Dalyan – 26th May

I woke up about 9am on Thursday 26th May after not having had many hours sleep. I checked it was a Thursday and thought I could go back to sleep and try to get rid of my hang over. Oh dear, I had booked in several beauty treatments today, plus I had arranged Des’s leaving drinks for tonight, and was deeply regretting it already. I texted Mom, she and Dad weren’t feeling too fresh either, and was glad she hadn’t booked in multiple things today. I vaguely remembered walking home from Sofra bar by myself, which I never do. I also had a weird feeling that I had lost something important but couldn’t quite put my finger on it as I dragged myself in to the shower. My first appointment was for waxing at 11am; Mom was just having her eyebrows done but I could not have picked a more inappropriate set of treatments to endure when I felt this hung over. I had full legs, bikini and eyebrows waxed and how I wasn’t sick when she did my undercarriage from behind, I will never know – I could have cried. By the time I was done, my Mom had already gone home for lunch with Dad but I couldn’t stomach any food.
Our next appointment was at 2.30pm at Kuaför Emrah, the hairdresser’s. When I arrived my Mom was already there and was mid-cut. In my opinion Emrah Kilis is one of the best hairdresser’s I’ve ever known so when he made a suggestion about what colour and style to have I just agreed because he knows what I like. Because of the hangover it felt like the longest hair cut and dye ever and I had to have sugar in my cup of tea. My Mom was finished in about 20 minutes, her hair looked great and she was pleased with it. Unfortunately though, her and Dad would no longer be coming out to Des’s leaving drinks tonight as they were feeling too under the weather. I was hoping for a good turn out so that I didn’t have to stay out too late but more people had started to send messages to wish Des well but to decline the invite to Rum bar this evening. Even Mark and Kate said they weren’t coming as they had overdone it yesterday. Debbie (Darling) was also having one of her rest days so couldn’t make it. As I was getting ready to leave the hairdresser’s, looking like a new woman, Des messaged to say his last class was cancelled so he could be out even earlier, 6pm instead of 8pm – oh no!
I replied to say I definitely couldn’t make it for 6pm as I needed to eat. I went home and ate meat and potato pie, cauliflower greens and gravy with lashings of Henderson’s relish. I then lay down for half an hour trying to find the strength and motivation to go out to make sure Des got a good send off.

Des’s leaving drinks were booked in to start at 8pm from the Rum Bar. I’d invited quite a few people and there were lots of acceptances to the event invitation on Facebook. After forcing down the pie and greens I knew I still looked like death so there was only one thing for it! I decided to get dressed up and wear a dress with a good fitting bra underneath so no one would notice how tired my eyes were. My parents and Kate had sent an apology message to tell me to wish Des well but they wouldn’t make the farewell drinks on account of them overdoing it yesterday and having to stay in. On my way to Rum Bar I stopped off at Tez bar where at least half of the party people were having a drink, some looked like they had been there a while. I was also surprised to see Mark, who was meant to be having a night in. As I approached the table I got quite a few gawps at my outfit and, of course, Andy was the first to comment on me having the puppies out. At the big Tez table I joined Andy, Kay, Nick, Angela, Maddie, Sarah, Mark, a couple I didn’t know, then ordered a coke. Debbie (Darling) and Sue were sat at a separate table so I went to say hello. I was met with more compliments on my dress and I was a little concerned I may have chosen the wrong outfit. I was pleased no one had noticed I was hungover, looked rough or that I had a coke. At 8pm Sarah and I went to Rum Bar. Mark, Debbie (Darling), Roy, Andy, Kay and Sue said they definitely weren’t coming as they were going home after Tez Bar, but the others said they were going to pay up and join us. I’d reserved an area big enough for 10 people but at 8.10pm there was just me, Sarah and the 2 dogs, Yaps and Persil! Des arrived and was very complimentary of me getting dressed up, I decided this dress was definitely coming with me to Vietnam. I forced a Pina Colada down which I made last for hours. Rach and Nuri were next to arrive, by 10pm Adam and Kath arrived after their meal and joined us for a couple, which was nice. Just before 11pm, I was honestly ready for bed, more people showed up; Ülkü & Onur, Angela & Nick, Roy, Gareth, Mark and Maddie. Gareth, Debbie (Darling)’s son-in-law amazed me by telling me he saw me last night, pushing Bluey2 past Lukka bar. I didn’t recall this but I apparently spoke to him and told him I was heading home, I’d collected Bluey2 from Retro bar on my way home from Sofra bar. When Mark and Roy ordered a beer I asked for a glass of red wine but Mark decided we would share a bottle, as well as him having a beer and being pretty drunk already. I had 1 glass, Mark had a glass and 2 beers but then we put the top back on and asked Maddie to put it in her bag. Louize and her husband, Billy, were out with family and were celebrating Billy’s birthday at Rum Bar with a cake, which they kindly sent us over a plate of.

