Dalyan – 2nd February

I had an incredible day on Sunday 2nd February; Debbie and I were back to safety in numbers on a Sunday get together . Sezgin had invited Debbie, Mike and I for a trip to the beach. I had some work to do in the afternoon so it was perfect timing that I would go to the beach and be back before 5pm, which is 2pm UK time. I got a lift there with Debbie and Mike, who were still laughing at last Sunday’s debacle, so I was determined not to have another incident this week. We met Sezgin & Nur at Iztuzu Beach café where they introduced us to their son, Zen, for the first time. We all took a walk along the beach, it was beautiful and sunny – warm enough for a paddle too. It felt so nice to have the sand and sea between my toes and the breeze in my face.

We took a few photos, all chatted about a variety of subjects and I learned there was an alternative book publishing company to Amazon. Zen told me all about Kobo and how he used that to read books on his phone, without even the need to have a Kindle. All the young people he knew used this but I needed to look into it as I’d never heard of it.
We ate lunch at the beach and here’s the prices, in lira;

1 Water 15.00
1 Lemon Soda 30.00
1 Mixed Toastie 125.00
1 Tuna Salad 150.00
1 Chicken sandwich 150.00
Total spent 470.00 (£10.68)

We left the beach all happy to have made the effort to have a Sunday outing and I had a task for Sezgin back at Fire Opal.

Captain Caveman needed his Irata Log book which was in a cupboard above the stairs so, on the way home from the beach, Sezgin and Zen came to help get it down. Captain Caveman had told me where the key was which was to unlock a ladder, attached with a bicycle lock to the outdoor balcony. I was then to place the ladder half way up the stairs to be able to go up it to get one of the boxes out and pass it down to Sezgin. I didn’t want to try it alone in case I fell or hurt myself doing it, but by the time I had got the ladder unsecured, it was obvious that Sezgin was tall enough to not need it. Sezgin thought it hilarious that Captain Caveman thought he needed to secure a ladder to a balcony railing when we are on the second floor. The 2 men got both boxes down and all was good – no incidents, so I was very grateful. It did mean that I needed to take photos to send the contents of the book to Captain Caveman and then would have to take it to him if/when I went to visit. I was still hoping to go to England in a couple of weeks’ time.
I went back to Jamie’s and took the dogs out for a walk. In the evening I cracked on with work and was really pleased to be able to organise a family holiday for a good friend. For dinner I had a lentil and chickpea curry and then a cuddle on the sofa with the dogs who had been so well behaved today. Edna had not had as many snuggles as usual but she said she wasn’t going to complain if I could guarantee it was a one off. We had a video call with Captain Caveman who was preparing for his first day of work tomorrow. I was so proud of him and wished him luck, I admired how self-sufficient and confident he is and knew he would do well – his new employers were lucky to have him.

Gratitude List
1. An outing to the beach
2. The ladder fiasco which made us all laugh
3 Being able to help my friend with a surprise family holiday.

Photo Credit – some photos by Debbie & Nur