another day of zero booze.

On Tuesday 18th January I arranged to meet Jamie for lunch so that he could try Kebapçı Yusuf for the first time. This was not before I managed to almost embarrass myself and Captain Caveman in front of the advisor for the Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam, as you do. It was cold so I had on my thermal lounge wear with my fluffy dressing gown on top when Captain Caveman video called. He was at Chay Lap drinking with Vinh and his son, who had just returned from their trip to Son Doong. I was on the video call when Captain Caveman noticed my dressing gown at the same time he wanted to put Vinh on to say hello so he pointed it out. My reaction obviously was to take off my dressing gown, to expose my perfectly decent black top underneath but Captain Caveman didn’t know I had anything underneath and thought I was stripping off! It was nice to see them in Vietnam having a good time, though, but I had to go get ready for my lunch date.
Jamie and I both ordered the Turkish sausage pide which came with complimentary side salad and fresh chillies at Kebapçı Yusuf. Even though I warned Jamie the chillies would be hot he still shoved one in his mouth – he didn’t have a second one. The lunch was lovely and we had a good chat and decided we would have a wander along to Lukka Bar for an afternoon alcoholic beverage. It was a very cold day but inside it was warm and cosy. For dinner I had pasta bolognese with birthday cake for pud and an early night after making a list of things to do in Dalyan for when my friend comes to visit in April.

Another day off the booze was had on Wednesday 19th January and my knuckles were still bruised but my face was less painful now. It was my Turkish class today and I was a bit tired because of not getting to sleep until about 2am due to it being so cold that I had to double up on duvets on the bed.
Turkish class went well and it is helping me progress on Duolingo better but I still can’t hold much of a conversation with a local. In the afternoon the weather had improved, it was cold but dry, so I decided it was time to go shopping, properly this time:

Migros Supermarket

1 loaf 2.50
1 simit 3.50
2 red peppers 3.88
1 pack pasta 3.90
Potatoes 4.08
Mini cheddars 7.50
Cheese spread 9.95
Smoked turkey 10.45
2 Probiotic drinks 13.20
6 eggs 13.30
Salami 15.75
Fabric softener 18.25
2 quark 19.90
Cheese slices 24.50
500g minced beef 32.90
500g diced beef 36.49

Total spent 220.05 lira (£12.19)

A101 supermarket

Onions 1.21
Carrots 1.59
Garlic 5.00
2 Crisps 11.80
3 popcorn kernels 13.50
4 Chicken thighs 23.05
4 Chicken breasts 30.52

Total spent 86.67 lira (£4.80)

I was certainly noticing the difference as prices in Turkey continued to escalate to try to cope with the extreme rates of inflation – I was managing ok but I really didn’t know how the locals were coping.
I’d had no breakfast but I had a simit with beef ham and a cheese spread triangle for lunch, which looks boring but is one of my favourite things. I wasn’t too hungry for dinner so I just had a smoked turkey sandwich with 3 cups of earl grey tea and some birthday cake. Katrina and Abi made a poster for my comedy night as Jacqueline de Plonk, the event was on for this coming Sunday!
By the time I was watching Catfish on my new Firestick TV I had to indulge in some crisps making a note to myself not to buy them as I find it hard to resist eating a whole packet.

On Thursday 20th January I woke up with a sore throat and a cough but I didn’t feel unwell. I lounged in bed a little while reading the news and saw an interesting article from yesterday on how you can now buy Turkish citizenship, given the economic crisis here, more info:
https://tfiglobalnews.com/2022/01/10/in-a-desperate-move-to-save-its-economy-turkey-puts-its-citizenship-up-for-sale/
I had a cheese sandwich for breakfast and was slightly expecting a bad stomach from it, as this was the first uncooked cheese I had eaten this year – I was fine! After popping all the ingredients for a beef and ale stew in the slow cooker I decided to have a walk while the weather was decent enough and walked past my parents’ place. I saw a chicken cross the road and it reminded me I had better write my comedy routine when I got home. I did a bit more shopping for the things I was missing at Migros and I was still struggling to find a popcorn bucket or receptacle that didn’t involve buying a 5 litre tub of ice-cream to eat first. Here’s what I did buy:

Migros Supermarket

Ginger 5.60
Bounty 6.95
Apple juice 8.45
Milk 11.75
Mushrooms 12.67
800g Chicken breasts 32.17
6 mini magnums 42.50

