Dalyan – 6th & 7th March

On Friday 6th March I only broke off from my laptop for a cup of tea or a couple of chicken fajita wraps. I wanted to finish as much as possible so that I could take tomorrow morning off. I had planned to go to the market with Vanessa and then grab a drink in a cafe somewhere.
I didn’t take any photos, I didn’t leave the house, I didn’t spend any money and I didn’t drink any alcohol.
While sitting down to post my blog, though, I saw a post which made me cry. A friend who I met 26.5 years ago on our first day of our new job at Norwich Union (now Aviva) had a date for her surgery to remove a brain tumour. About 15 years ago she met her now husband and later moved to the States to be with him. I remember this as it was around the same time I met Captain Caveman and we would both end up moving abroad ‘for love’. I’m older than her and have probably abused my body and made worse lifestyle choices than she has, so there’s something that happened to put so much in to perspective today. I didn’t even need a Gratitude List today, as it would just read ‘everything’. Over the years we’d not kept in touch as much and I’d never met her American hubby. I messaged her and we had a conversation about how she was feeling, she was being brave and was understandably shitting herself. I shared her go fund me page on my Facebook and I got a message from another friend to ask if I’d been hacked. I imagine, like me she also thought it might be too unbelievable to be true. It wasn’t!
If you’re reading this and are able to donate towards Angela’s medical costs, it would be much appreciated. Here’s a link and her photo of what the tumor looks like.

https://gofund.me/61f18c7b3

I woke up early on Saturday 7th March and read some awful news on Facebook. A bloke I used to work with at Norwich Union (now Aviva) had died. He’d been one of the most entertaining people I’d known and was just so lovely. He was only about 10 years older than me so it was quite a shock. He had a huge family and was so well loved by everyone who knew him. I’d had the pleasure of being his manager for a few years and the customers just loved him too. I felt sad and searched out a photo from that period – we were a motley crew back then but had some great memories.

I was involved in a customer enquiry over the phone and I was meant to go to Vanessa’s on the way to the market but she ended up coming to mine. I checked the weekly budget and I had less than £9 left for this week, which was not impossible but unlikely, given that I needed to buy quite a bit today. We both needed the bank so that worked out better and I withdrew just 1,000 lira (£16.95) at the ATM. Before we even got to the market we noticed the new florists in town and went in for a nosey. It is brilliant and has plants, flowers and gifts – just what Dalyan needs. 

Here’s what I bought at the market, prices in lira:
Potatoes 30
Mushrooms 47
Cabbage (half of) 25
Satsumas 110
Asparagus 120
Strawberries 200
Total spent 532 lira (£9.02)

We went halves on a cabbage as they are huge and we even asked the stall holder to cut it in half for us. If I had gone home then, I would have been on budget for the week, but I didn’t.
Vanessa had a soirée that she had been invited to tomorrow at Adam and Kath’s, so she wanted to buy some treats at the supermarket. Unfortunately, I couldn’t resist and I also got a few treats for myself:

Şevikoğlu Supermarket, now with a new name

Bread 15.00
Chocolate wafers 34.90
Biscuits 36.00
Mini meringues 66.90
Dark chocolate 67.00
Turkish black tea 184.90
Total spent 404. 70 lira (£6.86)

I had run out of conditioner and was down to the bottom of my shampoo so I had to get a bottle of each, luckily it was on offer and is my favourite.

Millennium shop

Olive oil 1 Shampoo & 1 Conditioner
Total spent 210 lira (£3.56)

Our bags were heavy so we decided to go to a lovely cafe next door to the computer shop. Here’s what I had:

Mornings in Mavi

2 large teas 100
1 Granola bowl 300
Total spent 400 lira (£6.78)

That granola bowl was so good and I really enjoyed it. Today I had spent a lot more than I should’ve, despite it being my 5th zero alcohol day this week. I had gone over my £50 weekly budget by £17.44. I decided to reduce the next 2 week’s budgets to £40 to compensate. It was going to be tight but it was doable if I put my mind to it and didn’t get tempted by alcohol or treats (easier said than done). Today was pay day from Resort Experts which would probably be in the bank on Monday, with it being a weekend. This was going straight into my emergency/holiday fund.
It was almost 3pm by the time I got home so I ended up working until gone 8pm.

Gratitude List
1. Out and about in the fresh air
2. My first Granola bowl in Dalyan
3. Seeing Vanessa.