I didn’t bother with any breakfast on Saturday 15th April as I had to get to the weekly market. This is what I bought there:
2 garlic 5.00
6 Oranges 7.00
Strawberries 50.00
2 apples, 2 cucumbers and 11 tomatoes 20.00
Total spent 82.00 lira (£3.39)
It was 1 month until I would be back in Vietnam, I was conscious of planning my meals and batch cooking so that I didn’t end up with too much food left when I had to turn the electric off on leaving the apartment. Lunch consisted of reheated Minestrone soup and tasted better than it looked. I went to the supermarket, as I sometimes do on Saturday afternoons, and here’s what I bought;
Migros Supermarket
Cheese triangles 17.50
Milk 18.50
Turkey slices 19.25
1 box of Linden tea 23.00
400g chickpeas 23.75
1 jar gherkins 34.50
1kg Rice 35.90
1 pack GF Wraps 48.50
1kg Chicken 48.88
Total spent 269.78 lira (£11.13). Kitler, the cat, was sat between 2 of the ground floor apartments hoping as if posing for a photo.





It was good to see that if you spent more than 200 lira in Migros there was quite a bargain to be had on chicken. I reported back to my mates at Fat Club and to Jamie so they could also take advantage of the offer. I realised I was out of cheese so I went to buy cheddar at Şarküteri and it was 90 lira (£3.72) for a small piece, which is pricey, but I’d already asked my mom to bring some more when she came to Dalyan.
I decided to go back to the supermarket around 5.30pm and bought the following;
3 Tomato puree 32.70
Bananas 40.17
3 Quark 44.85
1.1kg chicken 49.23
2 tins of tomatoes 49.80
Beef bacon 55.90
Total paid 352.45 lira (£14.55)
Obviously, because I spent more than 200 lira again, I bought more chicken at a bargain price. When I messaged Jamie to let him know he had also gone back and got more. The beef bacon also had a big discount.


I made chicken with green peppers, spring onion, mushrooms and paprika for dinner and had it with steamed rice. It was super tasty and I really enjoyed my healthy dinner before putting my PJs on for an early night.
As it happened, my night would not end there!


I was definitely settling down for the evening, with no plans to go out on a Saturday night, when I got a text. Jamie had already invited me out earlier and I’d been in 2 minds but had said no. Mark messaged me from Sofra bar to say my presence was requested, as our friend, Gareth, was in town for one night only. I also got the tip off that Cath and Keith were out on the tiles and that everyone was having a good time so I agreed to come out ‘for one’. I got back changed in to clothes and called at the bank for some cash, arriving at Sofra bar after 9pm.
When I arrived, I made a joke about some keys on the table and whether a fruit bowl would be a good idea. Everyone was pretty merry apart from Gareth who was also only having a couple of beers. I ordered a draft beer which were still only 65 lira (£2.68) for a pint. I noticed later that the small beers had gone up to 50 lira (£2.06) and shots of whiskey were 60 lira (£2.48) now. By 10.30pm, Ged had joined us and someone had convinced him to sing an Ian Drury and The Blockheads number on the karaoke. It wasn’t long before one of us really wished we had a rhythm stick to hit him with! Mark and Cath started the dancing with a bit of Club Tropicana, both of them hoping the drinks were free. In the end there was lots of dancing and I even managed to drag a few other customers up to boogie with us. Jamie was sat outside with his goddaughter, friends and the dogs and he was having an easy night too. We had a great night, that is until it got to 1am. Most people had (sensibly) gone home, I’d had 2 pints of draught Efes and there were just Cath, Keith, Mark and I left. Keith insisted on buying another round of drinks and I helped Cath get ‘her’ jacket on, thinking we were going. When she got the bill she tried to pay but couldn’t get the card to work so I took a photo of the bill. Keith then had a little mishap and he fell on to the table of drinks, cutting his hand quite badly. We got them in a taxi after some struggling and Mark dropped me off at mine before heading home on the mobility wagon via the beach road. The small bridge was still down so he had to go the long way round, using the main roads. At 1.40am Cath called me to say she couldn’t find her keys and they couldn’t get in the house. I spent the next 20 minutes on the phone trying to help her empty her bag and jacket pockets to try to find the house keys, but she was too drunk to make any sense with. I didn’t know where she lived so I couldn’t even go to help and I gave up in the end.
At just before 2am, Mark called to say he’d had to turn back because there were police checks on the main road and could he stay at mine. He’d called Kate and she’d told him to go to mine so that he didn’t get in to any trouble. While I had one last attempt to help Cath, Mark sipped the red wine I had opened. We only had the one glass before calling it a night as Mark was already falling asleep on the sofa. I’d had a good night but could’ve done without all the drama towards the end. I was definitely going to resist any more alcohol now until after Fat Club on Wednesday.