Total spent 120.09 lira (£6.65)

It was interesting to see how much the price of meat was increasing so I got a bargain on the chicken while it was on offer, I suspected others were doing the same as there was not much of it left. The fresh milk was much more expensive these days too so I had gone for the skimmed UHT carton which keeps better but isn’t as good for pancake mixture. It was still shocking to see apple juice is cheaper than milk. I got a few treats in and hoped some fresh ginger would help with my sore throat and cough.
Back at home I had a smoked turkey sandwich, crisps and a mini magnum for lunch then finished off half the bottle of Efes beer I’d used in the stew. That night I made Yorkshire puddings to go with the stew but they didn’t rise enough, despite tasting good and me having a very hot oven. The stew was so good and I was glad to have the slow cooker mix from the UK to put in it. For afters I had a chocolate spoon (the ones Ann bought for my birthday) with a couple of glasses of birthday red wine. The red wine made me cough more so I had a ginger tea and a Tylol before bed. Tylol is like an English Lemsip mixed with a Vietnamese Tiffy and it makes my heart palpitate so I have to be careful I don’t have them often. This time I was asleep within seconds of my head hitting the pillow.

Dalyan – 14th to 16th January

I got up quite late on Friday 14th January, we were 2 weeks in to the year now and my health kick, and being a bit more sensible on my eating and drinking, hadn’t really started out well. It was weigh-in day and I was expecting a bad result but I had lost 0.75kg and I was happy with that. I was about to have some food when Jamie messaged to say he was at Tez bar and to meet him there. As the sun was shining I decided it was a good idea but was not expecting to see someone wearing shorts – it was warm in the sun but definitely unusual to find a Turkish man wearing shorts in Dalyan at this time of year. After a couple of IPA blondes, and a spot of socialising with friends, Jamie and I left to go to the supermarket, leaving some of the others who were going to Bingo night at Lukka’s. Unfortunately Jamie and I got sidetracked and ended up in Jiks having a couple of wines and a pizza, which was really lovely and I even ate the whole thing. I did go to Migros, as intended though but only for a few bits and bobs.
I got home at a reasonable hour, had tea and biscuits and finalised the invites for Sarah’s birthday party tomorrow afternoon.

Saturday 15th January started very well but finished badly; I decided to go for a walk along the river as it was another sunny day and I wanted to see how the water levels were now. Unfortunately they were still extremely high but below the flood line mostly now. I could see the snow on the mountains and the tea garden had been completed demolished.

I’d had no breakfast so decided to have lunch out at Mahir, a local Turkish restaurant in the mosque square – a place I’d been meaning to go to but had never got round to it. I ordered a chicken doner kebab and chips with a coke and it came to 50 lira (£2.74). It was big, fresh and so tasty – definitely a new favourite now. While I was eating, Peter went past and I shouted him over for a chat then we left together to walk back down the river where I went to Lukka bar and Peter carried on walking.

It was Sarah’s birthday celebrations and a few of us were meeting at 3pm at Lukka for drinks and pressie giving. There was quite a turnout, we all sat in the sun having a beverage and I chose a Turkish cider. After 2 drinks, and as planned, we walked over to Sofra bar for the next bit of celebrating and a few more people joined us there. Nanny Kay had some nachos but spilled the sauce down her white jumper and Sarah had one of the delicious bacon sandwiches. Ann and Helen had chicken stir-fry noodles, Debbie (Darling) had a burger and Jamie had a sandwich and cheesy chips. I made the mistake of being too full on kebab and didn’t have any food so it probably comes as no surprise that the night ended messy!

Peter and Selahı were drinking rakı on the next table to us and people at Sarah’s birthday started to leave so we merged the party at Sofra. Even Sarah and Debbie (Darling) had vacated Sofra bar but Jamie, Ann, Peter and Selahı remained to come up with the bright idea of going to Jazz Bar. Jamie and I are dubious about the drinks there and didn’t want to go but, before we knew it, we were watching a very talented musician play a clarinet and had ordered a glass of wine each. The last thing I remember is putting Ann in a taxi home and then having a tequila shot!

