Dalyan – 1st & 2nd May

My month and my week started early on Monday 1st May. For breakfast I had 2 slices of wholemeal toast with 2 cheese triangles and a cup of Yorkshire tea. I was just about to start work when I got a message from Jamie asking if I was available this evening. He, his parents and Drew were having a BBQ and wanted to invite me to meet his Ma & Pa. I agreed to pop over after work and then got cracking on with my day.
For lunch I had some curry and steamed rice then lounged on the new furniture in the sun while eating an orange.
After work I went to empty the washing machine to find I had left money in my shorts pocket and it was very wet. I managed 50 seconds of squats, 70 seconds of planking and 30 sit ups before walking over to Jamie’s. I took a bottle of red wine with me and I was introduced to Jamie’s dad first, his mom was still upstairs. The BBQ was great and I really got on well with Jamie’s parents, they both had some very amusing stories. Drew got out some Turkish cheese which they had discovered tasted like a strong blue cheese. I tried some and was impressed with it, I even took a photo so I could remember it. It was a good night but we didn’t have a late one as I needed to be up early for work tomorrow.

It was another working day on Tuesday 2nd May and it was also the last day before Fat Club and my parents arriving in Dalyan. I’d already gone over 200 syns this week so I wasn’t optimistic for a loss but I was going to do all I could today to rectify the damage already done. For breakfast I had carrot sticks and a Yorkshire tea, followed by as much cucumber infused water as I could take. As I started work, I noticed a team of fellas cleaning the pool and that the neighbours were drilling loudly. This wasn’t good for the new holiday makers at B1 but hopefully it wouldn’t be all day as it looked like they were erecting a pergola and some screening.
At lunch I had more curry but with a slice of bread and a cheese triangle. After work, I went to the bank and the shop where I bought more Quark at 11.90 lira (50p) each and some skimmed milk for 16.75 lira (68p). I wanted to buy the strawberry lube for my boss and his wife but they had none in stock and I’d left it too late to go to the pharmacy next to the bank. I did cost up the coffee so that I could ask what size to get. The 50g Nescafe Gold jar was 59.90 lira (£2.44) and the 200g jar was 225 lira (£9.18). I don’t drink coffee so I didn’t know if this was cheap or not, but it is more expensive in Rhodes. On the way back, I walked past my parents place and the roof netting had been put on. This was a good job as they were arriving tomorrow night. When I got home I noticed there were some numbers written on our electric meter box but I didn’t know why.
Dinner was beef stew with extra veg which was delicious. I’d managed 80 seconds plank, 60 seconds squats, 40 crunches and 60 minutes of walking. I had no alcohol for a 4th day this week and it was a Slimming World Speed day so I really hoped I’d lost weight tomorrow at Fat Club. To keep busy and prevent myself from snacking I made chickpea biscuits and a courgette tortilla. Before bed, I ate some pineapple that needed eating up with some quark.

Dalyan – 30th April

I think I might have still been slightly intoxicated when I woke up on Sunday 30th April. I saw a chair advertised on Facebook; a woman was giving it away so I messaged her to say I wanted it. She lived in Maraş and I had no transport but that didn’t stop me. I messaged Fikri, the friendly taxi driver, and asked if he would be able to go to the lady’s house, pick up the chair and bring it to mine. He agreed, we made the necessary arrangements, I got dressed and downed some sugar free limonata drink.
By 12.30pm I was sat on the kitchen balcony in my freshly put together IKEA chair, my feet on the accompanying foot stool. Fikri had only charged me 70 lira (£2.90) but the chair had arrived in pieces with an IKEA allen key. I was starting to sober up and the hangover was kicking in as the hot sun shone down. I needed to find somewhere for the new furniture to go when it was raining as the apartment was pretty crowded already.
I forced beans on wholemeal toast and an apple down me for lunch and generally lolled about, wishing I’d not drank so much last night.
My boss sent over my ferry ticket to Rhodes for next week, which meant I had to be at the ferry port at 7.30am next Sunday! I thought it might be nice to see if anyone fancied a night in Fethiye beforehand. The Saturday was the Coronation of King Charles in the UK which I thought wouldn’t affect things here but, unfortunately, it meant most British people would be busy doing something to commemorate that event. I asked my parents if they fancied coming to Fethiye on the Saturday and Ma said she’d think about it. They were arriving late on Wednesday night so weren’t sure they fancied a night in Fethiye so soon after arriving. I asked Kate if her and Mark fancied it, as she’s always up for avoiding any Royal stuff but even she politely declined. I still might go on my own but couldn’t decide and put off making a decision for now.