By midnight I was thinking I could say farewell to Des but that didn’t happen as he announced we were all going to Rodrigo’s bar. To be honest, it’s not my favourite bar; the owner and staff are nice but the toilets could do with a good clean and it’s the type of place that has pole dancing and karaoke on a Thursday.
Some people said bye but the rest of us (Roy, Gareth, Maddie, Mark, Ülkü, Onur, Sarah, Rach, Nuri, Des and I) made it to Rodrigo’s. I ordered a red wine, Rach and Nuri didn’t stop long and, with it being a school night, I don’t think Sarah was far behind them. Oddly Des and Ülkü were the next to leave on account of him having to get up early to go to the airport. He was getting picked up by Fikri, flying to Istanbul from Dalaman and then off to Georgia for a bit. He had loved Dalyan and Turkey so was hoping to come back at some point, but if not we would meet again, somewhere in Asia, in 2023. It had been great to see Des and his visit had gone even better than I could have imagined. When he left he said some lovely things as I hugged and kissed him goodbye. I was a little teary as he left so I thought I’d go to the toilet to wash my face and get a tissue. That plan did not work out well, at all! Things were about to get messy, very messy indeed!

As I went from outside Rodrigo’s bar to the step at the door, I had tears in my eyes and I was trying not to cry. I noticed there was a wooden pallet, with a plastic covering on top, as a step from the outside seating area to the bar area/dancefloor. I had my nice black sandals on, bought for me by Khánh Linh at Jungle Boss as a gift a few years ago. My right sandal went under the top of the step covering but my foot went to go on top of it. I felt a sharp pain, kind of like stubbing my toe but it was on the bottom of my big toe. I retreated and sat down as I felt a bit woozy and I didn’t want to look down. Maddie had gone to chat to Trish on the table next to me, Roy and Gareth were messing about on a mobility scooter, Onur was drinking beer and Mark was chatting to some new friends who he’d been out and about with earlier on. The pain was pretty bad but then I felt a warm and wet sensation which I suspected was blood and I didn’t want to look down. I interrupted Maddie and asked her if she would come to the toilet with me, I told her what happened, she looked at my foot, told me not to look and escorted me slowly to the bathroom. I felt faint and I tried to will myself not to fall on the floor, as it became apparent that my foot was bleeding, a lot!
Maddie took my sandal off and looked at it and it was difficult to see what I’d done exactly, she also has a phobia of touching feet. I fainted on to the toilet floor which was not clean. Maddie got the staff to bring me water and I asked for sugar as I came round. She had washed my sandal, and had got some damp tissue to try to clean up my foot. It hurt and was bleeding a bit too much, I needed to get out of the very small, and incredibly hot, toilet. The staff sorted out a sofa for me next to the dancefloor and we got there, where we propped my leg. Maddie had to face her fears and apply pressure to the cut to try to stop the bleeding. Savaş, the owner, wanted to call an ambulance but I wouldn’t let him. By this time, Onur had noticed what was going on and I thought he had come to help. He sat next to Maddie and I and seemed to be friendly enough until Mark noticed I was laying on a sofa with a bleeding foot. He was absolutely hammered and was hardly able to string a sentence together but he sat next to me to check what was going on. Maddie asked Mark to get more wet tissue from the toilet but he couldn’t function and eventually brought only dry. Onur took over this task and then got annoyed with Mark for being incapable of helping. Maddie was doing really well, despite also being quite tiddly and dressed in a lovely summer dress which I was very conscious I didn’t want to ruin by getting blood on. I was so sober by this time that I could sense that Onur had issues with Mark. Mark helped in the only way he knew how; by ordering me a glass of red wine and telling me to be quiet! He then had a temporary snooze at the side of me after drinking another double vodka RedBull.
While Maddie left me to sort getting Mark home I noticed a few friendly faces at the bar, one of which was Jackie, who’s a nurse.
She came over, applied pressure to my cut and told me I’d live. Mark rode off on his bicycle, Onur, the chef at a local restaurant, was getting a bit out of order now. He’d already tried to pick a fight with Mark, I had a go at him and asked him to leave, he wouldn’t and was nasty to me. I was not in the mood, I asked the bar man to call me a taxi, which he did and I left. I had no idea how I would make it up the stairs to the apartment but I had to.
It was gone 4.30am when I got in, my foot was still bleeding and it was pretty sore, I wrapped my foot in kitchen roll and put a sock on so I could get to sleep, just as the call to prayer started!