I wasn’t feeling too spritely when I woke up on Sunday 16th January and was convinced that the booze in Jazz bar was dodgy. I had 3 swollen, slightly bruised knuckles on my left hand (I had to take my ring off) and my face hurt so I messaged Jamie and Selahı to see if they knew why. They didn’t, but something wasn’t right and we vowed not to go again. We had already booked in to have Sunday lunch at Heybe’s with Ann and when I got there, in my wellies, I stunk of cat pee. What a to do, I leave my wellies outside the door so that is why they stunk from the cat spraying on them on Wednesday night. We were all hung over, cold and drinking soft drinks while waiting quite a while for our dinner. We had tomato soup for starter, beef with Yorkshire puddings for main and apple crumble for dessert. I really struggled to finish mine, due to the hangover, and took half of mine plus a bit of Jamie’s home. We were all begging for mercy and I went home and got straight back in to bed!

Dalyan – 12th & 13th January

I’d had worse hangovers than the one I had on Wednesday 12th January but it was to be expected after not drinking any alcohol for the first week of January, due to having ‘flurona’. I had loads of birthday wishes via Facebook which was lovely, I was only just out of bed in time to get to my Turkish class and I had to have extra sugar in my tea to sort me out a bit. Because I had missed last week’s lesson, I was behind and tried my best to catch up as we went along. After class I had to walk to Spice Garden to pick up the remaining birthday cake and it was still raining, this is when I found out how high the river water had been!
The walk back in the pouring rain with a clingfilmed cake and a hangover wasn’t pleasant and I stopped off at Lukka to give the staff some cake. I’d not eaten yet and it was almost 3pm so I had cake for brunch. Julie and Andy were on their way round to fix my firestick to my TV and I was hoping it would be easy to use. The firestick was amazing and I was so glad to use some of my parent’s birthday money to buy something so exciting – it meant I could now watch all sorts of TV and I had music channels!!!
I was getting ready for a night of music and TV, or at least working out how to use it when I remembered that Sarah had given me her leftover curry last night and was coming round to eat it. I messaged to arrange what time and I told her that it couldn’t be a late one after last night because I had to be up at 5am tomorrow morning. We agreed 6pm and then we could eat early and I could be in bed early. At 6pm Sarah wasn’t here and I was getting peckish, she messaged at 6.10pm to say she was at the shops buying a new mouse and did I need anything. She arrived at 6.30pm and it was 8.10pm when I heated up the curry and was ready to eat, so it was a later night than I expected and I was going to be shattered tomorrow. As I said bye to Sarah and closed the door I noticed that there was a cat pee smell in the doorway which was horrendous and went to get some air freshener. I tidied up and went to bed, knowing I had to be up in less than 5 hours for my day trip.

I really didn’t want to get up when my alarm went off at 5am on Thursday 13th January but, after a couple of 5 minute snoozes, I forced myself out of bed. It was cold and dark still as I got ready for my day trip to Izmir and I could smell cat pee from the bedroom. Rebecca from Captain Boris boat trips had organised for 10 of us to go to IKEA for 250 lira (£14) and my pick up was at 6.20am outside Jazz bar.
We broke down just outside Dalyan and we had to wait for another bus, I’d been sat near the back on the first bus so when we switched over I was left a seat near the front, which was good as I do get travel sick. I’d not realised quite how long it would take to get there and I was so tired that I managed to sleep quite a lot and only woke up for the one wee and hot beverage stop on the way there. When we arrived at IKEA at 10.30am I was glad I’d taken my travel pillow. My first stop was to the cafe where Nanny Kay, Mark, Kate and I all got some breakfast and Becky had a coffee, then off we went in search of some bargains. I managed to get tea-lights for me and a few other friends, freezer bags and biscuits for Katrina, a table and some biscuits for Kim, candles and biscuits for Sarah. We had a couple of hours going around the store and I sussed out new kitchen sinks for Captain Caveman’s apartment but the selection was poor and I didn’t find any that I would buy. For lunch we went as a group of 10 to a restaurant called Midpoint and it was really nice. Masks were compulsory until you were seated and they wanted us to use the QR reader for looking at the menu and for ordering – I think there was only Kate who could get it to work so the waiters gave us the paper menus to look at, warning us the prices were now more expensive. I had a lovely artichoke salad, Nanny Kay had quesadillas and chips, Julie and Jo had burgers, Rebecca went for a goats cheese salad that was huge, and I didn’t see what the others had. I took half of mine home and in the afternoon we had a little mooch around the shopping precinct.
The bus was waiting for us at 3pm and we had all loaded our stuff in to the back. Denise and Nanny Kay were old hats and had brought their ribbons to tie round their bags for identifying when we got back. I was so pleased that Nanny Kay had bought some cushions as they were next to me and I managed another sleep on the way back. I was dropped outside Lukka and it was a struggle to carry everything so I stopped off to say Hi to Sarah, Jamie, Ann, Debbie, Roy and Katrina who were all there as it was Sarah’s birthday. Back home I ate crisps as a snack then finished off my leftover salad for dinner, followed by birthday cake and a cup of tea. The rain in Dalyan had been horrendous today with lots of people getting cut off or flooded in, it was good to have a 2nd floor apartment.