I managed to pick up some clothes, donated from another kind friend, from Tez bar, and was rather surprised with the content of the bag. There were some really nice items in there and even the stuff that was too big would be able to be altered. I proceeded to have a trying on session and I took photos of them all to send to my Mom so she could say which she liked with thumbs up or heart emojis.

For dinner I had my appetite back and had a pizza made from a wrap and then 4 fish fingers. I’d not managed the plank challenge today but I’d done 40 seconds squat and 50 sit ups. It was my first no meat day of the week but my 3rd no alcohol day, if I could just stay on track for the next couple of days I had a chance of losing weight this week, still.

Dalyan – 28th & 29th April

When I finally surfaced on Friday 28th April, our shared swimming pool was being filled by hose pipe. This was great news for The Aussies as they had guests arriving shortly who would be staying for 6-7 weeks. I had strawberries for breakfast and went to Turkish class feeling a little delicate. I worked out I’d drank 7 beers yesterday so I was already on 75 syns for this week so far, which was still around the same as last week at this time. I treated myself to a fresh orange juice at Lukka bar for 50 lira (£2 approx) and we had a good lesson.
After class, I checked that the pool was almost filled and it was, an hour later it was a strange colour from all the chemicals. I did the 20 seconds of squat challenge and 40 seconds of plank challenge – it was hard. I popped to the shop to buy bread, cheese and some sugar free lemon drink to perk me up a bit with a late lunch. It cost 76.25 lira (£3.15) for those 3 things, which wasn’t bad, from Bim Supermarket.
That evening, I stayed in for my 2nd alcohol free night of the week and ate leftover sweet potato cottage pie for dinner. Tomorrow I had a few treats lined up!

It was quite a busy day for me on Saturday 29th April despite not going to the weekly market this week. I had 1 week left in Dalyan and my friend, Wendy from Sheffield, was on her way here for a holiday.
My first appointment of the day was to meet another friend, at Ela’s Kitchen for brunch. I always enjoy meeting up with her and today was no different. I ordered a Yorkshire tea which now comes with a home made shortbread biscuit – I couldn’t resist eating that! I decided to take no notice of the diet and ordered a sausage sandwich, which came with chips and salad. My friend ordered a jacket potato with melted cheese which also came with salad. We had a nice chat with Nicola, the co-owner, prices had increased again in Turkey and she had her new menu ready as they were going to be offering evening meals too, during the holiday season. It was still 40 lira (£1.64) for a cup of tea, but 175 lira (£7.16) for the sausage sandwich, so it’s not cheap but the portion sizes are generous, the service is good and the food is excellent. We actually ended up staying there for most of the day and even had another couple of drinks while we chatted on about all sorts of topics.

My next appointment was at the new beauty salon, Sisters, right next to the bank. As summer was coming, I decided to treat myself to a pedicure and some waxing. The pedicure was good and I chose a bright orange nail varnish (but not gel). The waxing was quite a treat as the staff carried the massage bed in to a back room which was off the staff kitchen and had a glass window. Strangely, it was positioned with me being legs akimbo facing the window instead of away from it but the girl reassured me no men would be able to see! She was very thorough and I had to help more than usual by holding my thigh flab and tummy.

When I got home, I saw that the pool was now finished, I’d met the occupants of B1, one of who was not able to walk easily and wanted to know where he could get some sun loungers as the plastic ones had no cushions and were uncomfortable.
On my way out to meet Wendy I popped to Waterfall bar, where I thought I was meeting Pamela. I saw Penny, John and Andrea but didn’t stop for a drink because Pamela was still in Rodrigo’s but was not stopping long. When I got there she was with Glynn and Mark so we all had a drink. Afterwards, Mark and I went to Rehab bar, where he’d been playing pool for most of the afternoon. We played pool, Wendy’s flight was delayed so we ended up playing a game with Jason and Dan, a friendly father and son on holiday. Wendy arrived late and was no longer up for a night ‘out out’ but she did call in to Rehab for 1 drink though, just to say hello before going back to her hotel for some much needed sleep. I really should have taken a leaf out of her book but (obviously) I didn’t. Mark and I stayed out playing pool in Rehab bar until 1.30am. I was eating a homemade chicken liver curry with steamed rice at home by 1.50am, promising myself that I would try harder on the diet over the next few days.