Dalyan – 13th March

It was another busy day on Thursday 13th March which started with dog cuddles, overnight oats and my cup of tea. I totted up my money for the month and started to work out if I could stretch to paying an agent to do my Residency Renewal. I spoke to Captain Caveman who was now in to his 3rd month in England and on month 2 in his role as Senior Project Manager. We discussed the idea of me going to the UK in May, after I had picked up my new ikamet card (assuming my residency renewal would be successful). Flights from Dalaman to Gatwick ranged from £60-£100 one way in mid-May, were as low as £40 in early-May and rose to about £130 if I waited until June. Captain Caveman was due to arrive in Dalyan in 2 weeks and 3 days’ time but, unfortunately, it would be a flying visit. Captain Caveman also seemed preoccupied and couldn’t talk for long as he needed to get ready for work – the 3 hours time difference was a bit of a pain at times.
Before lunch, I was so excited to see that I had reviews for my book. The Aussies’ review of 5 Stars and saying my book was ‘Hilarious’ had been done 3 days ago but I had missed it as Amazon doesn’t tell me I have a review! My second review was also a 5 Star and significant because it was from one of the friends who had been with me in some of the escapades I wrote about in the book. I was very pleased to know that she loved it and found it ‘funny & informative’. Those reviews really made my day and I was spurred on to start a list of ideas for my next book.
I had an early lunch of chicken, lettuce and sun dried tomatoes and a frozen yoghurt bar before getting prepared for the Resort Experts team meeting. Today’s meeting was a good one with lots of new ideas and tools to help us out. There were some useful conversations and I learned more from the team. After the call, I even chatted to a couple of my colleagues and we shared some marketing ideas. The afternoon would be a lot more frantic than I had planned for.

I had lots of admin type jobs to do which included getting my Turkish phone back up and running, getting a new 2 year health insurance policy and finding my documents for the residency application. I’d already decided that I would be having wine this evening as it had been 4 days since I’d had any and I was probably going to need it. I had decided that I would use Dale Colson to do my residency renewal as he had given me a good price. There were comings and goings, including taking documents to him. When I went to get my phone sorted, I found out there are no longer any Turkcell shops in Dalyan. With all the faffing about, I got no work done, Norman & Edna put a complaint in that I was late for their walk, and I was so hungry that I had to buy a Dido chocolate bar on the last walk back. They were on a 2 for 1 offer in Migros which was great. The day had been a day of two halves and I always find the residency renewal process irritating and stressful.
I had left over curry with rice and naan bread for dinner with a glass of wine and it was very late when I got to bed. Tomorrow more residency faffing would continue.

Gratitude List
1. My first book reviews – and both 5 stars, from people with high travel expectations!
2. Resort Experts team meeting ideas
3. A call with a colleague to keep me sane.