Dalyan – 10th & 11th January

I had an exciting day on Monday 10th January; I woke up early, which made a nice change, but I only had a probiotic drink for breakfast because I had a lunch appointment. I had a first visit to Porta Dalya restaurant, which used to be Köşem, with Jamie and Nanny Kay. It was still raining hard and it was a lovely welcome inside the cafe where all 3 of us ordered the Chicken Alfredo for 45 lira (£2.50) and a coke. It was really lovely and tasty, served with grated parmesan too and I’d definitely go there again as the service was also great. After lunch Jamie and I went to buy butter at Alp’s Balıkcim shop and I managed to get some frozen french type for only 20 lira (£1.10). The stray dog we call Socks, had followed us and was trying to see if there were any sausages available and then we drove around the corner to Şarküteri where Jamie got some bits and I bought Lurpak at an extortionate 80 lira (£4.40) but I really prefer it and it would last me ages. I was definitely noticing the price increases more and taking note of what I was buying. I needed to make sure that any jobs I applied for were going to be able to pay in to my UK account as a Turkish monthly wage was now 4,250 lira (£234) despite a recent increase. I had the leftover Sunday dinner at home followed by chocolate and herbal tea, then had an early night seeing as I had a very busy day tomorrow.

My birthday was Tuesday 11th January and I woke up to very heavy rain, it was quite stormy out too. Captain Caveman had already been to have his 3rd vaccine this morning and said it was a bit chaotic with the paperwork resulting in the nurses not being that busy because of the bottleneck. We arranged to speak on a video call after I had been out for breakfast and I sent him a video of it hailing here in Dalyan – the pool was almost full of rain water!
I opened birthday cards from my parents, Gayle, Neil, Morgan and April, which was nice. I was tempted to stay in bed because of the horrendous weather and expected my friends might cancel going out for breakfast but instead I got a message from Jamie to ask if I wanted picking up after he went to get Ann. I said yes and I even ventured as far as putting the bin out in torrential rain, prior to getting in the car to head a very short drive to Jiks. When we got there it was closed even though we had arranged to meet 30 minutes after it opens and Nanny Kay was texting from inside her car in front of us to check where our Plan B should be. Out of season on a Tuesday there are not too many places to go for an English breakfast so we went to somewhere we knew was open and easy to park outside of, Lukka Bar! We were the only ones brave enough to have ventured out in the rain and there were concerns that the nearby river was going to flood over. I got some lovely gifts which I really appreciated and it turns out my Dalyan friends know me well, already! For breakfast Nanny Kay had a bacon, sausage and egg sandwich which came with chips, Jamie and Ann had a full English breakfast while I went for full English without the fried eggs or tomato. Back home I arranged to spend some of my birthday money from my parents on purchasing the Firestick from Andy, which meant I would have access to UK TV because I mainly wanted to be able to watch The Apprentice and the news channels. That afternoon I had a video call with Ma & Pa and they even sang Happy Birthday to me which was lovely and I got to say thanks for my birthday card and present. I wasn’t going out until 6.30pm tonight for birthday celebrations so decided a relaxing afternoon was in order but, when I went upstairs to get out a facemask (which my sister got me for Christmas), I had a bit of an unwelcome surprise!

As I opened the drawer to get out my toiletries and facemask, I could hear a dripping sound so I checked in the ensuite bathroom to find the floor was full of water! The roof was leaking and the window kept blowing open so the rain was coming in at both sides of the bathroom and it took a couple of towels to mop it up with. I decided to check the rest of the upstairs and then spent the next hour mopping up, putting towels down, finding containers and taking photos to send to Leanne at King Emlak. The spare bedroom was the worst as there was a crack in the ceiling where water was running in from and it was fortunate that I was at home as it had started to dribble on to the bed. Luckily, I had an empty 50 litre container to hand and was able to move the bed across without too much trouble. The skylight in the main bathroom was also leaking but it was above the shower and not causing too much of a problem. I saw from friends on Facebook that the river had indeed flooded over and was inside the bar at River Terrace, this was quite unusual and had not happened for some years. There was also talk on Facebook that the mudbaths at Köyceğiz were about to flood too and locals were starting to worry about their homes. Leanne replied straight away to say a workman would be out on Thursday to have a look and make any repairs so that was a good thing and I could relax and get my facemask on. I picked the hydrating one out of the pack and went for that, while laying on the sofa, trying to relax a bit. It felt really nice and I think I may have left it on a bit too long because, when I took it off to get ready, my face was quite pink.

As arranged, I met up with the gang at Lukka Bar at 6.30pm to start my birthday celebrations. There were more cards and gifts which I was a bit overwhelmed about and Appo put his foot in it by asking if I wanted pasta, which is Turkish for cake. We had one drink and then decided to walk to our venue as we thought the rain had eased off a bit. At Spice Garden there was a table booked for a group of us and there was more cards and gifts which I really wasn’t expecting. Ann and I had the set meal for 2 at 250 lira (£13.71) which despite recent price increases was a good deal. We had chosen chicken pakora and poppadoms for our starter and they were lovely, we shared mains of butter chicken, chicken tikka masala, rice and garlic naan bread. Everything was so delicious and plenty of it, so much so that I took leftovers home. There was another amazing birthday surprise; a massive cake from Katrina, Mehmet and Jamie which was absolutely fantastic, and appropriately in the shape of a wine bottle! I was so surprised and everyone sang Happy Birthday to me. We dished up the cake which was beautiful and made by Louise, one of Katrina’s friends. Louise called us to wish me happy birthday and ask if I liked the cake, which I did. It had proper sponge birthday cake inside, with shaved white chocolate and icing and I loved it. Debbie (Darling) did a little speech and I felt really special and I felt a bit overwhelmed, once again. We decided to leave the half of cake at Spice Garden and go back to Lukka for more drinks for everyone who wasn’t driving so I said my farewells to Nanny Kay, Sioned, Julie and Andy then set off walking with Sarah, who was still cheesed off about her starter being cleared away while she had left the table to take a phonecall.
Back at Lukka I had a birthday whisky, or Bailey’s, or both I can’t remember and we all played Killer Pool. It was a great birthday celebration though and one I would definitely remember as being the most moist one I’d had in a while! As we were giving the ball a right old kick I was totally unaware that there were people in Dalyan who’s homes were getting flooded. I put the remaining curry in the fridge and went to bed before 1am feeling incredibly lucky.

Dalyan – 7th to 9th January

On Friday 7th January I met Jamie outside Lukka Bar and we drove down to Ann’s house to see Jax & Lee off. I gave Jax a couple of envelopes to post to my family when she got back to the UK, having forgotten to leave them before I came back. I felt really tired after not very much sleep and decided not to join Jamie and Ann on their trip to Fethiye but I did ask Jamie to take me back some trousers I had bought on the 4th December which didn’t fit, in fact they wouldn’t have fit one leg!
I went home and had beans on toast for breakfast with a cup of tea. The white chocolate orange didn’t last long and I polished the rest of it off after hummus, lavaş bread and olives for lunch. That evening I joined Jamie, Ann, Sarah and Katrina for the Lukka bar music bingo night which was Disco themed this week and we got there early enough to have dinner before the fun started. The others had burgers or pasta but I went for the BBQ pizza which I do enjoy.

It was raining very heavily on Saturday 8th January but I had plans that meant I had to venture out in it. I’d decided I did need a mobile phone to use when there was no WiFi, for whatever reason. My Vietnamese Oppo phone was a few years old now and, although still worked, it wasn’t worth the 2732 lira (£150) it would cost to register it. Here in Turkey, it is only permissable to use a foreign phone for up to 120 days and only 1 phone per person every 3 years can be registered. In 2018 it cost just 170 lira to do this but now it is extortionate and, for me, not worth it so I had posted in a local Facebook group to see if anyone had an old Turkish phone I could buy. The most suitable choice for me was from a lady who had a Samsung J4 which she was willing to sell me and I arranged to meet her at Kordon restaurant to do the deal. I was meant to go to do a full supermarket shop, after all I’d not been yet this year, but it was too wet and I couldn’t be bothered to carry much – I just got the ‘essentials’ in Migros and left.

My shopping from Migros Supermarket:

2 onions 0.45
1kg rice 6.50
Mini cheddars 7.50
Fairy washing up liquid 9.75
400g mushrooms 12.90
2 probiotic drinks 13.90
Beef mince 29.61

Total spent 80.61 (£4.41)

On the way home I noticed there were some new recycling bins in the old market square which I would be sure to use from now on. I used my telephone banking to add on my phone credit to the new phone, which was a first for me. I noticed that the LinkedIn app was on my new phone so I decided to join it, I did a speed test, assisted by a friend who I was thinking of buying a Firestick from and was finding out more about it. That evening I messaged Kebapçı Yusuf to order my dinner and arranged to pick it up at 7.30pm, it cost 70 lira (£3.82) for chicken shish, salad and chips and was piping hot when I got it home. It would have served 2 people but I did manage to eat most of it and just save the flatbread and half of the salad for tomorrow. I had a video call with my parents, who were still social distancing from each other, within their own home, so that Dad didn’t catch Mom’s Corona. Ma was still sickly but looking like she had a bit more colour and was feeling a little better too, at last. None of us could believe Dad hadn’t caught it yet and he was obviously made of tougher stuff than us.

On Sunday 9th January I didn’t have any breakfast as I was booked in for a Lukka Sunday dinner at 2pm with Jamie. I spoke very briefly to Captain Caveman who had got back from the cave to find a young pig at the door of the Glass House. He sent me photos and I talked to the pig but it looked like it was trying to find some snacks. Captain Caveman managed to give it a tickle and said he would look after it, if it was still there after he’d been out for dinner. Our Sunday dinner was delicious and plenty of it, it had gone up to 140 lira (£7.67) but was still good value.
I finished watching a series on Netflix, The Innocent, which I thought was one recommended by Jax and Lee but it turned out I’d probably been watching the wrong series! By dinner time I still wasn’t hungry so I just finished off the leftover flatbread and salad from Kebapçı Yusuf followed by a Double Decker chocolate bar. In the evening I started working out how to use LinkedIn and decided I would start to look for a part-time job.

Dalyan – the 1st week of January

Having missed celebrating the New Year in Dalyan I had been awake a lot of the night and woke up, on Saturday 1st January absolutely soaked in sweat. I had buttered toast for breakfast and couldn’t be bothered to make anything for lunch so all I had was chocolate! It was a nice sunny day, about 18°C, and I had my second PCR test booked in at Tez bar. When I got there they were going to charge me another 300 lira for a lateral flow test but I said there was no point as I had already done my own and it showed negative. I said I’d have another PCR because I wanted to know if I had Corona and that’s what they did. I sent Captain Caveman a photo of the villa building site next door and we had a video call. I started watching a cooking show and must have fallen asleep because I woke up to a dinner delivery from Ann, missed calls from Jamie who had delivered it to my doorstep. I was meant to have been going to their’s for a roast dinner, it was so kind of Ann to send me a massive portion over and it was so good! I started watching Stay Close on Netflix but fell asleep again, convinced I had the dreaded virus and I wanted to stay awake for my results.
When I got my results it said negative again and Tez told me that I probably have flu, but not Corona.

It was after midday on Sunday 2nd January when I woke up and I felt a bit better but very achy. The day was pretty boring and was mainly spent on cancelling things. My friends (from Phong Nha) were here but I couldn’t go out as I was feeling rubbish and I didn’t want to give anyone flu. They even cancelled the boat trip we had planned and my comedy night was going to have to be postponed. My mom messaged to say my brother-in-law had done a test and was positive now too so I was convinced I had the virus too, despite my result. I had spaghetti bolognese for lunch which I’d got out of the freezer, then an earl grey tea with a Double Decker chocolate bar which I’d brought back from the UK. I decided to try a decluttering tool I’d read where you turn all of your coat hangers the opposite way in your wardrobe and when you wear and wash an item you put it back the correct way, anything you haven’t worn in a few months can then go to charity. For dinner I ordered a pizza from Lukka bar and had the stuffed mushroom starter from yesterday with it.

I didn’t wake up until 1pm on Monday 3rd January and I had slept through for a solid 10 hours at once. I didn’t have breakfast as the electric was off and it continued to be on and off throughout the day, even when it was on, the TV remote wouldn’t work. I did another lateral flow test and the result was still negative despite me having the same symptoms as my Mom, she was positive on today’s lateral flow test which wasn’t good but my Dad’s test was negative. She was also sleeping loads and couldn’t taste anything. In Israel they had discovered there was Flurona which is a combination of flu and Corona – maybe I had that!
I had left over pizza for lunch when the power was back on and the remote started to work again. I had a lovely beef stew from the freezer for tea which, luckily, already had potatoes in and I had plenty of Henderson’s relish on it. It was also my 5th day of not having any alcohol, not that I had planned to give it up, just because I was too under the weather to bother.

I woke up at 1.30pm on Tuesday 4th January and had missed calls and messages from people checking how I was. I had fruitcake for breakfast after remembering I had it because I really fancied some and I was pleased I seemed to be getting my appetite back. Jamie stopped by with bread and milk for me and I mainly watched Netflix and tried to catch up with my blogging and shenanigans but felt tired. I decided to make pizzas and pasta from the leftover chicken fajitas and seemed to be drinking lots of tea! I decided that I’d write a shopping list and I sent a message to cancel attending Turkish class tomorrow as I still wasn’t good enough to go out.

It was a week since I left England, on Wednesday 5th January, and it felt a lot longer because of being sickly. Captain Caveman had gone to the Song Doong exit today and would be going back in for 2 days tomorrow, it was the start of his new season and he was lucky that tours were going ahead and he would be busy working. I’d set the alarm for 11.30am because I felt I was sleeping too much but it was very cold today so I was in no rush to get up for my cornflakes. For lunch I made more homemade pizza things, I was definitely noticing my appetite was getting back to normal, and I still had lots of premade meals in the freezer. I had looked in to doing something for my birthday next week and I booked a suite at Datça Vineyard hoping I’d be better by then. My visiting friends had already started to depart and I was disappointed not to have been able to see them. I ended up having a lovely evening as I watched an interesting (but frustrating) film with Jake Gyllenhaal in, called Guilty, then I restarted watching Squid Game after a delicious dinner. I finally got round to eating the Cumberland sausage, from Alp’s shop at Balıkcim, which I had in the freezer, with some Heinz baked beans on toast, which was amazing!

On Thursday 6th January it was 13 days since I first had a sore throat and 8 days since my inconclusive Turkish PCR test, in those 8 days all 3 further tests (2 lateral, 1 PCR) were negative and so I decided I might be ready to venture outside. I’d got up late and so didn’t have any breakfast, just a cup of earl grey tea. For lunch I had some homemade chicken noodle soup at the ready and was about to eat it when I found out Jamie had got his Turkish residency approved and was on his way back from Muğla to celebrate. I ate my soup, got an email from Datça Vineyard to say there was construction work going on making the suite unavailable so I thought I’d probably cancel. I met Jamie, Ann, Jax & Lee at Lukka bar and had my first alcoholic drink this year, a Turkish cider. They were booked in for a last meal, as Jax & Lee went home tomorrow, at Egehan tonight and I was invited to join them. Most diners ordered the spicy prawns but I went for a pastry starter which had cheese, spinach and beetroot in, for mains most people had the steak. My meal was outstanding and I did the right thing by asking for my steak medium-well because Ann’s steak was definitely too rare for me to have enjoyed it. Lee drank beer, Jamie and Anne had white wine, Jax and I shared a bottle of red and I took so long to eat my meal because I wasn’t used to eating the amount of food I’d had tonight. I couldn’t do a pudding so Jamie and I had a glass of wine for our dessert while the others had some rather fancy looking desserts. The meal wasn’t the cheapest in town at 400 lira (£22) per person and I really had noticed the prices had gone up since I’d been away, due to the lira being 18.5 to the pound now, but I thought it was a beautiful meal. We had a nightcap at Lukka on the way home and, because I was a bit disappointed that my birthday plans had fallen through, we came up with an alternative arrangement. Tomorrow Jax and Lee were going back to England so we would go to see them off from Ann’s house, Jamie then had plans to take us for a little outing.

joloyolo

The ramblings and observations of a fortysomething lady of leisure

Month: Feb 2022